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Afghanistan and Pakistan
Main articles: War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and AfPak
Obama after a trilateral meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai (left) and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (right), White House Cabinet Room, May 2009
In his election campaign, Obama called the war in Iraq a "dangerous distraction" and that emphasis should instead be put on the war in Afghanistan,[340] the region he cites as being most likely where an attack against the United States could be launched again.[341] Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. He announced an increase in U.S. troop levels to 17,000 military personnel in February 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires."[342] He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war.