December 1, 2009 10:09 p.m. EST

Washington, DC (AHN) - President Barack Obama at his address at West Point tonight met Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's request for tens of thousands of additional troops to fight the war in Afghanistan.

The President's speech reaffirmed the March 2009 core goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and eventually defeat al Qaeda and to prevent their return to either Afghanistan or Pakistan.

President Obama outlined much-expected surge in forces, to target elements of the insurgency and securing key population centers, training Afghan forces, transferring responsibility to a capable Afghan partner, and last but not the least "increasing our partnership with Pakistanis who are facing the same threats." The region from which the U.S. was attacked on 9/11, would be prevented from going back to the older days again as the Taliban tries to turn Afghanistan back into a safe haven from which international terrorists can strike at the U.S. or allies.

With Al Qaeda remaining in Pakistan where they continue to plot attacks and where they and their extremist allies pose a threat to the Pakistani state, the President announced the U.S. goal in Pakistan to ensure that al Qaeda is defeated and Pakistan remains stable. The President has decided to deploy an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. These troops will deploy on an accelerated timeline to reinforce the 68,000 Americans and 39,000 non-U.S. ISAF troops already there with the aim to "target the insurgency, break its momentum, and better secure population centers."

The President announced that the U.S. would maintain this increased force level for the next 18 months and "beginning in July 2011, we will transfer lead security responsibility to Afghans and start to transition our combat forces out of Afghanistan."

The President called his new strategy as aimed at the security of London and Madrid; of Paris and Berlin; of Prague, New York, and broader collective security.

To cancel the allegations of corruption in the central government, the American president put emphasis on governance efforts to "developing more responsive, visible, and accountable institutions at the provincial, district, and local level, where everyday Afghans encounter their government." "We will also encourage and support the Afghan Government's reinvigorated plans to fight corruption, with concrete measures of progress toward greater accountability." With a pragmatic perspective in mind the president said that the most the United States can hope to achieve in Afghanistan is to pacify the countryside and empower the military and police sufficiently so that the Taliban doesn't reopen the country to internationally minded jihadis like Al Qaeda.