Gates: Iraq-level U.S. troops not needed in Afghanistan

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: CNN

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who arrived in Iraq in a surprise visit on Saturday, said he doubts U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan will reach the levels attained in Iraq.

The Soviets, who invaded Afghanistan in the 1970s but left in early 1989 after failing to control the country, had 120,000 troops but lost because they didn't have the support of the people, Gates told forces at Balad Air Base, just north of Baghdad. The real solution in Afghanistan is the expansion with U.S. support of the nation's national army and police, he added.

The U.S. military has about 31,000 troops in Afghanistan, which is less than a quarter of its total strength in Iraq.

Gates was in Afghanistan on Thursday where he was met by Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces battling a resurgent Taliban and its al Qaeda allies. Gates said that the U.S. military plans to move three more combat brigades to Afghanistan by summer....

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Gates told reporters ahead of his landing in Kandahar that the ideal size of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is still being debated, and that Americans needed to be "more sensitive" toward Afghan concerns about international troops on their soil.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/13/gates.afghanistan/index.html