President Obama\’s West Point Speech on the Afghanistan Plan

By Natasha Solouki, Staff Writer

On Tuesday, December 1, President Barack Obama entered the renowned West Point Military Academy in New York to give an anticipated speech on his new Afghanistan strategy. His elaborate speech mentioned various imperative points that will occur in the upcoming months.

He plans to order an addtional 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan by next summer in order to bring the eight-year war to “a successful conclusion.” Afterwards, President Obama said that the U.S. would start withdrawing its troops by 2011. Obama said, “It calls for an accelerated timeframe to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

However, both conservative and liberal lawmakers sharply criticized President Obama’s plan to start a U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by July 2011.They have been debating that if the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan, it will allow the enemy to prepare and become stronger.

After the President\’s speech, numerous parents and family members of the 30,000 troops being sent out were devastated and very sad to hear the painful news.

As of now, various Americans will just have to wait and see if everything will turn out as smoothly as anticipated.