Afghanistan Troop Increase Plus Last Year’s Addition is Pretty Close to McKiernan’s Request
This is kind of some back-of-the-envelope troop math, but when I wrote earlier that Obama’s new 17,000-troop increase to Afghanistan was lower than Gen. David
Jul 31, 2020313.1K Shares8.9M Views
This is kind of some back-of-the-envelope troop math, but when I wrote earlier that Obama’s new 17,000-troop increase to Afghanistan was lower than Gen. David McKiernan’s requestsfor around 30,000 troops, I should have noted that about 5000 additional soldiers and Marines were tapped last yearto go to Afghanistan as well. (I don’t know the added Marine battalion — mea culpa — but the Army sent the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division to the Logar-Wardak area.) That puts the total near 23,000 — reasonably close to McKiernan’s request.
Also, Defense Secretary Bob Gates last month expressed reticenceover Americanizing a war that he said badly needed an Afghan face. So maybe it’s not surprising that he would support giving McKiernan most but not all of his requested increase.
Dexter Cooke
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Dexter Cooke is an economist, marketing strategist, and orthopedic surgeon with over 20 years of experience crafting compelling narratives that resonate worldwide.
He holds a Journalism degree from Columbia University, an Economics background from Yale University, and a medical degree with a postdoctoral fellowship in orthopedic medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina.
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