By Kristina Wong

Sep 30, 2009 7:08pm

Today’s NSC Meeting

A senior White House official tells ABC News that today's three-hour meeting was largely a briefing from military, diplomatic and intelligence sources of how the situation on the ground in Afghanistan and Pakistan has changed since March, when President Obama authorized 21,000 more troops sent to Afghanistan.

"It was a candid assessment of where we are in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the relationship between the two countries," the official says.

"Some things are better than expected," says the official, citing the degradation of al Qaeda troops through successful drone attacks in Pakistan, and the cooperation with and participation of the Pakistani government ever since the Taliban violated the cease fire deal the government attempted with the militant group. "They realize the threat."

On the other hand, the official says, "some things are more challenging." Such as the flawed, some say corrupt election in Afghanistan and the precarious security situation there, as Gen. Stanley McChrystal has detailed.

Most of the meeting was spent getting updated, the official says, "looking at core goals, and assessing where we are in those goals."

The next NSC meeting will be next Wednesday.

-jpt

User Comments

Hey no hurry Obama…not like the fake stimulis bill or the bogus health care reform or the phony “energy bill” ….THOSE are hot potatoes man, they must be shoved through immediatly, it’s urgent, emergency!!!
The war in Afghanastan…not so much.
That is unless your husband, son, daughter, or father is fighting there…and they need more support…then it would be important but NOT important in the way measuring carbon footprints and fleecing the american citizens for every dime they have, or the Olympics, THAT’s important!
This man is bogus. He’s a poser. He’s an actor. And a poor one.
Obama, step down.

Posted by: mjishernameo | September 30, 2009, 7:26 pm 7:26 pm

Did Obama even know what General McCrystal looks like before today?
Biden probably had to tell him.
I read that Obama meets with the president of SEIU on a weekly basis.
Priorities.

Posted by: ollie | September 30, 2009, 7:41 pm 7:41 pm

Thank 60 Minutes for this “urgent” meeting.
Obama doesn’t see Afghanistan as a crisis that requires immediate attention.
Like the Olympics or health care.

Posted by: max | September 30, 2009, 7:48 pm 7:48 pm

“Did Obama even know what General McCrystal looks like before today?”
ollie | Sep 30, 2009 7:41:15 PM
Seeing as how Obama signed his assignment papers and met with him in the Oval office prior to his deployment, your comment seems a bit ignorant of reality.

Posted by: jhw539 | September 30, 2009, 8:06 pm 8:06 pm

“I read that Obama meets with the president of SEIU on a weekly basis.”
ollie | Sep 30, 2009 7:41:15 PM
And I read somewhere that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a girl in 1990. What is your point, other than demonstrating a classic method of ‘innocently’ passing off slanderous lies? I suppose Republicans don’t have any credibility left so they just don’t care anymore.

Posted by: jhw539 | September 30, 2009, 8:09 pm 8:09 pm

In order for the Afghan government to hold onto power, it would be necessary to supply them with tanks, helicopters, and other heavy weapons. The US, quite rationally, is not willing to do so.
It is time to leave.

Posted by: Flash Override | September 30, 2009, 9:00 pm 9:00 pm

Another American died in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the final day of September–and exactly one month after the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan sent a confidential war assessment to the Obama administration, warning that more forces are needed–soon.
Foraatayh-three good men have died since the request for reinforcements was made. And the president goes on David Letterman, then jets off to Copenhagen .

Posted by: Fascist Hyena | September 30, 2009, 9:48 pm 9:48 pm

How come everybody acted so precipitately on ACORN, when the claim that the tapes were altered was just getting traction?
Why didn’t they insist that Fox release the full tapes?
Weakness in the White House, I guess…

Posted by: Fascist Hyena | September 30, 2009, 9:49 pm 9:49 pm

This meeting should have been held months ago-without the interview with McCrystal it probably never would have happened.This is symptomatic of the chaos in the White House,where a group of incompetents can only react to events,but never anticipate what needs to be done prior to being forced by events to do something.How many more Americans are going to die before this “intellectual” can bring himself to make a decision about what we are going to do in Afghanistan.It seems to me that he said during the campaign that the focus of our anti-terrorist efforts should be in Afghanistan.Since he took office the military situation has gone to hell there.By all accounts it is much worse than the administration has admitted.Apparently the campaign rhetoric meant nothing-it is blatantly obvious that neither the President or his advisors have any idea WHAT to do.This country can now see what an absolutely awful job the press did in investigating this amateur who has no experience in running anything or frankly producing anything.He can’t do it-unfortunately he is not intellegent enough for the joband doesn’t have the leadership skills to fake it.

