Obama's Afghanistan Strategy: More Troops Now, Withdraw in 2011

On Tuesday evening President Obama spoke at the United States Military Academy about his strategy for the conflict in Afghanistan. Among his major points were that he plans to deploy 30,000 additional troops starting in January and that he hopes the U.S. can start withdrawing troops by July, 2011. This depends, however, on the situation in Afghanistan at that time, as there will be no withdrawal if conditions have not improved from their present state. In his speech Obama also said that U.S. forces will be assisted by NATO troops and that he most of the U.S. troops can be withdrawn by the end of his first term (January, 2013). More information can be found at http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/01/obama.afghanistan/index/html. I doubt that we will be able to withdraw these troops as early as Obama suggests, as January 2010 to July 2011 doesn't seem like enough time for the Afghans to begin managing their own situation. I guess only time will tell.