MSNBC: Obama to redeploy 10,000 troops to Afghanistan

[Fleshdancer]

I don't have a link yet, it's breaking on cable news.

ON EDIT: These are troops that were planned to go to Iraq. They are now going to Afghanistan instead.

[flpoljunkie]

1. The Marines asked to be redeployed to Afghanistan, out of Iraq.

They got their wish.

[Clio the Leo]

4. Thank you, the MSNBC report left that part out. NT

[BOSSHOG]

2. This is what

should have happened in 2002. But we had a freaking egomoniacal moron in the white house who wanted to play soldier.

[Fleshdancer]

3. I agree

My brother did 3 tours in Afghanistan and 1 tour in Iraq. He would agree that this is what should have been done then and what needs to be done now.

[Veruca Salt]

7. My brother only did 1 tour of Afghanistan

but he feels the same way as yours.

[Occam Bandage]

5. I would approve of this ordinarily,

but recent news out of Pakistan (being the Pakistani government's effective surrender to the Taliban in the Pakistani northwest) has significantly dimmed my hopes for peace in Afghanistan. Unless we can either pressure/entice Pakistan to reverse this trend and fully govern its own territory, or we can convince the Pakistani government to allow American forces to effectively hold the border region, we're simply wasting time and money in Afghanistan.

[SuperTrouper]

6. Afghanistan is a focus of violence now. I am upset about the Pakistan-Taliban truce

which may leave our boys exposed in Afghanistan. Now just watch the whores at the MSM and the despicable GOP call this the "Obama War" :mad:

[jillan]

8. He's doing what he said he would do - get the troops out of Iraq and send them to

Afghanistan. That said - Obama waited to make a decision until he knew what the end game would be in Afghanistan. So - I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he got his questions answered.

[Fleshdancer]

9. It also sounds like he made his own decision on the amount of troops going there

If I remember correctly, the Pentagon wanted 30K troops.

I would like to get some clarity on what the main objectives in Afghanistan are. Is it to find OBL, Al Queda members, and destroy training camps or is our main focus on the Taliban? Those lines are still very blurred for me. Can our forces still spot the differences between the Taliban and Al Queda? Does Al Queda exist?

Then there's the point made up thread about the current truce between Pakistan and the Taliban. How does that factor in to our mission?

[jillan]

11. I'm just thankful that Obama put Richard Holbrooke in charge of that area.

I really think Holbrooke understands that region and won't bs Obama about what needs to be done.

It's a mess over there.

[Phoonzang]

10. I'm at a loss as to what Obama's going to do with Pakistan now since they've effectively

surrendered to the Taliban. Looks like we may have to conduct military operations in the border regions without their consent. If the Pakistani soldiers shoot at us, we may just have to shoot back.

I don't envy the President's job.

[AtomicKitten]

12. One battalion = approximately 17,000 troops. n/t

[Fleshdancer]

13. LINK

I tried to update the OP, but my edit time ran out. This article says 17,000 troops, not 10,000 that MSNBC reported.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/17/america/NA-US-Afghanistan.php

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has approved a modest increase in U.S. forces for the flagging war in Afghanistan, administration, defense and congressional officials said Tuesday.

The Obama administration was announcing Tuesday that it will send one additional Army brigade and an unknown number of Marines to Afghanistan during the coming six months. Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the total is about 17,000 troops.

About 8,000 U.S. Marines are expected to go in first, followed by about 9,000 Army troops.

The new forces represent the first installment on a larger influx of U.S. forces widely expected this year. Obama's decision would get a few thousand troops in place in time for the increase in fighting that usually comes with warmer weather and ahead of national elections in August.

The additional forces partly answer a standing request form the American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, who has asked for as many as 30,000 additional U.S. forces to counter the resurgence of the Taliban militants and protect Afghan civilians.

[TeamJordan23]

14. I think its 17,000 soldiers. nm

[Mz Pip]

15. No surprise

Obama said he would do that.

And up until this economic mess I probably would have supported it. Now I think we should let the neighboring countries come to the conclusion that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are not good for them and let them deal with it.

It's time to deal with our own domestic agenda and get out of there.