Speaking at a town hall meeting today in Shanghai, President Barack Obama declared that al-Qaeda remains the “greatest threat to the United States’ security” and said that they have moved from Afghanistan into Pakistan. It is no secret, of course, that General Stanley McChrystal informed the administration just two months ago that there is no sign of any significant al-Qaeda presence in Afghanistan, nevertheless, President Obama says that “stabilizing” the nation, by which he means continuing the nearly decade long US occupation, remains a vital aspect of this conflict with al-Qaeda.
Obama’s comments are expected to be parroted almost verbatim by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose nation has the second largest number of troops in Afghanistan. Brown will insist that the war in Afghanistan must continue because of the threat al-Qaeda poses to Britain.
President Obama is expected to announce a massive escalation of the number of American forces in Afghanistan in the near future, while Prime Minister Brown has already pledged additional British forces and is hard at work convincing the rest of Europe to go along with the seemingly endless conflict.