US President Barack Obama will not commit more US troops to Afghanistan until he is convinced that the central government can be a credible and effective US partner, a senior White House aide said on Sunday.
But it was unclear whether Obama intends to accept the recommendation by the top US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for thousands more US troops and other resources in the eight-year-struggle to stabilize Afghanistan.
The central question before Obama, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said, is “not how much troops you have, but whether in fact there’s an Afghan partner.”
The issue of developing an effective Afghan central government has dogged the US mission virtually from the war’s start.
It gained new urgency after an Aug. 20 presidential election marred by charges of ballot-stuffing and voter coercion.
In Sunday talk show interviews, Emanuel did not answer directly when asked whether Obama would wait for a final election outcome before deciding US troop levels.
He underlined doubts about the Kabul government as a reliable partner.
“There’s not a security force, an army, the type of services that are important for the Afghans to become true partners,” Emanuel said. “It would be reckless to make a decision on US troop level if, in fact, you haven’t done a thorough analysis of whether, in fact, there’s an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that the US troops would create and become a true partner in governing.”
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