President Barack Obama responded to questions about troop levels in Afghanistan on September 16, "My determination is to get this right. There is no immediate decision pending on resources, because one of the things I'm absolutely clear about is you have to get the strategy right." Despite pressure from different parts of the political spectrum, he is pursuing a deliberate process of careful analysis before making a decision on the role we will play in Afghanistan's future. This may be the most important decision he will make in his young presidency.

The Afghanistan War, begun in October 2001 by George Bush, has become Obama's War. The original mission was to capture Osama Bin-Laden, "dead or alive," to destroy al-Qaeda, and to drive the Taliban out of the country. After eight years, Bin-Laden and al-Qaeda remain at large in the mountainous border areas of Pakistan. The Taliban, subdued initially, have returned with a vengeance in the southern and eastern regions of the country. In March, President Obama declared the Afghan war a "war of necessity" and sent 21,000 additional troops, raising the level to 68,000 troops. His rationale was to protect civilians and maintain a level of security and stability for the national elections to take place on August 20. However, the re-election of President Hamid Karzai was marred by rampant charges of fraud leading to on-going investigations. The Karzai government is recognized as corrupt and ineffective in meeting the needs of the Afghan people. His re-election promises more of the same.

President Obama is wise in taking his time to make his second major decision on Afghanistan. The past two months have been the deadliest for our military since the war began. The Taliban are skillful and wily fighters, with roadside bombs taking a steady toll. Total casualties are over 756 dead and 2,379 wounded. On September 28, General Stanley McChrystal, commander in Afghanistan, submitted a troop request to the Pentagon that offered a range of options. These include: increasing troop levels by as many as 40,000; increases of lower numbers of troops, and a proposal to redeploy troops already there from the rural areas to the urban centers at Kabul and Kandahar.

McChrystal has challenged his commanders on the ground to measure the effectiveness of their troops in the anti-Taliban effort. Called "force optimization," he charged them with finding l0 percent savings in troop numbers not organized as efficiently as possible. The purpose would be to reassign them to protect urban centers, train Afghan security forces and guard against roadside bombs. In his overall troop request, General McChrystal has presented different levels of troops with different goals and different risks over 12 to 18 months. Senior Pentagon officials said the troop efficiency study would provide guidance on redeploying or replacing forces while staying under the 68,000 level. One administration official described the 40,000 number as "we're in this to win."

Other advisers do not see the future in Afghanistan as "winning or losing." They heard the message from the Taliban leader, Mullah Oman on September 20, who warned that the United States and NATO should study Afghanistan's long history of war with foreign forces. He began with the Pashtun tribesmen stopping Alexander the Great and continued, "We would like to point out that we fought against the British invaders for 80 years from l839 to l9l9 and ultimately got independence. Today we have strong determination, military training and effective weapons. Still more we have preparedness for a long war and the regional situation is in our favor. Therefore, we will continue to wage jihad until we gain independence and force the invaders to pull out."

As President Obama reevaluates the goals he set in March and weighs the options set forth by General McChrystal and other top generals in the military, he is also listening to opinions and advice from Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, members of Congress and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Secretary Gates has said, "We're in the middle of a process of evaluation, really, the decisions the president made in late March to say, 'Have we got the strategy right?' And once we're confident we have the strategy right, then we'll address the question of additional resources."

Vice President Biden, who was against the troop build-up in March, remains committed to a strategy that focuses on destroying al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan. He cites the use of missile strikes and CIA drone aircraft that have been successful in killing Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders in both countries. Colin Powell, John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, General James Jones, the national security adviser and Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff, all have expressed degrees of doubt to President Obama about adding forces in Afghanistan. Colin Powell, spoke with reporters before a speech in California. He said, "The question the president has to answer is, 'What will more troops do?' You have to not just add troops. You need a clear definition of your mission and then you can determine whether you need more troops or other resources." Senator Kerry has warned against repeating the mistakes of Vietnam where he served. "In Vietnam, the underlying assumptions were flawed," he said, "and the number of troops weren't going to make a difference."

"Lessons in Disaster" by Gordon Goldstein and McGeorge Bundy has been called a "must-read book" for President Obama at this crucial decision-making time on Afghanistan. Bundy, the national security adviser for Kennedy and Johnson during the Vietnam war, and Goldstein, a foreign policy scholar, write in the first chapter how a young President Kennedy in l961 weighed whether to send combat troops into Vietnam during his first months in office. The Joint Chiefs, Secretaries of Defense and State all supported sending combat troops. Only George Ball, the undersecretary of state dissented. Ball predicted, "Within five years we'll have 300,000 men in the paddies and jungles and never find them again." Kennedy finally decided not to authorize combat troops. He restricted the United States' military role to advisory missions. After his death in l963, that policy was reversed. Goldstein writes, "Counselors advise but presidents decide."

Joyce S. Anderson is the author of "Courage in High Heels," "Flaw in the Tapestry," "If Winter Comes" and "The Mermaids Singing." She can be reached at JSAWrite@aol.com.