Pentagon Wants to 'Extend' Afghanistan Surge

tekisui

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Fri Jun-17-11 07:03 AM
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Pentagon Wants to 'Extend' Afghanistan Surge

Source: AFP

The US military is asking President Barack Obama to maintain its troop surge in Afghanistan until the fall of 2012, a month before a scheduled withdrawal, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The timeline would mean the president could promise large troop reductions to a war-weary public just ahead of the November 2012 presidential elections in which he seeks a second term, but military officials told the Journal that the electoral schedule had nothing to do with their proposal.

Instead, they said they were focusing on placing as much pressure as possible on the Taliban and the violent eastern provinces bordering Pakistan, especially during the next two warm-weather fighting seasons, usually the period of heaviest fighting from militants.

Obama ordered the 33,000 extra forces in December 2009 to throw a wrench in an emboldened Taliban's momentum, bringing the total deployed to 100,000. The United States plans on leaving only a "small fraction" of the overall forces after December 2014, when security will be handed over to the Afghans.

more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hRPBrkV3Zjy2koEeuqueOgPOmpHA?docId=CNG.5eb0f8d3d40d16ce25bfc129328515e1.7c1

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QuintanarooBoy

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Fri Jun-17-11 07:07 AM
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1. And that would accomplish.....what?

K&R

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Hubert Flottz

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Fri Jun-17-11 07:09 AM
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2. OMGAWD THE DEFICIT!

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Solly Mack

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Fri Jun-17-11 07:14 AM
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3. D�j� vu

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Fumesucker

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Fri Jun-17-11 07:26 AM
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4. No one could have predicted..

:eyes:

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mrdmk

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Fri Jun-17-11 03:16 PM
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5. and the next thing, we will have some blowhard saying, "Mr. Obama, tear down that wall!"

or something along those lines...

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