Afstan: President Obama commits 30,000 new troops, all to arrive by mid-2010 (plus some allied contributions).../Update: Ouch!

...and some US forces supposed to start leaving mid-2011. Further to this post,

Afstan: Obamasurge

the text of his speech. And video:

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Plus:

Australia in Afghanistan for long haul: Rudd
* France, Poland likely to increase troops

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd pledged Monday to send more police trainers and civilian aid experts to Afghanistan, saying his country was in it “for the long haul.”

But Rudd, who met in Washington with US President Barack Obama on the eve of his roll-out of a revamped Afghanistan strategy, did not offer more troops beyond 1,550 Australia has already committed [more here, so it looks like some Diggers will not be temporary after all]. He said Obama “fully accepts” that Australia has already boosted its troop levels in Afghanistan by 40 percent, making it among the top ten contributors of forces to the war...

France: France might agree to boost its contingent in Afghanistan but wants any extra troops to focus on training Afghan forces, Le Monde reported Tuesday, citing an aide to President Nicolas Sarkozy. According to the daily, US President Barack Obama has asked his allies to provide 10,000 extra troops for the Afghan campaign, including 1,500 from France, 2,000 from Germany, 1,500 from Italy and 1,000 from Britain...

Poland: Poland will decide within a month whether to beef-up its contingent of 2,000 troops in Afghanistan by up to a thousand new soldiers, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday [they're in Ghazni province]...

Update: A column at Spiegel Online thinks the president laid an egg:

Searching in Vain for the Obama Magic

Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught.

One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama's speech would be well-received.

Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech. But it didn't help: The soldiers' reception was cool.

One didn't have to be a cadet on Tuesday to feel a bit of nausea upon hearing Obama's speech. It was the least truthful address that he has ever held. He spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics. He demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly.

An additional 30,000 US soldiers are to march into Afghanistan -- and then they will march right back out again. America is going to war -- and from there it will continue ahead to peace. It was the speech of a Nobel War Prize laureate...

Ouch! And I tend to agree.