The recent leak of a confidential assessment of the situation by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the man Mr. Obama hired to turn around and win the war says,

"This new strategy must also be properly resourced and executed through an integrated civilian-military counterinsurgency campaign that earns the support of the Afghan people and provides them with a secure environment,"

Nowhere in McChrystal's memo did the words "Al Qaeda" appear. The definition of what it means to defeat Al Qaeda had expanded - from disrupting, capturing, or killing its operatives to creating conditions that wouldn't allow their return.

Shouldn't the key words here be put together like this;  We should be creating conditions that prevent a return of the Al Qaeda?

What or who caused the conditions as such to allow the Al Qaeda's growth?

Remember back in 2001 after being attacked on 9/11 when form President George W Bush gave the Taliban the ultimatum to turn over the members of the Al Qaeda?  Here is part of the transcript from his announcement as we started bombing in Afghanistan:

"On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against Al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

"These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime.

"We are joined in this operation by our staunch friend, Great Britain. Other close friends, including Canada, Australia, Germany and France, have pledged forces as the operation unfolds.

"More than 40 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and across Asia have granted air transit or landing rights. Many more have shared intelligence. We are supported by the collective will of the world.

"More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and specific demands: Close terrorist training camps. Hand over leaders of the Al Qaeda network. And return all foreign nationals, including American citizens, unjustly detained in their country.

"None of these demands was met. And now, the Taliban will pay a price.

It seems to me that now that Al Qaeda is all but eliminated from Afghanistan, unless we have proof that the Taliban are harboring some of them, we've more than made the Taliban "pay the price".

However, if the reason the Al Qaeda were able to gather so much strength in the beginning is because of the Taliban and their help - then the Taliban must also be eliminated or their chances of controlling the nation must be stopped -- or we risk having them allow the Al Qaeda back into their country to set up camps once again.

President Obama has defined the mission in Afghanistan as rooting out Al Qaeda and preventing a return of the Taliban to power.

He must stand by his words or lose any credibility he might have with this nation and the world.

How he accomplishes that goal is another story.  I'm more than willing to allow him time to do so.  The troops that he authorized to be sent over earlier this year have not all arrived yet.  Yet there are those pushing for even more troops.

These same people are the ones that allowed the Bush/Cheney administration a full 8 years without demanding more in Afghanistan -- in fact they claimed victory with in the first few months.  And now we're supposed to listen to their wishes this time around? 

I don't think so!