you have to understand...the chain of command goes up, and you are not talking about the hightest man in the chain...he reports to his higher ups....who also report to Obama with info. Obama does not need to talk to him personaly daily to get updates on what is going on. And yes they are holding off on any plan, as if you are watching, with the Election going they way it went....they need to see how things play out with that a bit more before they know what plan is going to work. There is alot of things that can or may change very shortly that could have a very large impact on how we move forward. The political situation is possibly even more important to winning this war then anything...and more troops will not fix that. General MacCrystal even points this out...that in all cases, more troops will not fix the issue and could actuly work against us. here is his report if you wish ( 66 pages)
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2009/090830-afghan-assessment/090830-afghan-assessment.pdf
but anyway point is, Obama is president of the US...he has alot of issues to deal with...and no he is not going to sit and play General Obama and try to make daily Decisions...thats the job of teh Militarty itself and the Generals to do day to day operations...The President has many people who get him the info needed when needed from many sources on Afgainstan...McCry
stal, Patraus, Robert Gates, the CIA...all can get him info threw chanals...they dont have to meet in the oval office to get the info to him....they dont even have to talk on the phone to get it.
So far I have seen Obama making the right moves on Afganistan and rushing to just send troops is the wrong idea....and I say that as someone who has stated in my opionion we most likey should send more troops. But who to send, how many, and knowin for sure that what your sending them for will be effective are all things that need to be looked at...as well as do you have the troops to do it, and what the costs to other areas could be if we send them. Also you are talking the word of one General as like the word of God...there are others who dont agree with his assement, as I said, 4 star Gen Casey for one, and he may aslo be getting intel from the CIA that goes against what is said in this current request for troops and plan. This is a war that is more complex I think then Iraq and needs to be well thought out if we want to win...just reacting to the wills of one man , or public presure is just how you lose this war.
one thing you should no, regardless if we send more troops or not, this is going to get more bloody not better for a while. If you read the report, we are talking about less armor, and moving our troops closer to the population....its going to mean getting better intel before striking targets ( that could mean sending troops in to get close rather then just useing spyplanes to do photo recon before hitting...Sending in troops rather then just rockets...The reason for this, is evry time we kill a wedding party again...we hurts our image, and the confidence in the people of Afgainstan...And in order to win, when dealing with a COIN, ( counter insurgancy) you need that support.
whats sad is this is all things that should have been done and delt with years ago...when the taliban was pushed back and we had far far more support over the nation. Over the years we have lost most of those gains, and now have to fight to get them back. Getting people to trust you once when you do this hard....to regain it when they have lost it, is even harder.
In due time I think you will see some more troops sent, and yes some of the more liberal Dems may not like it, but I think you will see it still.