WEST POINT, N.Y.  President Obama announced Tuesday that he would speed 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in coming months, but he vowed to start bringing American forces home in the middle of 2011, saying the United States could not afford and should not have to shoulder an open-ended commitment.
Promising that he could “bring this war to a successful conclusion,” Mr. Obama set out a strategy that would seek to reverse Taliban gains in large parts of Afghanistan, better protect the Afghan people, increase the pressure on Afghanistan to build its own military capacity and a more effective government and step up attacks on Al Qaeda in Pakistan.
“America, we are passing through a time of great trial,” Mr. Obama said. “And the message that we send in the midst of these storms must be clear: that our cause is just, our resolve unwavering.”
The military escalation Mr. Obama described and defended in his speech to a national television audience and 4,000 cadets at the United States Military Academy here, the culmination of a review that lasted three months, could well prove to be the most consequential decision of Mr. Obama’s presidency.
U.S. President Obama delivers his speech. 

Tuesday evening, United States President Barack Obama went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, to deliver a televised address to announce his new approach to the War in Afghanistan.

President Obama announced an increase of 30,000 US troops to be sent to Afghanistan. 

"The 30,000 additional troops that I am announcing tonight will deploy in the first part of 2010 – the fastest pace possible – so that they can target the insurgency and secure key population centers. They will increase our ability to train competent Afghan Security Forces, and to partner with them so that more Afghans can get into the fight. And they will help create the conditions for the United States to transfer responsibility to the Afghans," said the President.
 
"These additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011.

Obama said that Afghanistan is not another Vietnam War and that the best approach is not to leave. However, he rejected a semi-permanent US presence that exceeds US needs and capabilities.

He said the US must be nimble and concise in combating Al-Qaeda wherever it might appear.

Obama said that America has underwritten global security for more than 60 years and that America seeks a better future that can only be achieved if "other peoples' children can live in freedom."