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On December 1st, President Obama announced plans to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, escalating the military conflict, instead of working to end it. Details of an exit strategy were restricted to a date for troop removal to begin, and a diplomatic strategy for reconciliation between Afghanistan's warring factions was barely mentioned.

But Congress can still reject or limit the troop increase. To do this, however, Congress would have to move up the debate and vote on the emergency war funding that the Pentagon is preparing, which typically would not be considered until sometime in the spring after many of the additional troops have been sent to Afghanistan. If Congress waits to debate the issue, it will have little power over the deployment of additional troops.

Urge your Representative and Senators to support a debate and vote now on the President's plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.