An intermediate course (of action, policy etc) between two extremes; a compromise
Obama's choice, according to McChrystal, a former special forces commander, boils down to this: Escalate or evacuate, get on or get out; there is no middle way that does not invite calamity on a grand scale.
1. A policy or course of action which avoids extremes: there is no middle way between central planning and capitalism.2 (The Middle Way) the eightfold path of Buddhism between indulgence and asceticism