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Title: Pentagon Plans to Send More Than 12,000 Additional Troops to Afghanistan
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URL Source: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news ... nal-troops-to-afghanistan.html
Published: Aug 20, 2008
Author: Anna Mulrine
Post Date: 2008-08-20 18:26:26 by christine
Keywords: None
Views: 144
Comments: 13
The Pentagon will be sending 12,000 to 15,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, possibly as soon as the end of this year, with planning underway for a further force buildup in 2009. A request by Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, for three U.S. brigades with support staff has been approved. "Now that means we just need to figure out a way to get them there," adds a senior defense official. The troops are slated to arrive earlier than has been previously discussed, on the heels of the deadliest months for American forces in Afghanistan since the war began. The first wave of soldiers will be a U.S. Army brigade from the 10th Mountain Division, according to a senior military official. This brigade is scheduled to ship out between November and January, while two other brigades are likely to arrive "sometime in the spring or summer of next year," the official adds. And there may be even more to come. "I've also asked for some additional forces on top of that for the current fight," says McKiernan, who wants to bolster the 101st Airborne Division in Regional Command East, which has been rocked by recent insurgent attacks. In July, nine U.S. troops were killed by insurgents who overran a combat outpost on the Kunar border of eastern Afghanistan. This week, militants tried but failed to overrun a base in Khost, just a few miles from the border, launching waves of attacks just before midnight on Monday. Finding those particular troops to supplement the 101st, however, depends on conditions and troop levels in Iraq, adds McKiernan, who took over the NATO command in June. "That's really a zero-sum decision." He disputes the notion that the three brigades on the way represent a troop "surge" for Afghanistan, predicting the need for an extended involvement of a larger force. "I've certainly said that we need more security capabilities," he says. "But I would not use the term 'surge,' because I think we need a sustained presence." Both major U.S. presidential candidates have called for putting a greater military emphasis on Afghanistan, and it now appears that whoever wins the election will inherit a growing war already underway. In March, 3,500 troops from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived to bolster NATO forces. Originally slated to return to the U.S. in October, they have seen their tour extended by one month. The three additional brigades would considerably increase the U.S. force presence in Afghanistan, which currently stands at 34,000. Of these, 15,000 U.S. troops are under NATO command, while an additional 19,000 operate independently, primarily in the volatile eastern border region. There has been growing concern that there are too few NATO troops to take on an emboldened Taliban. In some cases, the warlords directing attacks on American forces are the same ones the CIA backed in the 1980s when they fought Soviet troops occupying Afghanistan. Some U.S. military officials express skepticism, however, about the impact more U.S. troops can make seven years into the war, in a large country that has grown increasingly violent—with citizens, they add, who are increasingly disillusioned. "I don't know if it's too late," says a senior military official. "But it's going to be much, much harder to turn things around at this point." U.S. military officials are particularly concerned about the sharp spike in roadside bombs, up "30 to 40 percent" over last year, says McKiernan. "It's the largest casualty-producing event in Afghanistan." Causing that spike is what McKiernan describes as the "deteriorating condition" of the ungoverned tribal areas of Pakistan, with a porous border that facilitates the planting of such bombs. Clearing up ungoverned lands rife with insurgents in Pakistan, McKiernan says, is pivotal to improving security in Afghanistan. "We have a cross-border firing incident out of Pakistan almost daily, and unfortunately those aren't diminishing," he adds. "There are militant sanctuaries in Pakistan, and they operate at will." A U.S. Marine from C company 1/6 24 MEU patrols a poppy field in Garmser, southern Helmand, Afghanistan.
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#1. To: christine (#0)
love this one
Do You Know What Freedom Really Means? Freedom4um.com
Wish you had'nt posted that.
If all country singers looked as good as Natalie Maines, I'd definitely be a fan of the genre rather than despising it for what it has become in the post-Willie and-Waylon (throw in the great Merle as well) era -- "the soundtrack of American fascism." Of course, the country "music" industry ran her out of it.
“I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man.” - Sam Houston
Cyni - you know that I wish I didn't have to. I wish that the 'chicks didn't have to write and record it.
Lod... Brought back too many personal memories of WW2 and Korea. Overwhelming to anyone that survived and saw others lost. We have learned nothing and the future looks darker, not brighter.
What an awesome song. Reckon I am gonna have to invest in some Dixie Chicks CDs...that ending just gave me chills.
We have to keep the pressure building. Somewhere today, I learned that http://www.wearechangecolorado.org is having a huge 'action' at the DNC with truth/peace activists from Willie Nelson to Alex Jones in attendance and action. Maybe they'll be able to get the 'chicks there. I wish that I could be there.
I don't know where they were playing, but it looked like thousands of people were there who highly approved their message of "No More War." Stop this insane killing. And the ending riff should give us all chills.
I put it up over at war central in one of the killer threads.
Thank you. The people of this planet do NOT want war. It's really not in our best interest.
Lod, Uncle Sam is 100% out of control. I'm beyond disgusted. There is no reason for us to go back to the Cold War or worse.
You, and I, and we completely agree; but since 'war is the health of the state' (and we are one sick puppy) what else are the rulers to do? All we can do is resist, spread the word, and just say NO! Go fight your wars, we've done it long enough, now it's your turn in the trenches. Write us some letters and let us know how it's going.
The perfect place for this one - thank you, christine -
#2. To: lodwick (#1)
#3. To: lodwick (#1)
#4. To: lodwick (#1)
#5. To: Cynicom (#3)
#6. To: lodwick (#5)
#7. To: lodwick (#1)
#8. To: rowdee. Cyni. Sam. christine. all (#7)
#9. To: All (#1)
#10. To: lodwick (#9)
#11. To: buckeye (#10)
#12. To: lodwick (#11)
#13. To: buckeye. peacemakers here (#12)
Uncle Sam is 100% out of control. I'm beyond disgusted. There is no reason for us to go back to the Cold War or worse.
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