McChrystal Waits for Obama's West Point Speech Tuesday

 Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will lay out his strategy for the war in Afghanistan on Dec. 1 in a nationwide address from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

“The American people are going to want to know why we’re here, they’re going to want to know what our interests are, and the president is going to walk through the decision-making process,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters.

“We’re in the ninth year of our efforts in Afghanistan,” Gibbs said. “The president does not see this as an open-ended engagement.”

After months of review, Obama held his final session with his top foreign policy advisers and military commanders this week, including General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan. The talks now focus on adding 30,000 to 35,000 U.S. troops, according to a U.S. official.

McChrystal cautioned in August that the situation in Afghanistan, where a Taliban insurgency has gained strength, was “serious” and required a revised strategy.