Photo: NATO commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal leads a 103,000-member force in Afghanistan. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)Afghan Mission Chief Wants More U.S. Troops -- CBC News
The top military commander in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is said to be asking for up to 80,000 more American troops.
According to U.S. officials, a still-secret document by McChrystal that requests more troops is expected to be among the topics discussed Wednesday when President Barack Obama meets with his national security team to hash out a strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Even with additional troops, McChrystal concluded that government corruption in Afghanistan could still let the country turn back into a haven for terrorists, according to officials at the Pentagon and White House.
Read more ....
Update: Afghan corruption worries McChrystal -- AP
My Comment: We were first led to believe that 40,000 was the number that General McChrystal was looking at .... but according to AP the commanders in the field prefer to have 80,000 additional troops, and only chose 40,000 because that is the figure that they believe is palatable for Washington to accept.
No wonder President Obama has been sitting on this report, the prospect of 80,000 additional troops to Afghanistan will produce a debate that will completely hijack his Presidency, and undermine his political support from his own Democrat base. A prospect that I am sure he will avoid at all cost.
From my point of view, General McChrystal will be lucky to get 10,000 soldiers. President Obama is looking for alternatives, and he has no desire to increase troop levels in Afghanistan from their present level. The American public is starting to support this direction, and Congress has absolutely no appetite to fund this increase.
Expect a small but modest increase in troop levels within the next few weeks .... probably during Thanksgiving weekend.
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