According to a story appearing in Monday's Times of London that cited unnamed "defense sources," the U.S. is "planning to take control of all military operations in Afghanistan next year with an Iraq-style troop surge" involving "as many as 15,000 extra troops."[1] -- "Although final decisions cannot be made until the new U.S. administration takes over in January, plans are being drawn up to send two to three U.S. combat brigades — a total of between 8,000 and 12,000 men," Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter wrote....
1. U.S. TO TAKE OVER AFGHAN MISSION
By Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter Times (London)
August 18, 2008 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4547629.ece The United States is planning to take control of all military operations in Afghanistan next year with an Iraq-style troop surge after becoming frustrated at NATO’s failure to defeat the Taliban. Plans are being drawn up to send as many as 15,000 extra troops to Afghanistan with a single U.S. general always in command, as in Iraq, defense sources said. The Pentagon is also pushing for a permanent “unified command” in the south of the country that would sideline the Dutch and the Canadians. At present, control of the south is rotated between the British, Dutch, and Canadians, the three countries that provide the bulk of the troops. From October next year, when the U.K. will take over from the Dutch, command of the south is expected to alternate between the British and the Americans. Although final decisions cannot be made until the new U.S. administration takes over in January, plans are being drawn up to send two to three U.S. combat brigades -- a total of between 8,000 and 12,000 men, the sources said. Lawrence Korb, a defense expert at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank in Washington, said: “There is no doubt that the U.S. wants to change the command structure as things have deteriorated in Afghanistan.” Both Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential candidate, and John McCain, his Republican opponent, have spoken of using “two to three [combat] brigades for the surge, amounting to 8,000-12,000 troops”, Korb said. “There will be a U.S. general and the forces will be under U.S. command.” The surge will also see U.S. and other coalition special forces, which operate separately from the NATO command, absorbed into a single U.S. command for the whole of Afghanistan. A report written by Barry McCaffrey, a retired U.S. general, that is highly critical of the command structure in Afghanistan is circulating at senior levels within the Pentagon. “There is no unity of command in Afghanistan,” it says.... |
