AFGHANISTAN WAR DECISION.

Presidents were meant to make tough decisions; it was only how to prioritize them that made the position unique and the expression, "The Buck Stops Here", meaningful.

Though, the war room in the White House, yesterday, was filled with high caliber politicians, top military strategists and expert advisers, who could analyze all types of situations and come up with several astute answers; but they were all there to assist the one person, who's word was vital to change any situation, one way or another, the president.

The Afghan war demanded that without more troops to impact an already complicated war against a resilient insurgency, it was just putting the men and women on the ground at risk, for insufficient back up of more soldiers to stabilize captured civilian populated parts of the country; a scenario, which, if it was not tackled with much precision tactics and a quickness of strong approach, could cause the United States and its Allies to fail, not just in Afghanistan.

The security of the whole region would drastically be affected, as the Taliban and Al Qaeda took control of that area of the world. Pakistan, which happened to be a nuclear power, would become more insecure, with having the military there in disarray; the economy in a confused state, and leaving a civilian political turmoil to persist.

President Obama and NATO's secretary-general met in the Oval Office last Tuesday to discuss the war in Afghanistan, and reached the conclusion that NATO's engagement there was strategically important and necessary. The Secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was shown on TV to have said that he was confident that "U.S. and allied troops will remain in Afghanistan (for) as long as it takes."

It was obvious that they had also discussed Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more troops, and that it was a priority and an urgency that should and could not wait. It must be acted upon without delay.

Surely, it was also difficult to put more men and women in harms way; however the dangers that confronted the world were far more critical, with the Taliban and Al Qaeda eventually gaining possession of nuclear Pakistan; Iran acquiring nuclear bomb making know-how, etc. etc.; and therefore, nothing should deter the president; not even his trip to Denmark to "push to land Chicago 2016 Olympic bid", from making a swift decision on the question of troop deployment to Afghanistan, as the generals there were demanding.

It would be a tough decision; but it was also a priority, and it would need to be expedited by the president on the premise that "the buck stops here", when the whole world was at risk.