Afghanistan Needs 'Thousands' More Troops, U.S. General Says in Assessment by Kevin Baron, Defense One

Fifteen years after the U.S. invasion, Afghanistan is in a “stalemate” that will require several thousand more Western troops to break, the war’s top U.S. commander told Congress.

Gen. John “Mick” Nicholson’s testimony laid on Donald Trump’s desk the first major war decision - surge troops or not?  - just three weeks into his new and tumultuous administration, which so far has focused more intently on U.S. border security than overseas military engagements. The commander of NATO’s Operation Resolute Support said he expected Defense Secretary James Mattis to present the request to alliance defense ministers when they meet next week in Brussels.  

“I believe we are in a stalemate,” Nicholson told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. He said the current Western coalition has a “shortfall of a few thousand” troops. But rather than the 30,000 combat-brigade soldiers sent by President Barack Obama in 2009, Nicholson said he wants more “advise and assist” troops to help Afghan forces, who incurred heavy losses in 2016 as they beat back various terrorist offensives. The general said his forces have enough equipment and resources for the mission but needed more “expeditionary packages” of advisors to deploy across Afghanistan. The desired troops would come “below the corps level” and could be American or come from allied nations of the NATO training mission.

“We’re going to be able to discuss this in greater detail,” at NATO next week, Nicholson said…

Read on.

FARC Plays Dominoes as Drug Cartels Occupy Colombian Villages by Matthew Bristow, Bloomberg

… The army’s failure to occupy former FARC areas left a power vacuum that has been filled almost immediately by criminal gangs, threatening the much-vaunted peace dividend following an accord to end a half-century of Marxist insurgency. If the government doesn’t deliver on pledges to help the guerrillas adapt to civilian life, former combatants may be persuaded to abandon their UN-monitored camp and join them.

While the army moved slowly, the cartels did not, occupying strategic points immediately after the guerrillas’ withdrawal. The takeover was led by the so-called Gulf Clan, according to the attorney general’s office. This cocaine-trafficking organization, also known as the Urabenos, began life in the region near the Panamanian border, but has since spread across the nation…

The cartel is offering guerrillas a monthly wage of 1.8 million pesos ($600) to switch sides, according to Martinez - more than twice what the government agreed to give them once they’ve handed over their weapons to the United Nations…

Read on.