The arrival in Afghanistan of tens of thousands of reinforcements to fight the Taliban will lead to a higher death rate among foreign troops, adding pressure on Western leaders to get out altogether, officials say.

Militants fighting for the overthrow of the Kabul government promised to turn Afghanistan into a “flaming tandoor oven”, escalating attacks and deploying more fighters to match the Western surge.

Western military chiefs warn more troops will inevitably lead to more deaths as they try to help Afghan security forces take on the fight alone.  Read more... (696 words, 1 image, estimated 2:47 mins reading time)

Two days before announcing the deployment of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, President Obama informed

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal that he was not granting McChrystal’s request to double the size of the Afghan army and police.

Cost was a factor, as were questions about whether the capacity exists to train 400,000 personnel. The president told McChrystal, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, to focus for now on fielding a little more than half that number by next October.  Read more... (1969 words, 1 image, estimated 7:53 mins reading time)

The higher number of Defense Department contractors, 160,000, added to over 100,000 troops – with the likely prospect of both numbers climbing yet more – will result in over a quarter of a million U.S. personnel serving under the Pentagon and NATO. The latter has 42,000 non-U.S. troops fighting under its command currently and pledges of 8,000 more to date, with thousands in addition to be conscripted after the London conference on Afghanistan next month. Approximately 35,000 U.S. soldiers are also assigned to NATO’s ISAF and if the 33,000 new American troops are similarly deployed the North Atlantic bloc will have over 120,000 forces fighting a land war in Asia. Along with a Pakistani army of 700,000 active duty troops fighting on the other side of the border and an Afghan army of 100,000 soldiers, there will soon be well over a million military personnel engaged in a war with a few hundred al-Qaeda and a few thousand Taliban forces.  Read more... (2925 words, 1 image, estimated 11:42 mins reading time)

Italy is to send about 1,000 extra troops to Afghanistan, say reports.

The move comes two days after US President Barack Obama announced that America was sending 30,000 more forces to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban.

Mr Obama has asked Nato allies to increase their deployments in Afghanistan, but several European nations are reluctant to do so.

The alliance’s foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels for two days of talks set to focus on the US request.

In an interview published on Thursday, Italy’s Defence Minister, Ignazio La Russa, confirmed reports that Rome would send about 1,000 extra soldiers to the country.  Read more... (588 words, 1 image, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

Afghanistan‘s President Hamid Karzai has warned that it will take 15 years before the country is able to pay for the cost of its own security forces.

After talks with visiting US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Mr Karzai said he hoped the US and the international community would continue funding them.

Mr Gates said the US would not turn away from Afghanistan and abandon it.

His unannounced arrival in Kabul came a week after US President Barack Obama said he was sending 30,000 more troops.

Nato member states have agreed to deploy another 7,000 soldiers between them.  Read more... (919 words, 1 image, estimated 3:41 mins reading time)

The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, scheduled to begin in July 2011, will “probably” take two or three years, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, although he added that “there are no deadlines in terms of when our troops will all be out.”

By Karen DeYoung

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, scheduled to begin in July 2011, will “probably” take two or three years, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, although he added that “there are no deadlines in terms of when our troops will all be out.”  Read more... (580 words, 1 image, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

WASHINGTON — Should President Obama decide to send 40,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan, the most ambitious plan under consideration at the White House, the military would have enormous flexibility to deploy as many as 15,000 troops to the Taliban center of gravity in the south, 5,000 to the critical eastern border with Pakistan and 10,000 as trainers for the Afghan security forces. The rest could be deployed flexibly across the country, including to the NATO headquarters in Kabul, the capital, and in clandestine operations.  Read more... (1138 words, 1 image, estimated 4:33 mins reading time)

Any surge of US troops to Afghanistan is likely to be tougher than it was in Iraq, because of the dearth of good roads and airfields, say defense officials.

Washington – When it comes to deploying additional forces to Afghanistan, the Pentagon confronts an infrastructural problem summed up by one senior military official: “Iraq is stuck in 1950, Afghanistan is stuck in 1310.”

President Obama’s decision on deploying more troops to Afghanistan is still a week or so away. But operating under the assumption that more forces may be headed there in the coming months, Pentagon planners have been trying to figure out how fast they can get troops and equipment on the ground.  Read more... (551 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

First published on 7th November 2009

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to send more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year, but he may not announce it until after he consults with key allies and completes a trip to Asia later this month, administration and military officials have told McClatchy.

As it now stands, the administration’s plan calls for sending three Army brigades from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. and the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y. and a Marine brigade, for a total of as many as 23,000 additional combat and support troops.  Read more... (1348 words, 1 image, estimated 5:24 mins reading time)