Top general to ask Obama to keep more troops in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-afghanistan-troops-20140125,0,3666615.story



Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., who commands all international forces in Afghanistan, wants 10,000 U.S. troops to remain past 2014.

Top general to ask Obama to keep more troops in Afghanistan
By David S. Cloud
January 24, 2014, 6:28 p.m.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. commander in Afghanistan is planning to go to the White House on Monday to argue for keeping about 10,000 troops in the country after this year, a subject that has exposed a fissure between some of President Obama's top advisors and the Pentagon.

Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., who commands all international forces in Afghanistan, is recommending that U.S. troops stay to help train Afghan forces and conduct counter-terrorism operations against Taliban insurgents and Al Qaeda-linked militants. All other U.S. troops will be withdrawn this year.

To make the deployment more attractive to a skeptical White House, Dunford says the 10,000 should pull out by 2017, when Obama leaves office, according to two officials, who confirmed a Wall Street Journal report. The Pentagon previously had favored deploying the troops for a decade.

But Vice President Joe Biden and other key White House aides favor leaving only 1,000 to 2,000 troops, said the officials, who spoke anonymously to discuss internal deliberations. Pentagon officials say a force that size is too small to protect itself while also conducting operations.




unhappycamper comment: The definition of stupidity is to doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

[kimbutgar]

1. Afghanistan where empires go to die

All this will do if extend the inevitable loss and money in a useless unwinnable war. I wonder how much that general is getting in kickbacks from the defense industry?

[global1]

2. Everybody Out.....

and the sooner the better.