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Drawdown in afghanistan. we're, of course, ramping up but then by next summer there's going to be a drawdown in afghanistan. i sensed yesterday in listening to the president's whole speech that really not just making the argument about iraq but that he would make the same argument about afghanistan a year from now and that will set him up for 2012 to sort of say, look, i brought these two wars to a close. and i think that's going to be a centerpiece of his re-election campaign. >> and willie geist, if he can do that, if he can say i drew down the troops to 50,000 in iraq, where we are right no...

Send our troops in. it's pakistan that is strategically important to us. 180 million people, 100 nuclear weapons. and in the end, what makes the president hesitate from winding down in afghanistan is the knowledge that would free the taliban and al qaeda up to focus on toppling the pakistani government. >> david, that is an endless war defined. as joe biden asked while they were debating this behind closed doors at the white house, if pakistan is the issue, and everybody knows pakistan is the issue, the troops on the ground tell sebastien junger in "war" they're not fighting afghanistan, they'...

Become a substitute for logic. we're not fighting because we have a clear set of achievable goals. we're at war, apparently, because we're at war. president obama, in an interview with cbs taped last friday said, it's important for our national security to finish the job in afghanistan. but as the war's deadliest month for u.s. troops came to an end, obama was far from definitive about just what this job might be. and john ridley, that's the problem with afghanistan. whenever you debate somebody on why we shouldn't come home, why we shouldn't bring the troops home from afghanistan, they'll say...

Going to be a month-long effort to sort of explain, and sort of prove tohe american people that it was promises made, promises kept, in terms of the last campaign. joe biden's going to give a big speech on this. look, the president promised to bring the troops out of iraq. there's going to be combat operations, at the end of this month, and all u.s. troops out of iraq by next year. and then the shift focused to afghanistan. there's no doubt about it, certainly what bob herbert is talking about and the new "usa today"/gallup poll numbers today which suggest there is great war fatigue in this co...

In afghanistan, if you're in the white house, you've got to be a lot more concerned about your democratic base than anything else. got to be obviously more than a little bit nervous about that fact. so yesterday was some good news for the base. >> yeah. >> because the base has been saying you guys are just like bush and cheney on afghanistan. you tripled the number of troops there. but yesterday he could show he was different, he's drawing down, he's bringing the troops home. >> well, maybe. but this was, you know, let's be honest about it. this was the template put in place by george w. bush....