Talk of a Troop Surge for Afghanistan

Anna Mulrine
U.S. News & World Report
March 22, 2008

As the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq fades from the front pages, analysts are turning their attention to what is often called the forgotten war. Many fear that progress in Afghanistan is stalled and that the country is in need of major new measures to reinvigorate the war effort against the Taliban and other extremist factions.

To that end, talk is increasingly turning to a troop surge for Afghanistan. The conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, which was instrumental in designing the current surge strategy in Iraq, in January convened an “Afghanistan Planning Group” that will shortly announce recommendations for an influx of troops into Afghanistan as well. “It’s clear to everyone who looks at it that more troops are necessary in Afghanistan,” says Frederick Kagan, an AEI fellow and an architect of the surge strategy in Iraq.

It is clear to U.S. military officials that efforts in Afghanistan are faltering and that more troops could help turn the tide. Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and now the deputy chairman of NATO’s military committee, says that there is currently a shortage of maneuver and infantry forces in the country. What’ s more, he adds, there are not enough troops to train the Afghan Army and police. “That’s the greatest shortfall,” he adds.

To that end, the U.S. is now sending some 3,200 marines into the country. Half of them will serve as trainers, and the other half will serve as combat troops backing up British troops in violent, drug-producing Helmand province.

But American soldiers—stretched to the limit in Iraq—are at a premium. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has repeatedly called on NATO member countries to contribute more troops to the troubled country. To date, these pleas have not inspired an overwhelming response among NATO partner countries.

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