By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2009 – As part of the Obama administration’s assessment of the strategy being employed in Afghanistan, the U.S. military will focus its efforts on achieving shorter-term goals there, the Defense Department’s top official said here yesterday.
“One of the points where I suspect both administrations come to the same conclusion, is that the goals we did have for Afghanistan are too broad and too far into the future,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters at a Pentagon press conference.
President Barack Obama met with Gates and other National Security Council members at the White House on Jan. 21.
The United States needs to set “more concrete goals” for Afghanistan that “can be achieved realistically within three to five years,” Gates said. For example, he said, efforts should be made to re-establish Afghan government control in the country’s southern and eastern regions, as well boost security and improve the delivery of services to the population.
And, U.S., coalition and Afghan military operations targeting al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents must be maintained in Afghanistan to prevent the re-establishment of terrorism in the region, Gates said.
Obama said yesterday during a State Department visit that increased violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan threatens global security and constitutes “the central front in our enduring struggle against terrorism.” The Afghan government, he said, has been hard-pressed to deliver basic services to its people.
“Violence is up dramatically in Afghanistan,” Obama said. “A deadly insurgency has taken deep root.” And, along Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan, he said, al-Qaida and Taliban fighters “strike from bases embedded in rugged tribal terrain along the Pakistani border.”
About 34,000 U.S. troops are posted in Afghanistan. Commanders there have requested about 30,000 additional U.S. forces to be used to suppress resurgent Taliban fighters and al-Qaida terrorists.
Meanwhile, Obama is studying several Pentagon-provided options for a drawdown of U.S. combat troops from Iraq.
Read on.
1 comment:
One major problem no one wants to talk about. Iraq and Afghanstan will have new Presidents that aren't puppets put in by the Bush Administration. The Afghanstan President was appointed by the Bush Administration and the first line of business was signing the pipe line order. Maliki is a Bush puppet and is collecting as much money as possible before he leaves. Americans didn't know and didn't care about what was really happening in the Middle East. Most who used the lip service of " We support our troops" and that's it. BBC took a poll and found lease then 4 per cent of Americans know where Iraq/Afghanstan are on the map, what was really sad is 98 per cent said Wyoming was North America. Now we know how Bush/Cheney got in office twice and could have still been in office.
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