Senior officials say new President will focus more on war, less on development
Forget the velvet glove, America’s Afghanistan policy will be all iron fist from now on. President Obama intends to make a sharp break from his predecessor’s strategy-committing more troops and focusing exclusively on the war. That means the development and reconstruction programs that have been a staple of Canada’s involvement will be put on the backburner. And Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been put on notice that he will lose Western backing unless he cracks down on the rampant corruption in his government.