Do we have the patience?

Sometimes, what you inherit becomes yours.

Increasingly, the War in Afghanistan is becoming President Obama's war and may wind up defining his presidency more than health care or economic recovery.

The president is expected to announce today his military strategy for Afghanistan. Based on advice from his military and national security advisors, it appears all of the options placed on the table for him involved an escalation of troops, from a low of 30,000 to perhaps as many as 100,000. The strategy is expected to focus less on defeating the Taliban and its al-Queda puppetmasters than it is on providing security for the people of Afghanistan. Currently, only about half the population and one third of that beleagured country are under U.S. control.

But the people of Afghanistan seem underwhelmed by America's effort to save them, the government we're supporting is hopelessly corrupt, U.S. casualties are rising and support for the war is waning among the American people. America is war weary and our magnificent military is getting burned out with constant deployments.

We can rehash forever the arguments about how we got here and what we should have done in the past, but Obama's decision will determine the future. Where we go from here is what is important.

Since withdrawal is not among the options on the table, some form of "victory" will be sought, but the questions are -- how will we define victory, what will the costs be, and how long will it take to achieve it?

Even the Afghan government says it will be at least five more years before it can take over its own security operations. That's at least five more years of casualties and frustration as we try and drag a nation happily living in the sixth century into the 21st.

The question then becomes, does the American people have the will and resolve to see this tragedy played out until the end, or will we abandon the commitments we made eight years ago in the belief that it just isn't worth it?

-- Kelly Everitt