[Marxism] President Obama sends 17,000 more troops to Afghan war

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

www.nytimes.com

February 18, 2009
Putting Stamp on Afghan War, Obama Will Send 17,000 Troops 
By HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON - President Obama said Tuesday that he would send an additional
17,000 American troops to Afghanistan this spring and summer, putting his
stamp firmly on a war that he has long complained is going in the wrong
direction.

The order will add nearly 50 percent to the 36,000 American troops already
there. A further decision on sending more troops will come after the
administration completes a broader review of Afghanistan policy, White House
officials said.

Mr. Obama said in a written statement that the increase was "necessary to
stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received
the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires."

At least for now, Mr. Obama's decision gives American commanders in
Afghanistan most but not all of the troops they had asked for. But the
decision also carries political risk for a president who will be sending
more troops to Afghanistan before he has begun to fulfill a promised rapid
withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

Many experts worry that Afghanistan presents an even more formidable
challenge for the United States than Iraq does, particularly with
neighboring Pakistan providing sanctuary for insurgents of the Taliban and
Al Qaeda.

Under Mr. Obama's plan, a unit of 8,000 marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C.,
will be deployed in the next few weeks, aiming to be in Afghanistan by late
spring, administration officials said, while an Army brigade from Fort
Lewis, Wash., composed of 4,000 soldiers, will be sent in the summer. An
additional 5,000 Army support troops will also be deployed in the summer. 

Antiwar groups criticized Mr. Obama's decision even before the White House
announced it.

"The president is committing these troops before he's determined what the
mission is," said Tom Andrews, director of the coalition organization Win
Without War. "We need to avoid the slippery slope of military escalation."

Mr. Obama said in his statement that "the fact that we are going to
responsibly draw down our forces in Iraq allows us the flexibility to
increase our presence in Afghanistan."

American generals in Afghanistan had been pressing for additional forces to
be in place by late spring or early summer to help counter growing violence
and chaos in the country. Of the 30,000 additional troops that the
commanders had initially sought, some 6,000 arrived in January after being
sent by President Bush.

The administration's review of Afghanistan policy is supposed to be
completed before early April, when Mr. Obama heads to Europe for a NATO
summit meeting at which he is expected to press American allies for more
troops and help in Afghanistan.

In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday, Mr.
Obama said he was "absolutely convinced that you cannot solve the problem of
Afghanistan, the Taliban, the spread of extremism in that region solely
through military means." 




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