Uncle Sam Out of Patience? (Globe & Mail, CANADA)

As President Barack Obama's visit to Canada draws near, Canadians should realize that how the war in Afghanistan will be conducted on the ground will change little, if at all, under his leadership.

Changes already put in train by the Bush administration following the recommendations of General David Petraeus will continue on schedule. Gen. Petraeus, the new head of U.S. Central Command and responsible for the Iraq and Afghan campaigns, was previously the commander of U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq. As such, he was the architect of the troop "surge" and the concept of paying local tribes in the Sunni communities in Anbar province to become part of the security solution rather than the problem. The dramatic reduction in violence has given the concept some credibility.

In the past few years, it became painfully obvious that most of the 26 NATO member countries were unwilling to honour their obligations under the NATO Charter to provide adequate boots on the ground to defeat the Afghan insurgents. As a result, Gen. Petraeus successfully persuaded the Bush administration to reinforce the U.S. troop contribution to NATO's International Security Assistance Force by some 30,000 troops over the next year. He also proposed to organize local defence committees throughout Afghanistan to assist in providing security to local populations.

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