U.S. Envoy Cautions Against More Troops in Afghanistan

The American ambassador in Kabul, Afghanistan, sent two classified messages to Washington this week cautioning against sending more troops to the country, the Washington Post reports. Sent as President Obama enters his final stage of decision-making about the Afghan war, Karl W. Eikenberry's memos express worry about increasing troop levels with no certainty that Afghan President Hamid Karzai will combat corruption in his government. Mismanagement and involvement in the country's opium trade is believed to be widespread in Karzai's government, and some of his senior officials have financial ties to the Taliban.

Eikenberry, a retired three-star general, was named to the top diplomatic post in Afghanistan because of his vast military experience and previous command there, but has thus far been hesitant to weigh in on military issues. But in the two cables, he expressed concern about Karzai's erratic behavior and said he saw little signs that the Afghan president will heed Obama's ultimatums about corruption.

Obama is considering an array of strategies with different levels of troop deployments, and none of them would scale back the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. At a meeting yesterday, he asked Eikenberry a series of questions about each of the options, according to the New York Times. Obama pushed for revisions to the strategies that would clarify when and how the U.S. would transfer military responsibilities to the Afghan government.

A new Gallup poll shows Americans evenly divided on sending more troops to the war-torn nation.