WASHINGTON: The direct costs of the seven-year “war on terror”, which includes operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, have reached US$752 billion, if the current year’s appropriation of $188 billion is included, according to the non-partisan US Congressional Budget Office. With the situation in Afghanistan further than ever from being settled, the US response, much like the financial crisis, is to throw more money and resources at the problem.
US General David McKiernan, who commands the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) forces in Afghanistan, said after a meeting in Afghanistan with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week that he needed a permanent increase in troop levels and other assets such as reconnaissance planes.
Although President George W Bush has said he will send an additional brigade (4,000 to 5,000 troops), McKiernan said he needed three brigades beyond that “to counter the increasing violence and speed up progress in the war”. There are currently about 33,000 US troops in the country and if McKiernan gets his way, potentially more than 20,000 troops could be added once support units are counted.
Gates said the George W Bush administration was considering possible changes in its war strategy in Afghanistan, without going into detail. The Independent of London has reported that the US is pushing for sweeping changes to the military command structure in Afghanistan, so the head of international forces reports directly to US Central Command (CENTCOM) instead of NATO. Independent Western think-tanks paint a picture in which the Taliban have a presence in over 54% of the country, including all the important towns around the capital Kabul.
The influential international policy think-tank the Senlis Council reported recently, “Research this summer shows that over half of Wardak province - which neighbors Logar province, and is just 45 minutes from Kabul by road - is under Taliban control, according to local Afghans. This information was gathered by Senlis Council researchers in June 2008, and is proof of the Taliban’s resurgence in and around the capital, as well as in their southern and eastern heartlands.” -SANA
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