It should surprise no one that Obama is petitioning Congress for $83.4b in special war funds which would bring funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to $150b in 2009, and, in the words of Lynn Woolsey ( D-CA) "prolong our occupation of Iraq through at least the end of 2011, and... deepen and expand our military presence in Afghanistan indefinitely."

Obama spent much of his celebrated campaign tour of Europe promising to wage more and better war in Afghanistan.  I wrote about it here, here and here, but don't take my word for it.  From his much-praised speech in Berlin:

This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.

And he spent much of his first trip abroad as President beating the war drum, too. After announcing a new Afghanistan strategy last week that includes increasing troop levels in the region he told students In Strasbourg: ""Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder the burden [in Afghanistan] alone."  It was not entirely clear to Europe why not.

Whether the war in Afghanistan is actually any more just than the one in Iraq is a legitimate question, but as strategy its continuation is both a way for Obama to hedge his bets in Iraq, and to strengthen his hand domestically where there's perceived doubt about his testosterone levels.

Afghanistan will end a debacle, that's guaranteed, but President Obama can pipeline funds and pump troops in to prolong the inevitable — at least until, say, November 2012, or so.