2009 Dec 1, President Barack Obama shared his new US strategy for Afghanistan with President Hamid Karzai, spending an hour discussing troops levels, security, political and economic elements of his revised war plan. Obama planned to send 30,000 more troops to be deployed over the next six months, escalating the 8-year-old war. In his prime-time speech to the nation, Obama laid out a rough timeframe, for when the main US military mission will end. Obama proposed an 18-month timeline for starting to bring troops home.
(AP, 12/1/09)(Reuters, 12/2/09)