thedrifter
04-03-09, 09:56 AM
10,000 more U.S. troops sought for Afghanistan next year
From staff and wire reports
Mideast edition, Friday, April 3, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is considering sending 10,000 more troops to battle the Taliban in Afghanistan, defense officials said Wednesday.
Gen. David McKiernan, commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has asked for an extra maneuver brigade and enablers next year, Col. Gregory Julian, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told Stars and Stripes.
"The third brigade next year will be between 3,500 and 4,000 soldiers and additional enablers could be as much as 5-10K, but that will be determined upon further review once the immediate units have arrived," Julian said in an e-mail Thursday.
Asked why McKiernan asked for the troops in 2010 instead of this year, Julian told Stripes: "It is a realistic expectation of when we would be able to get the infrastructure prepared to receive the additional troops as well as the availability and troop flow."
Gen. David Petraeus, who heads U.S. Central Command, said Wednesday that he had forwarded the proposed increase to the Pentagon. That plan could mean stationing nearly 80,000 American forces in the country by next year. There are 38,000 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan.
That number is expected to increase to 68,000 by the end of this year, Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Wright told Stripes.
Wright said the extra forces include:
4,000 soldiers with 82nd Airborne Division;
4,000 soldiers with the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division;
8,000 Marines with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade;
3,000 soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division Combat Aviation Brigade;
10,000 enablers.
Lawmakers asked why the extra brigade and headquarters unit requested by McKiernan had not yet been approved by President Obama.
"I think it would be far, far better to announce that we will have the additional 10,000 troops dispatched," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "To dribble out these decisions, I think, can create the impression of incrementalism."
Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, said Obama is aware of the request, but was told he does not have to consider it until this fall because the additional troops won’t be needed until next year. By the fall, she said, McKiernan will have had time to reassess his troop needs.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has not received any request for troops beyond those he has approved for this year, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Stripes on Thursday.
"We have fully resourced all of Gen. McKiernan’s requests for 2009," Whitman said. "We’ve just completed an Afghanistan strategic review. The president has approved every request for deployment that the [defense] secretary has taken to him."
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the Obama administration also plans to seek as much as $3 billion over the next five years to train and equip Pakistan’s military, said defense and other administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the specific budget requests have not been released.
The money would include $500 million in an additional war budget request for the coming year that will go to Congress this month, according to the AP.
In outlining the spending program publicly for the first time, defense officials told the Senate Armed Services Committee it is critical to train and equip the Pakistanis so they have the skills and will to fight.
The $3 billion for Pakistan would complement a plan for $7.5 billion in civilian aid. That civilian request would come in legislation sponsored by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts, and the committee’s top Republican, Richard Lugar of Indiana.
With the administration’s backing, their bill would provide $1.5 billion next year, linked to Pakistan’s counterterrorism and democracy-building efforts, officials said.
The spending plan, defense officials said, would give commanders greater leeway to spend money more quickly to meet the needs of the Pakistani military, such as night vision goggles and communications equipment.
There have been complaints that Pakistan’s military is not doing enough to take on the fight against the extremists who use the ungoverned border as a staging area for attacks into Afghanistan.
"The will is growing, but the will is also helped enormously by a sense that we are going to be with them," Petraeus said. "If they don’t sense that, they will cut another deal."
The spending plan would include counterinsurgency training so the Pakistanis can better attack al-Qaida safe havens in the border region.
The Armed Services Committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he disagreed with the administration’s argument that progress in Afghanistan depends on success on the Pakistan side of the border.
He said Afghanistan’s future should not be tied totally to the Pakistan government’s decisions. He also was skeptical about Pakistan’s ability to secure its border.
The defense leaders, including Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, told senators the situation in Afghanistan is dire and that progress will demand a substantial, sustained commitment.
Senators sounded largely supportive about the spending, but said the administration has yet to set clear benchmarks to determine whether the war strategy is working.