Posted by: Nephron | September 30, 2009, 11:17 pm 11:17 pm

Since he took office the military situation has gone to hell there. Posted by: Nephron
yeah,..just ignore those 8 years of Bush malfeasance,
so, the new ‘standard’ is resolving wars in 9 months , eh? Doesn’t place the Repub’s in a good light after all this time…
it would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetically shallow in the ‘analysis’

Posted by: Po'd | October 1, 2009, 1:55 am 1:55 am

Foraatayh-three good men have died since the request for reinforcements was made. And the president goes on David Letterman, then jets off to Copenhagen .
Posted by: Fascist Hyena
where was all the ‘faux-outrage’ when the brush clearer/decider in chief was in china
..when old Mr. Bush League partied in China for about 4 days at the Olympics while the economy was heading to the toilet and there were 2 wars going on.. that was OK……. but hey, he was a compassionate conservative dedicated to ruining America… which was in the final analysis…… mission accomplished
Republican’s now root against America every chance they get… they think it’s patriotic to stand against healthcare reform, they enjoy seeing citizens suffer

Posted by: Et Tu Brute | October 1, 2009, 1:59 am 1:59 am

Since authorizing a new commander for Afghanistan, how many times has Obama talked with him? Once.
How many times has Obama played golf? Eighteen holes 4-5 times a week.
Parties with Hollywood? Every Wednesday.
Making sure our troops have what they need? Let’s rethink the policy we started to implement 6 months ago.
His military commanders with the most experience all state more troops are needed. His political advisors say it’s time to cut and run.
Obama can’t decide. Support our troops or support his left wing base.

Posted by: Oops | October 1, 2009, 2:17 am 2:17 am

this is the Obama equlvalent being negileint leading up to 9/11 they need to go into afganistan full force because the Health Care bill is DOA anyway… the principles are just stalling on it… Hillary will tackle health care in 2012 or 2016

Posted by: JG | October 1, 2009, 2:18 am 2:18 am

as I said”many moons ago” in the primaries, a President Obama would mirror President Bush because its simply the left getting back at the right

Posted by: JG | October 1, 2009, 2:20 am 2:20 am

“Republican’s now root against America every chance they get”
No, Obama states Rep policies while the bills he wants to pass do nothing of the sort.
Obama and Reps want a healthcare bill that doesn’t add to the deficit. Yet all the bills Obama wants to pass have large deficits.
Obama and Reps don’t want to increase taxes. Yet Obama’s bills all include higher taxes for all.
Obama and Reps don’t want to provide health insurance for people here illegally. Yet Obama’s bills deny anyone from verification of citizenship.
The list goes on and on. He says one thing and does another.

Posted by: Oops | October 1, 2009, 2:28 am 2:28 am

Let’s rethink the policy we started to implement 6 months ago
Posted by: Oops
took Bush 4 years to figure out he made a mistake and was needlessly getting americans killed in Iraq, before someone told him what to do to attempt make a correction….
re: ‘Making sure our troops have what they need?
you need to check out some of Rumsfeld’s sad quotes….. amazing how soon the ‘right’ fails the test of remembering the last 8 years

Posted by: Rummey's dilemma | October 1, 2009, 2:29 am 2:29 am

this is the Obama equlvalent being negileint leading up to 9/11……..Posted by: JG
at least some one admits bush was negligent,
Obama has kept america safer longer than bush & ‘shooter’ did…..
and,..just arrested a bunch of folks without torture or invading another country….

