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WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 18, 2008) - Pentagon planners are
studying ways to get more U.S. troops to Afghanistan quickly.
"We're constantly reviewing troop needs, troop levels,"
President Bush said during a July 2 news conference. "We're halfway
through 2008; as I said, we're going to increase troops by
2009."
U.S. and international leaders agree on the need for more troops
in Afghanistan. A statement released at the end of the NATO Summit
in Bucharest in April stressed the need for allies to provide
troops needed in Afghanistan. The NATO-led International Security
Assistance Force in Afghanistan has unmet requirements for more
forces, including three combat battalions. The NATO force also
needs more helicopters and airlift assets, officials have said.
ISAF, which includes such non-NATO allies as Australia, New
Zealand, Jordan and 11 other nations, needs troops capable of
engaging in full-spectrum combat operations, Pentagon spokesman
Bryan Whitman said yesterday.
In 2009, the United States would like to send 11,000 additional
troops to Afghanistan, he said. Currently, there are roughly 35,000
U.S. troops in the country -- 23,550 assigned to ISAF and another
18,500 assigned to the Combined Joint Task Force 101, U.S. command
in the country.
Whitman said the U.S. would like to increase the troop level in
Afghanistan by two brigade combat teams and about 4,000 trainers in
2009.
But there can be no discussion of increasing troop levels in
Afghanistan without considering troops levels in Iraq, a DoD
official said. "The two are tied," a Pentagon spokesman said on
background today.
Since his confirmation as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen has said that United States does what it must
in Iraq and does what it can in Afghanistan. He has called
Afghanistan an "economy of force" mission, with Iraq receiving
priority for people, equipment and resources.
Now, Mullen said, the calculus is changing, as the signs of
progress in Iraq are unmistakable. Levels of violence are down in
Iraq and continue to reduce even as the last of the surge brigades
leave the country. "I won't go so far as to say that progress in
Iraq, from a military perspective, has reached a tipping point or
it is irreversible," Mullen said during a July 16 news conference.
"It has not, and it is not.
"But security is unquestionably and remarkably better," he
continued. "Indeed, if these trends continue, I expect to be able
early in the fall to recommend to the secretary and to the
president further troop reductions."
Defense leaders have said these reductions would open the door
for more troops in Afghanistan.
"I think that we are clearly working very hard to see if there
are opportunities to send additional forces (to Afghanistan) sooner
rather than later," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said during
the July 16 news conference. "No decisions have been made. No
recommendations have been made."
Defense officials believe units currently on tap to deploy to
Iraq could be shifted to Afghanistan if security gains in Iraq hold
steady. However, the services cannot just shift a unit training to
deploy for Iraq to Afghanistan, Whitman said, adding that it is not
so easy to repurpose a force in the midst of training. Forces
deploying for combat train to accomplish specific tasks, which are
different in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.
The enemy, terrain and missions are different, Whitman said.
Soldiers would have to familiarize themselves with different
languages, cultures and ways of doing business. Units would deploy
under different command arrangements and have different
nationalities as allies.
Units often work months in advance with the units they are
replacing. This, too, would have to be modified, the Pentagon
spokesman said on background.
"And the enemy has a vote, too," the spokesman said.
If events in Iraq take a turn for the worse, any withdrawal will
stop. "Any decision on troops will be conditions-based," the
spokesman said.
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