Five-thousand, ten-thousand, or fifteen-thousand? That’s the question hanging in the air
as Barack Obama prepares to clarify his withdrawal plan for Afghanistan this evening (or 0100 BST, if you’re minded to stay up). And
it relates to how many of the 30,000 “surge” troops he will decide to release from the country this year. Washington’s money appears to be on 10,000, with half of them leaving this summer
and half in December. But no-one outside of the President’s clique really yet knows. His final decision will say a fair amount about his intentions in Afghanistan, or at least about just how fast
he wants to scram out of there.
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What’s really striking, though, is the emphasis being placed on the bill for Afghanistan. If the human cost of the conflict created a yearning for withdrawal, then the dollar cost of the conflict now appears to be hastening that process.
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