Small Wars Journal

More Troops May be Needed in Afghanistan, Says US and NATO Chief

Wed, 12/30/2015 - 9:05am

More Troops May be Needed in Afghanistan, Says US and NATO Chief - Agence France-Presse

The top US and Nato military commander in Afghanistan may seek additional American troops to help local forces as they struggle to contain the Taliban insurgency, according to reports.

General John Campbell comments to the USA Today newspaper come as the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated in the second half of 2015, with an increase in insurgent attacks and higher casualties among both Taliban and national forces.

President Barack Obama has already backtracked on a pledge to pull out all but 1,000 troops, and in October he announced that 9,800 US forces would remain in Afghanistan until the end of 2016.

Campbell told USA today he would ask the Obama administration to keep that higher number of troops in country as long as possible and suggested he might call for more US personnel…

Read on.

Comments

davidbfpo

Wed, 12/30/2015 - 4:33pm

There is some irony here on SWJ Blog, the next article is about an unprecedented exit of Afghans from Afghanistan. So as Afghans who can pay to leave, there is a call for Americans and just maybe others to go there and fight the Taliban.

I don't know what the American public would say, but there would be no support amongst the British public to commit to a fighting role. Even the reported use of UK SOF in Helmand before Xmas aroused concerns in several newspapers.

After the initial intervention in October 2001, with all the lives lost, people damaged and a lot of money, I expect most Western publics - including Americans - have simply had enough of Afghanistan.

Vicrasta

Wed, 12/30/2015 - 9:33am

"NATO has all the watches, but we have all the time."