Barack Obama is seeking to win over his own Democratic party as he prepares to announce a troop increase in Afghanistan in perhaps the biggest decision of his presidency to date.
In a speech to cadets and officers at the West Point academy on Tuesday evening, Mr Obama is due to authorise the dispatch of a brigade of 9,000 or more marines to the south of Afghanistan, as well as announcing the deployment of accompanying army brigades. The president will have to overcome considerable suspicions within the ranks of his own party about the new course, which could affect his re-election hopes as well as America’s standing in the world.
