Pentagon Denies Report of 'Unannounced' Troops in Afghanistan | |
|
Pentagon VoA News 13 October 2009 |
The Pentagon says a Washington Post story claiming it is making an "unannounced" deployment of 13,000 additional troops to Afghanistan is inaccurate.
A Pentagon spokesman, Colonel Dave Lapan, says the Post story itself notes that the 13,000 support troops are within the overall maximum authorized by President Barack Obama earlier this year.
"The story confirms that 68,000 is still the number. So nothing is missing. Nothing is hidden. The 13,000 doesn't somehow increase from 68 [thousand] to above that. So we've consistently said by the end of the year, on the current glide path, 68,000. And as the story acknowledges, that's where we'll be," said Lapan.
When President Obama took office in January, there were about 34,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Within weeks, he approved a Pentagon request for an additional 21,000 combat and training troops, plus support units. Shortly afterward, officials made public that the support troops would number up to 13,000, bringing the overall total to 68,000 by the end of the year -- a doubling of the deployment from when he took office. The 68,000 figure has been widely reported ever since.
Again, Colonel Lapan.
"The sense that there are somehow 13 [thousand] that weren't authorized or that are somehow new, well then that would make the 68 [thousand] number go up by 13,000, wouldn't it? But it's not," Lapan said.
The Pentagon says there are now about 65,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, with more on the way in the coming months. There are also about 39,000 troops from other NATO and coalition countries.
President Obama and his national security team are considering a request from his new commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, for a substantial number of additional troops. The official number is secret, but news reports say the general wants about 40,000, possibly more.
The request is controversial, not least because with the U.S. troop level in Iraq expected to remain around its current 120,000 for at least several more months, the strain on the U.S. Army is considerable.
WOTN Editor Note: Floating "Trial Balloons" through "unauthorized leaks" is standard political operating procedure for BOTH parties. The Washington Post is a favored publication of the party in power and it is highly unlikely that they "got it wrong." It is much more likely that the Administration chose to float the balloon this way.
It is a predictable result that the milblogging community and true Veteran Organizations quickly and absolutely rejected this "plan." The CinC should have been politically astute enough to have known this would happen. It is equally unsurprising that he instructed a (relatively) low-level officer to contradict the report. (Colonels are small fish at the Pentagon.)
It is the hope of this Veteran, that the POTUS quickly decides to provide the General on the Ground the resources he needs to do the job the POTUS and Congress ordered him to do. This is of such great importance that this editor sent the message through the most direct means possible to him, i.e. via Twitter, to the ONE Veteran that has the ear of the POTUS. No, that LT doesn't like this publication. The LT has used every ruse possible to prevent an interview by this publication. The LT does not even respond to this publication, but that LT does pay attention himself and through surrogates to it. That LT is in short, the eyes and ears of the current Administration, to the reactions of the Veteran Community.
To The LT and POTUS who he advises: GIVE THE GENERAL WHAT HE NEEDS. If you quarter step on this, we will call you on it. If you do the right thing, we will back you. DON"T play politics with the lives of OUR Troops.
Stumble It!
