troop levels news stories on Newser

In Afghanistan Debate, Obama Focuses on Exit

Kevin Spak — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:15:15 CST

The Obama administration’s extended ruminations on an Afghan surge aren’t really over how many troops to send in—they’re about how they’ll get those troops out. Obama’s main problem with the initial military plan was that it seemed too open ended, administration sources tell Gerald Seib of the Wall Street...

Pentagon Holds Secret Afghan War Games

Jason Farago — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:06:09 CDT

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, led a secret war game earlier this month to assess the Obama administration's options in Afghanistan, including a 44,000-troop surge. A team of military leaders used Gen. Stanley McChrystal's analysis to examine how Taliban insurgents and the Afghan...

McCain: Afghan Call Can't Wait

Polly Davis Doig — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:56:13 CDT

The pace of President Obama's decision on troop levels in Afghanistan again dominated the Sunday dial. John McCain told Face the Nation that Obama should move regardless of the Nov. 7 runoff's outcome: "Every day we delay will be a delay in this strategy succeeding.” Orrin Hatch went so far...

Public Thinks Obama's Clueless on Afghanistan

Kevin Spak — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:17:11 CDT

When it comes to the Afghan war, Barack Obama is between a rock and a hard place politically. Only 45% of the public approves of his handling of it, down 10 percentage points from last month, according to a new Washington Post -ABC News poll, and a whopping 63% don’t...

'Irresponsible' to Send Troops Without Election Results: Kerry

Polly Davis Doig — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:39:46 CDT

The US is in no position to send more troops to Afghanistan with that country's presidential election still up in the air, Sen. John Kerry told State of the Union in an interview yesterday. Speaking from Kabul ahead of an announcement on whether a runoff would be held, the Senate...

Britain to Send 500 More Troops to Afghanistan

Kevin Spak — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:11:49 CDT

Britain will send 500 more troops to Afghanistan, Gordon Brown is expected to announce today, defying calls to reduce Britain’s presence there. The men will come with strings attached, however: “The prime minister will want assurances from military chiefs that the extra troops will be properly equipped,” a BBC correspondent...

Pentagon Downplays 13K Surge in Afghan Support Troops

Rob Quinn — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:53:14 CDT

When does 21,000 equal 34,000? When the Pentagon is counting. The 21,000 additional troops President Obama approved for Afghanistan earlier this year have been accompanied by 13,000 extra support troops, bringing the total number in Afghanistan to nearly 68,000. Pentagon and White House officials have...

Pres. Hamlet Must Send in His Troops

Kevin Spak — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:15:19 CDT

It’s time for Democrats, particularly President Obama, to get serious about the war in Afghanistan, writes Charles Krauthammer. From John Kerry on, Democrats have campaigned on the cynical political calculation that Afghanistan was the “good war.” But now that it’s time to send troops into that “good war,” Obama’s lost...

Petraeus Goes Quiet, for Good or Ill

Jason Farago — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:11:03 CDT

By the end of George W. Bush's second term David Petraeus was the country's most famous military man, carpeting the media with interviews and pressing the flesh on Capitol Hill. The general who personified the Iraq troop surge is still around, and spoke up in strategy sessions with Barack Obama...