Q+A - Obama faces political peril with Afghan policy
By Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's decision on a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan carries political peril as his Democratic party gears up for tough mid-term elections next year.
Republicans have urged Obama to take decisive action while many Democrats have expressed serious doubts, making a delicate balancing act for a president already battling to deliver on his political promises.
WHAT IS AT STAKE?
Obama must decide whether to grant a request by his top Afghan commander, Army General Stanley McChrystal, for as many as 40,000 more U.S. troops or to side with more cautious advisers who favor a smaller deployment of between 10,000 to 20,000 troops and a greater role for Afghan forces.
The decision, expected in coming days, is critical for the future of the U.S-led war in Afghanistan, where 68,000 U.S. soldiers already anchor a multinational force of about 110,000 troops battling resurgent Taliban militants.
Part of a broader campaign against al Qaeda, the conflict carries risks for neighboring countries such as nuclear-armed Pakistan as well as for U.S. allies such as Britain.
But it could also imperil Obama's domestic agenda from healthcare to climate change as politicians in Washington and average Americans weigh the wisdom of a costly U.S. campaign in a country long known as "the graveyard of empires". Continued...
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