Is Obama channeling Bush in Afghanistan?
A week into the operation, there are now questions about when those Afghan forces, so vital to Nicholson’s planning, will arrive. In an interview with the Pentagon press corps, the brigadier general said that only 650 Afghan soldiers have accompanied the marines into south Helmand. “I mean, I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Nicholson said. “The fact of the matter is, I — we don’t have enough Afghan forces, and I’d like more.” Nicholson could not give a specific answer when asked when more might be on the way. As if he saw this coming, Gen. James L. Jones (Ret.), President Barack Obama’s national security advisor, warned Nicholson against asking for any more U.S. forces before Operation Khanjar began, according to the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward. The warning came after Nicholson stated that he did not have enough troops. Everyone agrees that the preferred solution is more Afghan soldiers and police. But Afghan forces are not missing from the battle due to some sort of oversight. They
