Obama speech: More troops, no endless commitment

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is sending 30,000 extra U.S. troops to Afghanistan on an accelerated timetable that will have the first Marines there as early as Christmas and all forces in place by summer. But he'll also declare Tuesday night that troops will start leaving in 19 months.

In a prime-time speech to the nation from West Point, N.Y., that ends a 92-day review, Obama will seek to sell his much bigger, costlier plan for the 8-year-old stalemated war to a skeptical public in part by twinning it with some specifics about an exit strategy, said two senior administration officials.

He will tell the American people that U.S. troops will start leaving Afghanistan in July 2011, one official said.

The 30,000 new troops will bring the total in Afghanistan to more than 100,000 U.S. forces.

The main role of the new troops will be to reverse Taliban gains and secure population centers in the volatile south and east parts of the country.

New infusions of U.S. Marines will begin moving into Afghanistan almost as soon as President Barack Obama announces a redrawn battle strategy. All of the new troops are expected to be in place by next summer.

Obama will try to sell a skeptical public on his bigger, costlier war plan by coupling the large new troop infusion with an emphasis on stepped-up training for Afghan forces that he says will allow the U.S. to leave.

The new infusion of troops had been envisioned to take place over a year, or even more, because force deployments in Iraq and elsewhere make it logistically difficult, if not impossible, to go faster. But Obama directed his military planners to make the changes necessary to speed up the Afghanistan additions, said the official, who declined to be publicly identified because the formal announcement of details was still pending.

Military officials said at least one group of Marines is expected to deploy within two or three weeks of Obama's announcement, and would be in Afghanistan by Christmas. Larger deployments wouldn't be able to follow until early in 2010.

The initial infusion is a recognition by the administration that something tangible needs to happen quickly, officials said. The quick addition of Marines would provide badly needed reinforcements to those fighting against Taliban gains in the southern Helmand province, and could lend reassurance to both Afghans and a war-weary U.S. public.

Obama also insisted that a specific withdrawal scenario be built into the process of adding new forces.