Obama to Present Afghanistan Strategy in National Address

JIM LEHRER:

And now a quick preview of our own from Judy Woodruff, who attended a pre-speech background briefing at the White House, and from Shields and Brooks, syndicated columnist Mark Shields, New York Times columnist David Brooks.

You can't tell us who the briefers were, but you can tell us what the point they — they wanted to get over about what the big point of this speech is going to be, can't you?

JUDY WOODRUFF:

Jim, in shorthand, it is, they want to build up troops, and they want to build them up quickly, at the same time they start to draw down troops.

And they're very clear about the goal, Jim. What they say is they want to disrupt and ultimately defeat the Taliban and al-Qaida, deny them a safe haven in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And they want to do this with this quick movement in of troops, 30,000 troops, by next summer.

They want to, at the same time, start to aggressively train the Afghan forces, so that they can be ready to begin to take over their own country's security, by one year later, the summer of 2011, to begin that process, and finally to work very closely with Pakistan, because they say Pakistan is essential to this whole thing.

JIM LEHRER:

Send more troops in, Mark, and then start pulling them out by a — by a certain date?

MARK SHIELDS:

I think that reflects, Jim, the complexity, if not the conflicting constituencies, the president is speaking to tonight.

I mean, he's trying to show resolve, demonstrate resolve on the question of Afghanistan to our allies, to our enemies, to the Pakistani government, to the Afghan government and Afghan people.

And, at the same time, the American people are skeptical about it, particularly his own party. They're divided. And they're not prepared for a 10-year war.

JIM LEHRER:

And that's what — that's why that withdrawal date is there, right, David?

DAVID BROOKS:

That's the constraint. If you…

JIM LEHRER:

For the — for the Democrats.

DAVID BROOKS:

If you talk to the soldiers and just everybody you talk to in Afghanistan and experts, they say it's a five- to 10-year project. But the White House has decided, probably correctly, that it's too expensive and the country will not stand, after we have been there for eight, for another 10.

And, so, they have got this set of constraints they're working with. And that's why what he's announcing today will satisfy no one entirely. It's sort of a mishmash compromise between the hundreds of different cross-pressures.