From Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, via The Associated Press:
The second-highest ranking U.S. general in Afghanistan says it will take longer to send some troops to the ramped-up war there, indicating it will probably be nine to 11 months before all are in place.
Hey, remember earlier this week when we discussed how to read a troop-increase announcement?
The troop numbers that are typically announced are combat troops — not support troops like, say, engineers or headquarters staff and so on, the people who enable combat power. That’s why an announced 21,000-troop surge
Politico’s Michael Calderone reports that the White House is in for a 30,000-troop increase for Afghanistan, clearing up a discrepancy between the 34,000 troops reported by The Washington Post and most of its competitors. But here’s the thing. The troop numbers that are typically announced are combat troops More…
Let’s be very specific about what we mean when we describe the troop increase that President Obama is expected to announce tonight. I see the headline of this Wall Street Journal piece reads:
U.S. Opts for Limited Surge
Two things. First, a “surge” is not the same thing as More…
Reports are that at this week’s meeting of NATO foreign ministers, the Obama administration will press for the allies to contribute 10,000 additional troops to match the 30,000 or so American soldiers whose deployment President Obama is expected to announce on Tuesday evening. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the NATO secretary-general, has More…
From The New York Times:
President Obama has issued his order to send more troops to Afghanistan, communicating his decision to military leaders late Sunday afternoon during a meeting in the Oval Office, and will spend Monday speaking with foreign leaders to share with them the broad outlines of
McClatchy reports that, after weeks of deliberation, President Obama has settled on the number of additional troops he plans to send to Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama met Monday evening with his national security team to finalize a plan to dispatch some 34,000 additional U.S. troops over the
TWI national security reporter Spencer Ackerman appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” last night to talk about his “game-changing” story on the limited number of troops available for an Afghanistan escalation. Video after the jump.
Breaking from The Associated Press:
President Barack Obama does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options presented by his national security team, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government, a senior administration
A forthcoming request from the commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan for additional resources for the war is likely to take the form of a palette of options, not simply an appeal for more troops, according to Obama administration officials. Combined with a recent congressional proposal to delay a troop More…
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