FROM THE INSIDE - AT 6:14 P.M. ET:  As many readers know, Urgent Agenda has a private source on Afghanistan, an American with relevant expertise who has traveled frequently to the country and knows the region.  This is what our source says about Obama's West Point speech:

Obviously, his "withdrawal in eighteen months" codicil greatly encourages the Taliban (hey, all we have to do is wait another 18 months!!!).  But it will give the Afghans a perverse incentive to let things get WORSE, not make them better.  They know they can't improve nearly enough in the short term, but will fear that any marginal improvement will be seized upon by the Obama Administration as excuse to continue with the withdrawal plan.  They may decide that a descent into chaos will be the only thing that will keep us longer term.  They will think that the last thing Obama wants to do is run a campaign during which he must defend his abandoning the Afghans to disaster.  

My other comments are conventional.  Obama is not leading decisively:  too few troops to actually do the job but close enough to McChrystal's request to defend his right flank, balanced by a pledge to withdraw soon to defend his left.  I didn't see anything to make me believe he is determined to win.  He seems to be determined to be able to say, "Well, at least I tried" during the next campaign.

Well said.

December 3, 2009