NOT A SMIDGE OF FECK:

Endurance Test (ROGER COHEN, 10/20/09, NY Times)

President Obama is playing a wait-for-Karzai-to-shape-up game. I don’t buy it because it hangs McChrystal out to dry. As the general has said, “Time does matter” for “a favorable outcome.” Waiting is bad.

Most Afghans still support the American presence. A swift commitment to endurance, with minimum additional troops required to convey that message, is needed from Obama.

More than a specific number of troops, what McChrystal has pleaded for is “patience, discipline, resolve and time.” Do you hear him, Mr. President?

Europe's angst over Afghanistan: Allies have a question: Will Obama walk away? (Jackson Diehl, October 19, 2009, Washington Post)

As the president and his National Security Council privately debate whether to send tens of thousands of troops to war, America's European allies watch with a mixture of anxiety and anguish. They know that if the deployment goes forward, they will be asked to make their own difficult and politically costly contributions of soldiers or other personnel. But they are, if anything, even more worried that the American president will choose a feckless strategy for what they consider a critical mission. And they are frustrated that they must watch and wait -- and wait and wait -- for the president to make up his mind.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 20, 2009 5:58 AM