Obama presidency ‘hobbled by discord’ according to book

Barack Obama's presidency is hobbled by discord, according to a new book, Obama's Wars. Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

The Obama presidency is hobbled by discord and mutual contempt among its senior policy-makers and top generals according to a new book which is likely to damage the administration in November's congressional elections and undermine its efforts in Afghanistan.

The book, Obama's Wars, by the veteran investigative journalist Bob Woodward, is out on Monday, but extracts published overnight by the Washington Post and the New York Times make it clear that it will hurt the administration in the runup to mid-term elections, in which Democrats are already struggling and in which they are expected to lose control of the House of Representatives.

The book also portrays a president anxious to pull US troops out of Afghanistan as soon as possible, and at odds with his military commanders and some senior advisers, who openly question whether his strategy will work. It is likely to be read as evidence that the attempt to divide the Taliban is having more success dividing Washington.

Woodward appears to have had access to secret memos and accounts of sensitive discussions within the administration as it tried to decide on its Afghanistan strategy a year ago. It is already known that the generals asked for more troops than the 30,000 finally agreed by Obama, and that vice-president Joe Biden argued for a more limited war effort aimed principally at targeting al-Qaida. Woodward reveals that Obama resolved the dispute by designing his blueprint, a six-page document which he presented to his White House staff on 29 November. It approved the extra troops but laid down sharp restrictions on what the military could and could not do in Afghanistan.