Huge deployment of troops is President Obama's vision for quick end to war

After 92 days of slow and at times agonised debate over how to prosecute the war in Afghanistan, President Obama is suddenly a man in a hurry: he now wants 30,000 US troops to hit the ground within the next six months, an enormous logistical and financial challenge.
In the defining speech of his young presidency, Mr Obama was preparing to tell the American people tonight that he has ordered tens of thousands of US reinforcements to Afghanistan to take on the Taleban, secure the country and hand it back to its own security forces within three years.

A total of 30,000 extra American troops, supported by at least 5,000 more soldiers from other Nato members, will be in Afghanistan by next summer and will start withdrawing by 2011, the President was expected to say in a prime-time address to the nation from the West Point military academy.
The timetable for both the deployment of the long-awaited surge and the start of an American withdrawal has been accelerated because of Mr Obama’s insistence on an exit strategy before committing the extra troops his generals have demanded. White House officials said yesterday that he has ordered the military to hit the Taleban hard and fast. He wants to show quick gains in the battle for the hearts and minds of the civilian population. Unstated, but as important to the White House, is the battle to shore up crumbling support for the war at home.