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| Afghanistan |
| Official: U.S. plan to move soldiers out front (Afghanistan) |
| 2009-03-21 |
| The United States will change the way its forces are arrayed in Afghanistan as part of an overhaul of U.S. strategy in the flagging war, a senior defense official said Friday. President Barack Obama is expected to unveil a revamped plan for fighting insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan next week. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the review is not complete, said it would call for new garrisons in far-flung Afghan communities. That would help the U.S. hold ground against a resurgent Taliban-led insurgency, the official said. Under today's hub-and-spoke system, U.S. forces leave protected bases to conduct anti-insurgent operations. When they leave, insurgents come back. The forthcoming plan also places an onus on Pakistan to confront the threat of insurgents who use its territory as a sanctuary from attack by U.S. and allied forces, officials familiar with the program have said. The emerging plan contemplates a large build-up of Afghan armed forces and security services, to as many as 400,000!!!, other defense officials said. That would be more than twice the number Afghanistan now has. U.S. military leaders have said an able Afghan military is the key to allowing U.S. and allied forces to leave. Obama's plan looks at goals over three to five years, with the goal of containing the insurgency, heading off the possibility that it could topple Afghanistan's fragile central government and providing enough security for Afghan citizens that they reject the insurgents of their own accord. ... |
| Posted by:ed |
| #9 Napolean could handle the far-flung well, he had the best of all assets a General might need... :) yep wait for it Napolean was Lucky! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2009-03-21 18:48 |
| #8 Napolean did far flung. We don't need to show again that it usually doesn't work. This may just be naive talk from the comander-in-chief, that the generals have a better grasp of things and the power to carry them out. It seems to me that it is going to take a lot more work to train 400,000 Afghani troops to be a well-trained national force than comparable effort was in Iraq. |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2009-03-21 14:12 |
| #7 Garrisons in far flung tribal area, with locals whose temperament shifts seasonally and at the end of a log difficult supply line. We've seen that someplace before. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-03-21 12:59 |
| #6 What? I thought it was going to be all hillary! driving an ice cream truck from here on out... |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2009-03-21 12:54 |
| #5 it would call for new garrisons in far-flung Afghan communities There is only 1 General qualified to handled far-flung. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2009-03-21 11:03 |
| #4 a large build-up of Afghan armed forces Not US, as I read it. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-03-21 09:06 |
| #3 Reads more like a death wish than a wish list. The logistics of supporting 400K US troops in a land locked country surrounded by enemy states is mind boggling. Hard to tell who's dumbest here. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-03-21 05:51 |
| #2 TOPIX > OBAMA ADMIN'S INCREASE IN US AFGHAN FORCES LIKELY TO MEET MORE VIOLENCE. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-03-21 01:56 |
| #1 Reads more like a wish list than a plan. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2009-03-21 00:28 |
