400,000 Troops Needed in Afghanistan? « The Washington Independent
That’s how many NATO’s departing Afghanistan commander said are necessary. Wow.
In an interview to Spiegel, a German magazine, the outgoing ISAF Commander [Dan] McNeill confessed having inadequate trained force to effectively counter terrorism in Afghanistan.
“„NATO has only 47,000 soldiers instead of a required strength of 400,000 with a shortfall of 260,000 men.
“„NATO is practically running on reserve, as very few units can be used in combat situation.
“„While neighboring countries want peace in the region, manning a volatile country with only 47,000 NATO troops and practically no well trained Afghan Army, the mission to bring peace to the region seems an uphill task.
This is up high on the Never Going To Happen list. McNeill knows that. So the question becomes: what kind of frustrations has McNeill experienced that would cause him to say this publicly? Who, in other words, messed with Texas?
