Obama tries to turn public opinion on Afghan war
December 1, 2009
'I think Americans have lost track of why we are there,' said Cindy Rugeley, a political scientist at Texas Tech University. 'He is going to have to re-educate Americans about the war, explain what his objectives are and lay out his plan for getting out.'
Written by: Jessica Behnham
President Obama will argue that the war in Afghanistan is still worth fighting -- but that the U.S. commitment is not open-ended.
In a speech at West Point outlining his new war strategy Tuesday night, the president also will call for more international cooperation in Afghanistan, but is expected to brush lightly over how to pay for deploying at least 30,000 more troops to the conflict.
"There has to be a renewed emphasis on the training of Afghan national security forces," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a limited preview of the speech. "We aren't going to be there forever and we can't and we don't have the resources, manpower or budget, to be primarily responsible for the security of Afghanistan."