Obama vs. The Military: The Battle for Afghanistan Continues

The Pentagon continues to put pressure on President Obama to approve in full its request for additional troops in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense told media on Friday that the US was still on track for the build-up of five brigades, including three in the next few weeks, by summer.

Privately, however, Pentagon officials and the military are making their concerns known:

We need to get troops to Afghanistan soon because the spring fighting season begins in April. But there has been concern that a large initial deployment could force [the military's] hand in Iraq.

That is an interesting statement because it indicates the military has created a problem for itself: it is hard both to justify the rapid build-up in Afghanistan and opposition to the President's timetable for a drawdown of US forces in Iraq.

Expect Obama to play on that --- indeed, it is likely that he already has done so. But also expect the military to be even more vocal in public about its worries if the President doesn't give them part of their plan soon.

Comments

[Andrew Balmbra]

This is not an English war! Let the Americans and celts fight it out. It has nothing to do with us English!