"We should not be committing additional troops before we have a means of measuring whether this strategy is successful," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Ellie
From staff and wire reports
Mideast edition, Friday, April 3, 2009
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is considering sending 10,000 more troops to battle the Taliban in Afghanistan, defense officials said Wednesday.
Gen. David McKiernan, commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has asked for an extra maneuver brigade and enablers next year, Col. Gregory Julian, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told Stars and Stripes.
"The third brigade next year will be between 3,500 and 4,000 soldiers and additional enablers could be as much as 5-10K, but that will be determined upon further review once the immediate units have arrived," Julian said in an e-mail Thursday.
Asked why McKiernan asked for the troops in 2010 instead of this year, Julian told Stripes: "It is a realistic expectation of when we would be able to get the infrastructure prepared to receive the additional troops as well as the availability and troop flow."
Gen. David Petraeus, who heads U.S. Central Command, said Wednesday that he had forwarded the proposed increase to the Pentagon. That plan could mean stationing nearly 80,000 American forces in the country by next year. There are 38,000 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan.
That number is expected to increase to 68,000 by the end of this year, Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Wright told Stripes.
Wright said the extra forces include:
4,000 soldiers with 82nd Airborne Division;
4,000 soldiers with the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division;
8,000 Marines with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade;
3,000 soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Division Combat Aviation Brigade;
10,000 enablers.
Lawmakers asked why the extra brigade and headquarters unit requested by McKiernan had not yet been approved by President Obama.
"I think it would be far, far better to announce that we will have the additional 10,000 troops dispatched," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "To dribble out these decisions, I think, can create the impression of incrementalism."
Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, said Obama is aware of the request, but was told he does not have to consider it until this fall because the additional troops won’t be needed until next year. By the fall, she said, McKiernan will have had time to reassess his troop needs.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has not received any request for troops beyond those he has approved for this year, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Stripes on Thursday.
"We have fully resourced all of Gen. McKiernan’s requests for 2009," Whitman said. "We’ve just completed an Afghanistan strategic review. The president has approved every request for deployment that the [defense] secretary has taken to him."
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the Obama administration also plans to seek as much as $3 billion over the next five years to train and equip Pakistan’s military, said defense and other administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the specific budget requests have not been released.
The money would include $500 million in an additional war budget request for the coming year that will go to Congress this month, according to the AP.
In outlining the spending program publicly for the first time, defense officials told the Senate Armed Services Committee it is critical to train and equip the Pakistanis so they have the skills and will to fight.
The $3 billion for Pakistan would complement a plan for $7.5 billion in civilian aid. That civilian request would come in legislation sponsored by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts, and the committee’s top Republican, Richard Lugar of Indiana.
With the administration’s backing, their bill would provide $1.5 billion next year, linked to Pakistan’s counterterrorism and democracy-building efforts, officials said.
The spending plan, defense officials said, would give commanders greater leeway to spend money more quickly to meet the needs of the Pakistani military, such as night vision goggles and communications equipment.
There have been complaints that Pakistan’s military is not doing enough to take on the fight against the extremists who use the ungoverned border as a staging area for attacks into Afghanistan.
"The will is growing, but the will is also helped enormously by a sense that we are going to be with them," Petraeus said. "If they don’t sense that, they will cut another deal."
The spending plan would include counterinsurgency training so the Pakistanis can better attack al-Qaida safe havens in the border region.
The Armed Services Committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he disagreed with the administration’s argument that progress in Afghanistan depends on success on the Pakistan side of the border.
He said Afghanistan’s future should not be tied totally to the Pakistan government’s decisions. He also was skeptical about Pakistan’s ability to secure its border.
The defense leaders, including Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, told senators the situation in Afghanistan is dire and that progress will demand a substantial, sustained commitment.
Senators sounded largely supportive about the spending, but said the administration has yet to set clear benchmarks to determine whether the war strategy is working.
"We should not be committing additional troops before we have a means of measuring whether this strategy is successful," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Ellie