Posted by: jack daniels | October 1, 2009, 2:35 am 2:35 am

Obama stated we needed to get out of Iraq because Al Qaida wasn’t there and Iraq was simply a civil war.
He was wrong. Al Qaida was there and was trying its bst to foment a civil war.
Obama stated the surge in Iraq not only wouldn’t improve the situation. The surge would make things worse in Iraq. He was wrong and to this day hasn’t admitted his mistake.
Obama stated we needed to put more troops in Afghanistan. One problem. There isn’t any Al Qaida there and it IS a civil war.
The Left stated they were tough and they wouln’t cut and run in Afghanistan. Dems could fight a war much better than Bush. Oops. Looks like all their political leaders want to cut and run…

Posted by: Oops | October 1, 2009, 2:44 am 2:44 am

Did the Dems back the solution that finally worked in Iraq?
No

Posted by: Oops | October 1, 2009, 2:48 am 2:48 am

jack daniels
yea but the Pres is too busy trying to walk the center line or walk a tight rope on the health care thing… careful not to scare the insurance companies into realizing that they have to give back some profits to help pay for things and if he authorizes an escalation in afganistan… there goes the Healh care money… really…Congress has never successfully tackled waste fraud and abuse… thats a myth as far as savign money on medicare

Posted by: JG | October 1, 2009, 2:55 am 2:55 am

just arrested a bunch of folks without torture or invading another country….
Obama policy does not allow any “torture” at Guantanamo. He prefers to send a missile to kill instead. No need to torture a corpse. No need for a judge or jury either.
Oh, any suspects captured overseas go to Bagram air base in Afghanistan instead where they are treated far worse than Guantanamo.

Posted by: Oops | October 1, 2009, 2:56 am 2:56 am

Why add troops to Afghanistan when it’s only the commander on the ground that’s requesting them?
Doesn’t the commander know Obama has declared there isn’t any “war on terror”, only “man caused disasters”?
Doesn’t the commander know Obama is not interested in victory, only results?

Posted by: Oops | October 1, 2009, 3:11 am 3:11 am

Obama the candidate stated HE would get Nato to increase their commitment to troop levels in Afghanistan.
Seen any lately?

Posted by: Oops | October 1, 2009, 3:17 am 3:17 am

OBAMA SHOULD CONTINUE WITH HIS WORK AS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER AND LEAVE THE FED TO THOSE WHO HAVE SOME IDEA OF WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T WORK.

Posted by: Temagami | October 1, 2009, 6:03 am 6:03 am

Is it time for a shift in strategy towards the Taliban? Shall we award them “gold stars and smiley faces” like we are attempting with the war criminals running Sudan?
—Obama’s special envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, said this week that in dealing with rogue states like Sudan, “We’ve got to think about giving out cookies…Kids, countries, they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement.”—

Posted by: Appeasement Czar | October 1, 2009, 10:38 am 10:38 am

Obama the candidate stated HE would get Nato to increase their commitment to troop levels in Afghanistan.
Seen any lately?
______________________________________
There currently are 65,000 U.S. troops and 39,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Posted by: tierra | October 1, 2009, 11:03 am 11:03 am

Congress has never successfully tackled waste fraud and abuse.
Posted by: JG
I will agree with you here…. much greater effort can be made to clean up just about everything

Posted by: jack daniels | October 1, 2009, 12:54 pm 12:54 pm

Doesn’t the commander know Obama is not interested in victory,
Posted by: Oops
‘intsersing’ concept… republican ‘victory’
8+ years in Afghanistan
5+ years in Iraq
no end in sight.. and.. 1 of the wars, Iraq, was a strategic blunder

Posted by: Rummey's dilemma | October 1, 2009, 1:00 pm 1:00 pm

Has Iraq improved in the last 2 years? Have the attacks gone down to where local commanders are recommending drawdowns ahead of schedule?
When did Obama say all the troops will leave Afghanistan? What is his plan?
Play hoops or golf while no decision on whether he should trust the judgement of his own commander stating we need reinforcements NOW !

Posted by: Oops | October 1, 2009, 11:52 pm 11:52 pm

tierra US have added 20,000 troops this year. How many fighting troops has NATO added this year?
I’ve heard of NATO troop announced withdrawals but no sizeable additions since Obama has taken office.

Posted by: Oops | October 1, 2009, 11:56 pm 11:56 pm

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