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In September with the war in Afghanistan soon to enter its ninth year, and U.S. commanders broadcasting a need for vital resources to reverse a losing effort, President Obama made a curious appeal: he asked General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, to hold off the formal submission of his resource request to the White House. Apparently, the president needed time to think about the war without being distracted by the war. The commander in chief’s posture in September seemed even more curious given the certainty with which he took the reins in Afghanistan in January. Only a few months into his presidency, Barack Obama announced a bold new plan and a fresh command team to turn around the war, sent 21,000 additional troops to the theater, and appointed the very commander whose request he wished to postpone.

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