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Obama sends 17,000 extra troops into Afghanistan
Paul Thompson in Miami18.02.09
Barack Obama has ordered an extra 17,000 troops to Afghanistan in a clear signal he is determined to defeat a resurgent Taliban.
White House officials said the deployment was to meet "urgent security needs".
The troops will begin arriving as early as April and will provide a welcome boost to the 9,000 British troops in the region.
The new orders will see 8,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as well as 4,000 additional soldiers from Fort Lewis, Washington, sent to fight. Included in the deployment will be a Stryker brigade, which operates light armoured vehicles, and which will dramatically increase firepower for soldiers and provide greater protection from roadside bombs.
"This increase is necessary to stabilise a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires," Mr Obama said. General David McKiernan, the senior US commander in Afghanistan, had requested as many as four additional combat brigades - 30,000 troops when support staff were added to the numbers.
Before last night's announcement, the Pentagon had already sent one brigade to Afghanistan with 2,000 support staff. An additional aviation brigade will arrive next month which means the bulk of the troop request for Afghanistan has been met. The troops' build-up is similar to the "surge" applied to Iraq which helped contain insurgents there.
The deployment will bring the total number of US troops in Afghanistan to more than 68,000. There are almost 9,000 British troops in Afghanistan, mostly based in and around Helmand province.
Mr Obama yesterday signed his $789 economic stimulus Bill into law during a visit to Denver, Colorado.
The rescue package is aimed at creating or saving up to three million jobs. He again warned the cash injection will not be a quick fix. He said the Bill "doesn't constitute all we're going to have to do to turn our economy around".
Reader views (2)
I thought Mr Obama was more intelligent than that !
If the might of the former Soviet Union couldn't win in Afghanistan - there's no hope for 17,000 extra American troops.
The former Soviet Union deployed 56,478 troops to Afghanistan - and their massive war memorials throughout Russia show what happened!
- Kathy Doyle, London
I watched the economic stimulus Bill signing ceromony in Denver and wondered who's running America.
Barack Obama was kept standing for some considerable time while Colorado's governer, vice president Joe Biden and the chief of a local "green" industry had their lengthy say.
So no wonder, when the latter was done, Obama asked if the guy would be able to sit down...
- Peter Seekings-Foster, Mildenhall, Suffolk.
