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Buildup of US Troops in Afghanistan May Be Just the Start
U.S. general says more soldiers may be need, sees commitment lasting 3 to 5 more years
WASHINGTON - A day after President Barack Obama ordered additional troops to Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander there said he may need still more troops in coming months to bolster an intensified war effort that could last as long as five additional years.
US soldiers in Khost province in 2008. A day after President Barack Obama ordered additional troops to Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander there said he may need still more troops in coming months to bolster an intensified war effort that could last as long as five additional years. (AFP/File/David Furst) Gen. David McKiernan plans to use the 17,000 additional soldiers and Marines being sent by Obama to try to break an impasse in fighting with the Taliban in the southern part of the country.
"What this allows us to do is change the dynamics of the security situation, predominantly in southern Afghanistan, where we are at best stalemated," McKiernan said.
The new deployments, raising the overall U.S. troop level to about 55,000, will fulfill military needs through Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election, McKiernan said. But he held open the possibility of additional troop requests.
McKiernan said that last year, he had forecast the need for an additional 30,000 troops for 2009 and beyond. The deployment of 17,000 troops ordered Tuesday, combined with the earlier assignment of about an Army brigade of 3,500 from the 10th Mountain Division, provides two-thirds of the forecast need, he said.
The remaining number, about 10,000, could be sought later this year or next year if military reviews indicate the need for them, McKiernan said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that the administration would not consider further troop requests until after completion of a strategy review in April. Gates, who is traveling to a NATO meeting in Poland, also said he plans to press allies this week to follow the U.S. example and do more in Afghanistan.
McKiernan acknowledged limits to how many foreign forces the Afghan people would tolerate. But he said the troops could help stabilize the country while local and international officials work on governance, economic development and security force increases.
"I would like to reinforce what the president has said, that this is not going to be won by military forces alone," McKiernan said.
He also cautioned that the additional forces do not represent a troop surge but an intensified war effort that may last for years.
"This is not a temporary force uplift. It's going to need to be sustained for some period of time," he said, defining the period as "the next three to four or five years."
He described the extremist insurgency as resilient and said the U.S. and its allies do not have enough forces in the southern part of the country, the stronghold of the Taliban.
McKiernan said U.S. commanders also remain troubled by extremists in sanctuaries along the Afghan-Pakistan border and expressed concern about this week's cease-fire between Islamabad and militants in Pakistan's Swat Valley, about 100 miles from the nation's capital.
"We're going to watch this very carefully and see how that does affect the insurgency on the Afghan side of the border," McKiernan said.
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16 Comments so far
Show Allcontrol through chaos. the powers that be do not want to ever leave. the endless chess game continues. this is insanity. there is no military victory in afghanistan. the neolibs are on the march with their own form of nation building. positioning holbrooke should have told all of you something. he was also nick named the bull dozer.
One early condition of this should be, if we are truly a democracy, to have a national military lottery, a draft. At the moment our military is composed mostly of "dead end kids," young men and women who can't find jobs because they have done poorly in school, have not graduated or barely graduated high school, have not been trained in skills for which they are fit, or are otherwise "dead-ended," are outsiders for one reason or another. Many of them fate themselves with an early death anyway so they join the military to complete their own myth, or because they believe the come-ons used by the military such as becoming better, yearning for advanced education but don’t stand a chance to achieve it. Few take college courses while in, few advance themselves, and many are relegated to be what they wish they were not.
Every (all) young men or women should somehow serve their country as young people used to, a misty two years (minimum) of service in the military or otherwise and on their departure should receive full health care support and the highest education possible. That’s the way to build a strong and competent people for a strong and competent nation.
But the question still remains to be asked: What are your best and most intelligent reasons for continuing war and killing millions more people? Are they justifiable?
Let’s keep the service element anyway.
Bringing back conscription is like lighting a stick of dynamite and telling it not to explode. Even George Wanker Bush, one of the most compelling morons of our time, didn't try it. Neither will Obama. If he makes the attempt, he's done.
The scary thing is idiot Demorats like Charles Schumer support the draft with the mistaken idea it would reduce war by involving all classes of society in combat. In fact nothing would further from the truth, children of the elite if drafted at all (doubtful to begin with) will be given cushy office jobs in military administration or designing weapons. Charles Schumer is an utter fool or tool, take your pick.
Pierre- the draft becomes mandatory when people refuse to voluteer. Why do they refuse? Because the wars are unpopular. Why so unpopular? Because it is WRONG. People are sick and tired of needless war- and if they try to draft people for more war... WATCH OUT. There is a finite limit to what the People will take from the State, which in the US is supposed to be of and for the People. You may NOT have MY sons.
With the way the economy is tanking, we shouldn't have to worry about a draft because enlistments will provide a job.
Buildup of US Troops in Afghanistan May Be Just the Start
U.S. general says more soldiers may be needed, sees commitment lasting 300 to 500 more years.
As far back as 2007, Obama pledged to increase active duty troops by 90,000. He also pledged to increase the Peace Corps and Americorps two-fold. These two “peace” models, accompanied by Obama’s plan to create a “Voicecorps”, will become the recruitment tools to pull the “best and brightest” non-military types into America’s current war of democratization and liberalization… ie the long-term goal of a secure route from the Bosporus to Mosul to Baku. Kabul and Baghdad; just the keystone.
So is this the only way to restore jobs? WAR?
Let's just surrender and get out of there now.
Cut our losses and spend the money on solar and wind instead of world war for oil.
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Great idea! But solar power is best located on your roof, in your backyard, on YOUR property. How's Chairman Crunk™ going to get his cut of that?
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"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.", Albert Einstein.
Ed note: white phosphorous, dense metal super weapons, nuclear stick-up, missile defense, bailouts and propaganda!!
'Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.' - William Penn
a-real: interesting quote, i thought it came from the koran, sharia law says the same thing, in not so many words. perhaps willliam penn was muslim.
He was a Quaker and founded Pennsylvania -- but then, I guess you knew that.
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There's a glory in the morning because the earth turns 'round and a promise in the evening when the sun goes down
Have you seen pictures of Soviet tanks and trucks crossing a bridge back to the Soviet Union after their defeat in Afganistan? U.S. troops may eventually have to cross that same bridge to escape from Afganistan but the Russians may demand that any weapons be left behind.
kay; that is part of the problem, there is no way out. a strategic plus for the indigenous people. that is why they want to carve baluchistan out of pakistan. gateway to the ocean for the afghan pipelines, and supply route.
More Manpower To make sure the Opium Supply Routes stay open