U.S. Plan on Iraq, Afghan Troop Levels Stirs Strategy Debate

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• RAY SUAREZ:

  The president spoke at the National Defense University this morning. He said the size of the American military presence in Iraq will decrease only slightly during the remainder of his term. Mr. Bush said the drawdown comes as a result of security gains made in Iraq since the U.S. added nearly 30,000 new troops over the past 18 months, as part of the so-called surge.

  GEORGE W. BUSH, president of the United States: Reduced levels of violence in Iraq have been sustained for several months. While the progress in Iraq is still fragile and reversible, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker report that there now appears to be a degree of durability to the gains we have made.

  General Petraeus has just completed a review of the situation in Iraq, and he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have recommended that we move forward with additional force reductions. And I agree.

• RAY SUAREZ:

  The American force will decrease by 8,000 personnel, including one Army combat brigade and a Marine battalion. That reduction will happen by early February of next year, after Mr. Bush has left office. There will still be 138,000 American troops in Iraq, more than were in Iraq before he ordered the troop increase in January 2007.

  Progress on the stated goal of the surge — to foster political reconciliation — has been more halting. Provincial elections have been repeatedly delayed by internal ethnic and political wrangling in the Iraqi parliament. And Prime Minister Maliki's Shiite-dominated government has been reluctant to include Sunni paramilitary groups into the regular Iraqi security forces.

  The president then focused on the war in Afghanistan, which began weeks after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Violence has exploded there this year. Forty-three Americans and many other NATO troops have been killed in Afghanistan over the last two months, while 40 have died during the same period in Iraq.

  But the U.S. force of 31,000 in Afghanistan is just one-fifth the size of the U.S. deployment to Iraq. The NATO force in the Afghan theater, which the U.S. leads, has increased in size this year, but Mr. Bush said huge challenges remain.

• GEORGE W. BUSH:

  This is a vast country. And unlike Iraq, it has few natural resources and has an under-developed infrastructure. Its democratic institutions are fragile. Its enemies are some of the most hardened terrorists and extremists in the world.

  With their brutal attacks, the Taliban and the terrorists have made some progress in shaking the confidence of the Afghan people. And in the face of all these challenges, the Afghan people are naturally questioning what their future looks like.

• RAY SUAREZ:

  In response to the deteriorating Afghan situation, the president announced what he called a quiet surge of U.S. troops to augment the NATO force.

• GEORGE W. BUSH:

  As we learned in Iraq, the best way to restore the confidence of the people is to restore basic security, and that requires more troops. I am announcing today additional American troop deployments to Afghanistan.

  In November, a Marine battalion that was scheduled to deploy to Iraq will instead deploy to Afghanistan. They will be followed in January by an Army combat brigade.

• RAY SUAREZ:

  Mr. Bush also spoke of the increasingly dire situation in Pakistan, as the Taliban and al-Qaida have regrouped in the wild frontier provinces. From that safe haven, they're destabilizing Pakistan and Afghanistan.

  Mr. Bush also sought to tie that fight to the Iraq struggle.

• GEORGE W. BUSH:

  In all three places, extremists are using violence and terror in an attempt to impose their ideology on whole populations. They murder to impose their dark vision of the world.

  In all three places, America is standing strongly with brave elected leaders and determined reformers and millions of ordinary citizens who seek a future of liberty, justice, and tolerance.

• RAY SUAREZ:

  Mr. Bush pledged support to Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, who took office today.