Pentagon Plans “Mini-Surge” of U.S. Troops in Afghanistan

January 10, 2008 · Filed Under Military, War on Terror, World News

The Pentagon said on Wednesday U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was considering sending an additional 3,000 Marines to thwart any Taliban spring offensive, bringing to around 30,000 the number of American servicemen and women in Afghanistan.

Around half the U.S. contingent serves in a 40,000-strong NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), while the rest conduct missions ranging from counter-terrorism to reconstruction to training Afghan troops.

Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry, said the increase in troop numbers would help anti-insurgency operations as the new national army continued to grow.

As usual, if we want something done right we have to do it ourselves. The vast majority of NATO allies participating in Afghanistan have been wary of increasing their efforts in the region because of a dip in political support at home.

The countries that are participating usually have a heavy set of restrictions placed on them regarding what they’re allowed to do.

Most are limited to performing “peacekeeping” operations only and therefore cannot aggressively assist in hunting down Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces.

However, NATO’s de Hoop Scheffer pointed to recent smaller additions from countries such as France, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland — which on Wednesday announced it would add 400 troops and helicopters — to its existing 1,200-strong contingent.

“You cannot say the allies are not active enough, because they are active … But I still think we can do better,” he told reporters at an event in Brussels, noting persistent shortfalls in NATO’s forces.

I always find it interesting when I hear critics say that America has no business acting like the world’s policeman, but we’re the only ones who ever step up to the plate when it comes time to commit troops to anything (with the exception of Canada, Great Britain, and Australia).

Anytime a region of the world goes up in smoke, countries look to America to do something about it. But on the rare occasions that America looks to the rest of the world for assistance, suddenly we’re on our own.

-Chris Jones