U.S. to limit Afghan forces' growth

U.S. to limit Afghan forces' growth
By David S. Cloud
Los Angeles Times
Posted: 05/12/2011 08:53:57 PM PDT
Updated: 05/12/2011 10:43:57 PM PDT

WASHINGTON -- After months of internal deliberations, the Obama administration has decided to limit the expansion of Afghanistan's army and police forces over the next 18 months, largely to hold down the costs of training, equipping and paying them.

The White House decision, which has not been announced, also appears to signal that President Barack Obama may approve only a modest reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan this summer, U.S. officials said Thursday.

With fewer Afghan troops to bolster security, Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, is expected to argue against a major drawdown of the nearly 100,000 U.S. troops deployed in the country, several military officials said.

They said Petraeus and other senior officers in the Pentagon favor limiting the scale and slowing the pace of any U.S. pullout in order to preserve fragile security gains, especially in the south and east, where the Taliban presence remains strong.

Petraeus and senior Pentagon officials had pushed to add as many as 73,000 troops to the Afghan force, officials said. Instead, the administration has limited the addition to 47,000, which would bring the authorized Afghan force to 352,000. The U.S. government provides most of the money to recruit, train and pay the troops.



unhappycamper comment: Anything to to keep this occupation going on. And on. And on. And ....

Might just be my pre-coffee brain.

The above says "the nearly 100,000 U.S. troops deployed in the country"
then says
adding 47,00 "would bring the authorized Afghan force to 352,000."

So we have "nearly" 100,000 troops there
we add 47,000
and that creates an "authorized" force of 352,000?????

I am not missing the key part of the story, which is the US is showing signs of being unable to continue wars of imperialism.

The way out usta be 'Once the Afghan Security forces are in place and trained, we can start withdrawing US forces.'

I blame Congress for this as much as anyone else.

We could be free of these conflicts in just under a year...as long as armament cash flows through congressional districts, there will be a delay in extracting our troops.