Obama Within Weeks of Afghan War Decision

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod Talked to Bob Schieffer on "Face the Nation"

(CBS)  President Obama is within weeks of making a decision on sending additional troops to Afghanistan, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod said on "Face the Nation" Sunday.

"He has gone through a very rigorous process because the goal here is not just to make an arithmetic judgment about the number of troops, but to make sure that we have the right strategy to reach our goal," Axelrod told host Bob Schieffer.

He added that the top priority is to keep al Qaeda from making Afghanistan its base again.

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When asked about presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah's decision to drop out of the runoff election there and whether that might undercut the legitimacy of Karzai's government, Axelrod said that Abdullah had a right to withdraw, and that Mr. Obama's main concern was ensuring a fair election.

"Mr. Abdullah has exercised his rights as a candidate to withdraw. He has made a political decision to withdraw from this contest. And that doesn't markedly change the situation," he said, adding that Abdullah's comments today were moderate.

"He left open as to whether his supporters should participate in the process and he's establishing himself as as a leader of the opposition. But every poll that'd been taken there suggested that he was likely to be defeated anyway."

Axelrod said the White House will have to deal with the government in Kabul. "Obviously, there're issues we need to discuss, such as reducing the high level of corruption there. These are issues we’ll take up with President Karzai."

[bgbgl]

I am concerned with Mr. Schieffer's commentary. We all have concerns with the past administration's poor management of Afghanistan. But not once did he mention by name the Bush administration who put us into a very challenging mess and is squarely to blame. Is he implying President Obama is now to blame? I think this president is trying to do his research which many of us do not do these days. Anyways it does appear CBS is more and more taking the right fork in the road. Where is truthful journalism anymore? What is happening over there and who is running the show?
[If you would have told me years ago that I would be moving over to other major networks for the news I would have said no way. Now it is happening show by show. The only one we seem to enjoy weekly is Sunday Morning.]

[Ms_enza]

Pull out! Pull out now.

Al Qaeda is long from Afghanistan. If we stay we will become embroiled in a civil war that has been going for 35 years; one that even 120,000 (peak) Soviets and their ally (the same people we are allied with) couldn't stop the Mujahadeen.

The two things that have changed in 30 years in Afghanistan:
1) The Soviets left,
2) We've changed sides.

[natdef_1]

They've been saying a decision is coming "within weeks" for about two months now.

It's not that hard...make a F@CK!N# DECISION. As president, THAT'S YOUR JOB, Mr. "Present."

This guy Axelrod absolutely makes my skin crawl. He slithers on a greasy underbelly and talks with a forked tongue!

[VinceP1974]

Just a few weeks from making a decision? What an embarrassing, irresponsible fraud.

I hate this guy. I really do.

[American_Delight]

I don't hate Axelrod. It's just that each day the Taliban strengthens its position--both financially (http://moneyjihad.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/taliban-financing-stronger-than-ever/) and militarily (http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20091015/wl_mcclatchy/3333450).