General requests more troops for Afghanistan
In a report to President Barack Obama, United States Army General Stanley† McChrystal urged that the U.S. either send more troops to Afghanistan or narrow the mission to targeting terrorists.
McChrystal told the Washington Post that success with the current mission requires overcoming the ìcrisis of confidence” Afghans have in their own government and that ìinsufficiently addressing either principal threat will result in failure.” The president responded in interviews this previous weekend that he is not yet convinced that sending more troops would make Americans safer from Al Qaeda. Obama noted that his primary goal is to destroy Al Qaeda, which is not significantly present in Afghanistan.