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Title: Mullen Says Close to 30,000 New Soldiers Likely for Afghanistan
Source:
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URL Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news? ... d=afll.9YZiyUY&refer=worldwide
Published: Jan 30, 2009
Author: Ken Fireman
Post Date: 2009-01-30 19:14:52 by Jethro Tull
Keywords: None
Views: 447
Comments: 19
Mullen Says Close to 30,000 New Soldiers Likely for Afghanistan By Ken Fireman Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Admiral Michael Mullen, the most senior American military officer, said the U.S. will probably deploy close to 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to shore up deteriorating security there. In an interview, Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, also said he is hopeful that other NATO nations will contribute additional military and civilian resources this year to the fight against a resurgent Taliban. The Islamist militia, which once ruled Afghanistan and sheltered al-Qaeda, is threatening large areas of the country with mounting attacks. Mullen said the new resources are needed to buy time for a broad, long-term buildup of Afghan security forces that will allow the U.S. to “put an Afghan face” on the effort and dispel perceptions of a foreign occupation. “It’s fine for me to say this isn’t an occupation,” Mullen told Bloomberg editors and reporters yesterday. “But it’s important that the people of Afghanistan don’t think it’s an occupation.” Mullen, 62, has said in recent weeks that the U.S. will probably send between 20,000 and 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan in response to a request from Army General David McKiernan, the American commander there. Yesterday, he said he anticipates the final level will “tend toward the higher number of those two” figures. “I believe it’s not going well,” Mullen said of the Afghan conflict, “which is one of the reasons it’s important that we get these forces moving.” Election Delayed Afghanistan’s presidential election was postponed this week to Aug. 20 from May 22 because of security concerns and logistical difficulties. U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai has been unable to extend his authority much beyond the capital, Kabul, which itself is now menaced by the Taliban. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Jan. 27 Senate hearing that Afghanistan is “our greatest military challenge.” “There is no purely military solution,” Gates said. “But it is also clear that we have not had enough troops to provide a baseline level of security in some of the most dangerous areas.” Mullen said the military’s capacity to fulfill McKiernan’s request remains dependent on its ability to keep withdrawing forces from Iraq. And that, he said, will in turn be shaped by whether Iraq continues to draw back from the sectarian violence that convulsed the country in 2006 and progresses toward political reconciliation along milestones like tomorrow’s provincial elections, which he called “absolutely vital.” Improving Conditions “It would be very difficult to slip back to the chaos that was there in 2006,” Mullen said. “The longer we are able to see conditions continue to improve, those words ‘fragile and reversible’ start to disappear.” He cautioned that hard-core insurgents such as the group Al-Qaeda in Iraq still pose a danger. “They’re very much diminished, but there are still pockets of al-Qaeda, and the potential for major events is still there.” In addition, he said, Iraqi leaders must still resolve some difficult political issues, such as passage of a law that gives all regions and ethnic groups a share of energy revenue and a dispute between Arabs and Kurds over control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. As a consequence, Mullen said, “we are in great part dependent on how the politics play out in 2009” as U.S. leaders consider prospects for new troop withdrawals from Iraq. Deployed Troops There are currently about 142,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq and about 36,000 in Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department. Other North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries have about 30,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, although some of those nations bar their forces from deployment in areas of intense combat. The goal of the buildup in Afghanistan, Mullen said, is to enable the U.S.-led coalition to execute what he called the “classic counter-insurgency” strategy of expelling enemy fighters from an area, holding the territory against new incursions and then building up the area’s economic and physical infrastructure. At present, the coalition has only enough resources to accomplish the first of those three stages, he said. “When we’ve been in situations where we’ve been in combat, we’ve actually been able to significantly impact the Taliban,” he said. “The problem is, we haven’t had enough forces there once that occurs to hold the territory, so that we would then build in the classic counter-insurgency mode.” Tribal Areas Mullen said the situation in Afghanistan is closely linked to events in Pakistan, where Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters are roosting in the rugged mountains of that country’s northwest tribal areas. Mullen has made eight trips to Pakistan in the past year to prod military leaders to take action against the fighters. He said he is encouraged that Pakistani leaders now are serious about battling the insurgents. Even the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which is often accused of collaborating with Islamic extremists, is “evolving in the right direction,” at least at the leadership level, he said. Mullen also said the Pakistanis have taken new and significant steps in recent weeks to crack down on Lashkar-e- Taiba, an Islamic extremist group blamed by India for the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai. ‘More Steps’ Needed “There are still more steps to be taken” against the group, Mullen said, adding that Pakistani authorities were “working to get those who have been arrested into their judicial system.” U.S. and Indian officials have previously asserted that Pakistani intelligence authorities have assisted and turned a blind eye to the group’s violent activities and training camps. Lashkar-e-Taiba, or “Army of the Good,” is dedicated to overthrowing Indian control of the disputed, Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir. The group is classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. It was outlawed by Pakistan in 2002, although its training camps in the Pakistani part of Kashmir continued to operate, according to U.S. and Indian intelligence officials. In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, Pakistani authorities arrested several alleged Lashkar militants.
