U.S. Troop Buildup In Afghanistan Begins

Pentagon To Announce Deployment Of Additional Combat Brigade

(AP)  The Pentagon is poised to announce the deployment of at least one more combat brigade to Afghanistan in the coming weeks, as the expected force buildup of U.S. soldiers and Marines begins to take form.

Officials say there will likely be one more Army brigade and one Marine regimental combat team ordered to Afghanistan by the summer - and at least one of those will be announced shortly after the first of the year.

Defense officials also confirmed earlier reports that a combat aviation brigade will head to Afghanistan early next year. The brigade - roughly 2,800 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne - is based at Fort Bragg, N.C.

All told, the U.S. could nearly double its troop levels there to as many as 60,000, sending up to four combat brigades and thousands of support forces within the next year.

Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces, has asked for four combat brigades and thousands of support troops - which could total between 25,000-30,000 troops in addition to the roughly 32,000 there now.

Ramping up the U.S. contingent in Afghanistan will likely take much of next year, as combat brigades and support units gradually move in. The first unit to go will be the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, which will deploy to Afghanistan in the coming weeks.

The 82nd Airborne aviation unit will deploy in the spring. That unit is smaller than a ground combat brigade, which normally numbers about 3,500. Therefore it does not fill one of the requirements for four combat brigades that McKiernan requested.

After that, a Marine combat unit and the second Army brigade will likely move in by summer. Officials said Monday they are still not clear when the fourth combat brigade would deploy - but one estimate is very late in 2009.

The added forces come even as U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, caution that they also don't want too many American troops in Afghanistan. Military leaders say a key priority is to train and equip the Afghan forces so that they can take over security of their own country.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has expressed similar concerns, and he pressed America's top military leader Monday on the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan as the buildup begins.

Karzai asked Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, what kinds of operations the newly deployed troops would carry out and said the Afghan government should be consulted about those operations.

He also told Mullen that the troops need to be careful in Afghan villages - alluding to his often-repeated protests about the civilian casualties caused by some military operations.

U.S. military officials have stressed that commanders do all they can to avoid civilian casualties, but they also note that insurgents often use civilians as shields. Officials have suggested that the military's heavy reliance on air power in Afghanistan runs a greater risk of innocent deaths, but they have also agreed to cooperate more with Afghan officials to investigate such incidents.

As the U.S. fashions its increase in force levels, it appears that many - including the 82nd Airborne aviation brigade - will be assigned to the NATO-led coalition. Currently 14,000 of the U.S. troops in Afghanistan are operating under the coalition, while 18,000 are training Afghan forces and fighting insurgents.

[mitch5511]

This is the war that should have been fought and won in the first place until Bush dropped the ball and pursued Iraq instead. If Bush had not invaded Iraq, we wouldn''t have to go back and clean up this mess.

Remember this is the war that is supported by NATO, not Iraq. So put your ignorance in a box and shelve it!

[jt_lancer]

Obama has already said he thinks the US military should escalate its involvement in Afghanistan.

So much for ''change we can believe in''.

[noloyalisti]

Oh come on all you big strong men, pack your things off to Afghanistan...

Oh come on mothers throughout the land, pack your sons off to Afghanistan...

Be the first one on your block to have your boy sent home in a box...

[guadalcanal3]

BarbaraM99..I am a New York City Irish/American...It was America that saved the Irish from the British "bullies" you idiot.

[noloyalisti]

Afghanistan is going down the road for being the next Vietnam. I hope Obama doesn''t go down the road of Lyndon Johnson and his escalating of genocide in a third world country that poses not threat to us.

No one has ever sucessfully occupied Afghanistan and we won''t be the first. Time for the frightened right wing maniacs to go hug their mommas so they won''t be so frightened any more.

[sly_64]

The reason we need to go back in full force to Afghanistan is to do what Bush and his slimeball Vice President, Cheney didn''''t do - finsih the job on the Taliban and kill Bin Laden. What a fiasco Iraq was and is. Anyone who thinks Democracy will flourish in this oil filled sandlot knows very little about that Country''''s history of strong man dictatorship and failed foreign intervention. Also, for anyone who believes that the real reason we are there is to bring democracy to the region, I have a bridge which I am selling at a 50% discount, it is called "The Brooklyn Bridge". Wake up and smell the coffee! We are there to preserve our oil interests in the region, so that oil man Bush and Haliburton Cheney can continue to amass wealth at the expense of our troops,thousands of whon are dead and 10''''s of thousands of whom have no legs and/or arms. This is the true Bush legacy. I have a Christmas message for Bush: "Cut the Barney *** and when you go to sleep at night, count money so you can fall asleep because if you thought about the lives you ruined and the people who are suffering because of your decisions, you will not be able to sleep at all (but then who knows, you might sleep like a baby because you really do not care).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by gmancubfan

You are correct sir.

