U.S. Commander May Revise Troop Request

(CBS/AP)  The Defense Department said Wednesday that a request for new troops from the U.S. commander in Afghanistan may have to be revised amid growing uncertainty inside the Obama administration over whether to escalate the American commitment to the eight-year war.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the troop request from U.S. and NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal will be delivered by the week's end.

But Defense Secretary Robert Gates will not look to escalate the military mission in Afghanistan until President Barack Obama and his national security team "are ready to consider it," Morrell said.

Morrell also signaled that the number of troops that McChrystal will ask for — believed to be as high as 40,000 — could change after the report is received if the White House reverses its Afghanistan strategy.

"If there are adjustments, there may have to be adjustments made in terms of what's required of the mission if it changes," Morrell said.

He said the Obama administration is taking a new look at how to best achieve its long-stated goal of defeating and dismantling al Qaeda.

Read McChrystal's report to his superiors
Washington Unplugged: Report Puts Pressure on Obama

Earlier this year, the Pentagon began ramping up the eight-year war in Afghanistan, targeting extremist Taliban leaders to make sure the nation does not become a safe haven for al Qaeda.

But White House officials now are looking at sending in airstrikes and special operations forces to Pakistan, where al Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding.

Morrell said targeting the Taliban in Afghanistan through a counterinsurgency mission "is the strategy and remains the strategy." He added: "There is a discussion taking place about whether it should continue to be the strategy or whether adjustments should be made."

Operating under the original strategy would require more combat troops, more trainers for Afghan security forces, more intelligence and surveillance forces and more helicopters and other support, officials have said in recent weeks.

A senior Republican lawmaker in Congress recently told The Associated Press that McChrystal's troop request is expected to be as high as 40,000. The lawmaker spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue more freely.

Additionally, McChrystal advisers Frederick W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute and Kimberly Kagan of the Institute for the Study of War this week released a report arguing for an additional 40,000 to 45,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year.

Already, Mr. Obama has approved increasing the number of U.S. soldiers, sailors, pilots and Marines in Afghanistan to 68,000 by the end of this year.

Top aides to the president have said he still has questions and wants more time to decide whether more troops would help defeat the Taliban.

"I'm not considering it at this point because I haven't received the request," Mr. Obama told Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer on Sunday.

"The first question is, 'Are we doing the right thing?"' Mr. Obama said. "Are we pursuing the right strategy?"

Schieffer asked the president whether it would be difficult for him to deny a request for more troops from McChrystal.

"The only reason I send a single young man or woman in uniform anywhere in the world is because I think it is necessary to keep us safe," Mr. Obama replied.

Morrell would not discuss the prospects of a new counterterror strategy that White House officials have told The AP could involve expanding missile attacks on Pakistan terrorist havens by unmanned U.S. spy planes.

Pakistan will not allow the United States to deploy a large-scale military troop buildup on its soil. However, its military and intelligence services are believed to have assisted the U.S. with airstrikes, even while the government has publicly condemned them.

A spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, Nadeem Kiani, on Wednesday signaled that Islamabad is cool to the idea of letting the U.S. expand its CIA-led drone missions in Pakistan. Generally, the U.S. shares the intelligence it gets from the spy planes with Pakistani leaders, but has resisted selling drones to the nation for fear Islamabad could target its longtime enemy, India.

"Our position on this is well known: we would like to have this technology in our hands," Kiani said, attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York. "That way there will no chance of violating Pakistan's sovereignty, which is very dear to the Pakistani people."

At the Pentagon, Morrell said McChrystal was still working under the original Afghanistan counterinsurgency mission in Afghanistan that Obama outlined in March. That is why, Morrell said, the general was sending in the troop request even though the strategy may change later.

"It is not your typical request for forces," Morrell said. "This is a more analytical look at the situation and what's needed and the risks associated with certain troop levels. And there's an ultimate recommendation."

That description appeared to confirm comments made privately in recent weeks by a number of officials who said McChrystal will lay out "force options." That is, he will give a range of troop numbers and explain what can be achieved with each. The officials said McChrystal also will advise his top pick among the choices.

[wyodutch]

Send a million more U.S. troops... send two million... spend another trillion dollars.

We must have VICTORY in the 'Stan!

Here are several reasons:

1. If we don't defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, they will all be buying airline tickets and coming to America to turn her into an Islamic state.
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2. If we bring the troops home, they will have to go on unemployment, since we have no jobs to offer them here in the Homeland.
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3. Unocal is still eager to build the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline.
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4. The Domino Theory - Part II. The entire Mideast will be overrun by Muslims if we don't win this one for the Gipper.
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5. General McChrystal has a lucrative book deal and speaking tour all set-up... but it's a no-go if he gets the boot before he retires.
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6. My God.. what else are we gonna do with our military?
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Call, email and write your elected officials.. demand that "we" stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to kill every last Afgahni who doesn't want us there.

[babooph]

Sailors in Afghanistan ?What are they sailing-kites?

[ramos1129]

No....No...A thousand times no. NATO is supposed to be in charge of this effort yet we, out of 42 countries, are contributing over 48% of the troops and cost. Let the other countries shoulder their fair share and no more American troops need be endangered.

[jsd330]

That's why all these other countries can afford health care for all their citizens. Good old Uncle Sam carries the load for them.

[stuart-johns]

Obama is screwing up. He never should have taken on Afghanistan to begin with. Obama escalted this "war of neccessity" and now he doubts that it's winnable. Will Obama be a man and admit that he made a mistake or will he cave in to the republican hawks who want to persevere?

Obama hiked the training capacity of US forces to train Afghani's to fight for themselves. But what is happening is that once trained, they are joining the Taliban and fighting against us!

Obama needs to do the moral thing and withdraw from that quagmire.

[bubbadubba]

I wish the Army and Air Force would quit trying to get all the defense money and trying to prove they are what is needed.
Just use the Air Force to blow up any terrorists or their camps.
It's no rocket science.
The bombing campaign in North Vietnam was the ONLY thing that caused the VC problems. We could have sent 2 million troops to Vietnam and still had the same outcome.
Hey generals, why don't you grab a weapon and go do something constructive like fighting the enemy instead of thinking up new ways to get our troops killed.
Some things never change.

[sdemaggie]

Gee, I wonder who leaked the secret report. Give Afghanistan back to the Afghans. We cannot force our ideals upon another. Afganistan has been destroyed by external occupying armies for the last 40 years. The Afghans have the right to self determination, self government and self awareness. It's time to leave the Afghans to find there own way. An escalation is a huge mistake.

[rdepontb]

Holding off on announcing the military's stated troop level needs is as it should be. That kind of operation, affecting many aspects of American, Afghani, and Allied life and economies, needs a full reading and vetting. The military input is necessary but not sufficient by itself.