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#1. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
This clown KNOWS it is not going well. 30K now, more by fall.
20,000, 30,000, what's the difference? No cost is too high when it comes to protecting my freeeedoms. BRING 'EM ON!
China next door to Afghan has...2,500,000...infantry looking for work.
Charlie Wilson's War is a great DVD if you haven't seen it. Afghanistan is a geographical nightmare, and it will make Iraq look like a cake walk. We can't say Obama is taking us by surprise with this one, but we sure can call the Os hypocritical bastards. To have supported Him knowing this war was in the pipeline, makes all their anti-war rhetoric re; Iraq a joke.
Yeah, had nekkid chickiepoos in it.
Good lookers, too. Love those DeeCee perks!
hmmm. i don't remember the nekkid chickiepoos. ;)
30K more isn't going to make it go well either. get out now.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom.~~William Wallace ALAS, BABYLON
Good to know Human Sacrifice is alive and well in common culture.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" God help anyone going to war in that country for this president. Shall we give Obama and his Cultists the Iraqi war Bush test? That should shut the phone bank, war loving queens up for a few moments.
It's not even just the one man. Total infiltration from the top all the way down. Saturation. There are two and only two solutions. One is expatriation. I'll leave the other for the dimwits to figure out. [Hint to dimwits: Thomas Jefferson]
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom.~~William Wallace ALAS, BABYLON
Obongo is the darling of MSM... That being a fact, he can do no wrong. In 1933 with our previous Savior, he could also walk on water and we went down the path to war.
War, a very large war, is the only thing that can get us out of this recession/depression. War will immediately restore our manufacturing base and ramp up the automobile industry. Obama is using the FDR model.
Somebody should slap Cindy Sheehan and toss her in the Oval Office so she can spray her odious vomit like a skunk. Payback's a bitch.....literally.
_________________________________________________________________________ Messiah is way too much of an egotist to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom.~~William Wallace ALAS, BABYLON
McCain... "The American people must understand this is a long, hard slog we’re in in Afghanistan,” said McCain, the committee’s ranking member. “I don’t see, frankly, an Anbar awakening, a game-changing event in Afghanistan. I think the American people need to understand what’s at stake … that this is going to take a long time.” It made no difference who was elected.
With Saddam gone, Iraq poses no threat to the illegal Israeli regime so Obama can pull troops out without retribution from zionist enforcers. Even knowing that the devastation in Iraq was instigated by zionists abroad acting on behalf of Israel it's unlikely Iraqis would seek a "payback" fight; probably be more interested in doing business with Israelis and anyone else in order to revive Iraq's economy. Taleban, on the other hand are folks of principle and if they regained power they and their allies in Pakistan could pose a serious threat to Israel by once again allowing Arab fighters to train there to help Gazans liberate Palestine from Israeli terrorists. So Obama and the rest of timid toadies serving organized Jewry in America have to deliver the pound of flesh (in the form of military personnel) in return for the Israeli lobby's funding of their election campaigns and to ensure against office-ouster tactics by zionist connivers and their media.
You got it! Excellent insight! Thank you.
“I believe it’s not going well,” Mullen said of the Afghan conflict, “which is one of the reasons it’s important that we get these forces moving.”
#2. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#3. To: Esso (#2)
No cost is too high when it comes to protecting my freeeedoms.
#4. To: Esso, Cynicom, all (#2)
Charlie Wilson's War
#5. To: Jethro Tull (#4)
Charlie Wilson's War is a great DVD if you haven't seen it.
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#6. To: Esso (#5)
#7. To: Esso (#5)
#8. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
#9. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
MORE DEAD AMERICANS FOR SQUAT!!!!!! MORE WAR!!!!!!
CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN
"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." ~~ IndieTx
#10. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
#11. To: tom007, IndieTX, christine, cynicom, esso, McCarthy, all (#10)
#12. To: Jethro Tull (#11)
"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." ~~ IndieTx
#13. To: Jethro Tull (#11)
#14. To: Cynicom, IndieTX (#13)
#15. To: IndieTX (#9)
"This man is Jesus,” shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. “When will he come to Kenya to save us?”
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#16. To: Jethro Tull (#14)
Obama is using the FDR model.
ever admit to using some ELSE'S model. LOL.
"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." ~~ IndieTx
#17. To: IndieTX, Jethro Tull (#16)
#18. To: Jethro Tull (#0)
#19. To: Tatarewicz (#18)
With Saddam gone, Iraq poses no threat to the illegal Israeli regime so Obama can pull troops out without retribution from zionist enforcers...Taliban, on the other hand, are folks of principle and if they regained power they and their allies in Pakistan could pose a serious threat to Israel by once again allowing Arab fighters to train there to help Gazans liberate Palestine from Israeli terrorists. So Obama and the rest of timid toadies serving organized Jewry in America have to deliver the pound of flesh (in the form of military personnel) in return for the Israeli lobby's funding of their election campaigns and to ensure against office-ouster tactics by zionist connivers and their media.
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