[gmancubfan]

The reason we need to go back in full force to Afghanistan is to do what Bush and his slimeball Vice President, Cheney didn''t do - finsih the job on the Taliban and kill Bin Laden. What a fiasco Iraq was and is. Anyone who thinks Democracy will flourish in this oil filled sandlot knows very little about that Country''s history of strong man dictatorship and failed foreign intervention. Also, for anyone who believes that the real reason we are there is to bring democracy to the region, I have a bridge which I am selling at a 50% discount, it is called "The Brooklyn Bridge". Wake up and smell the coffee! We are there to preserve our oil interests in the region, so that oil man Bush and Haliburton Cheney can continue to amass wealth at the expense of our troops,thousands of whon are dead and 10''s of thousands of whom have no legs and/or arms. This is the true Bush legacy. I have a Christmas message for Bush: "Cut the Barney *** and when you go to sleep at night, count money so you can fall asleep because if you thought about the lives you ruined and the people who are suffering because of your decisions, you will not be able to sleep at all (but then who knows, you might sleep like a baby because you really do not care).

[hotpaulie]

Afghanistan should have been the focus all the long. Little progress has been made since 9/11. The goals for the country need to be restructured and attained...otherwise as corny as this sounds the terrorists really did win. Obama was elected because of his promise for change...things need to change in Afghanistan before all is lost.

[hotpaulie]

notblue - I don''t know what''s going on but I actually agree with you in regards to Afghanistan.

[jowand]

my people were put on ships in the 1840s and sent to America from Ireland headed to America. If it was not for that I be in Ireland and not in America.

Posted by BarbaraM99 at 09:51 AM : Dec 23, 2008

You''re only part Irish like me, your free to go back there anytime you want, they can keep it. Afghanistan is a NATO operation and as usual the usual countries who like to critcize and bad mouth the USA are not bearing their share of the job that needs to be done. We need to get out of NATO.

[notblue]

America is not the bully, if not for dictators and savage radicals there would be no war.

[barbaram99]

tHE missing word is blame. sorry there . America loves to fight. She trained the the ones she fights against when where was a cold war. We talk about bullies and how ew hate their actions. America is a bully when it comes to war. I am glad I can''t raise my paw to serve as it is not my genger that stops me but my age and phy. handicaps that do. I am the daughter of a vet. We have no business forcing America''s way on any nation. I feel that way and have for years. America can''t govern herself let alone tell other nation what they will/won''t do in their nations .my people were put on ships in the 1840s and sent to America from Ireland headed to America. If it was not for that I be in Ireland and not in America.

[barbaram99]

It should be less not more troops. I HATE WAR today as I did years ago. I don''t the troops who serve but a govt that lies to us.
Let me make a point.
People don''t like the church shoved at them.
There are nations out there that don''t like America shoved at them. America wants her way or else. It has always been that way. Will be so.

[notblue]

All the rhetoric before the election of "immediately withdrawing" from the global war on terror was just that, it was a smart political move to appease the leftwing haters. Now that the election is over Obama will incorporate reality into his decision making and the effort to wipe out the scourge called Radical Islam, which is the direct cause of all the unrest in the modern world, will continue. Obama understands that actually fighting this enemy, which shows no allegiance to any specific country, will in the long run make America safer. It will send a clear message to the enemy that America will not cut and run, that this American president understands doing nothing has not worked as was exemplified by the 911 attack and the countless before over three decades.

[chris32324]

just when the world is getting ready to have a new u.s. president we see a build-up in afganistan,and this is exactly the behavior that took the repub s out of power,i really hope obama gets good advice and gets out of afganistan right now,not in 2 or 3 years after several more thousands have died for absolutly nothing,there is nothing to gain in afganistan,leave those people alone,they dont want you to force feed them anymore b.s. democracy.

[teamindiana1]

Zokin - your a bit tightly wrapped.

[formrusmcsgt]

Post-Bush, EU may take Gitmo detainees

After repeatedly refusing to ''clean up Bush''s mess,'' European nations reach out to Obama....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

[miamiderick]

Zokin, It would be terrible if we go to all the expense of securing Afghanistan and running a pipeline from the Caspian to India, then Russia won%u2019t play ball. Surely Bush and Cheney have worked this out in advance.

[downtowner97]

We need to cut and run from Afghanistan and Iraq like Reagan did with Lebanon. We''re not wanted there, we''re not achieving our goals, we''ve re-invigorated the opium trade and we''ve done little or nothing to stabilize the country. The people of Afghanistan can do nothing to us if they can''t cross our borders. National security begins where our country ends, and the door''s wide open.

[erasmus606]

Posted by daffy64 at 10:30 PM : Dec 22, 2008

I thought you were Canadian.