DoD Buzz: Now I Have What I Need: McChrystal

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Now I Have What I Need: McChrystal
By Greg Grant Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 9:11 am
Posted in International, Land, Policy

When Afghan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal laid out his strategy this past summer, the one that was then leaked to the press, he said success required a “discrete jump” in troop strength to knock the Taliban on their heels and regain the initiative. Last night, Obama ordered just that, an additional infusion of 30,000 troops, bringing U.S. ground force strength in Afghanistan to nearly 100,000 by the middle of next year.

Within hours of Obama’s speech, NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance would send a fresh infusion of at least 5,000 troops, and probably more; that would bring the non-U.S. NATO contingent to 48,000 soldiers. The Afghan Army numbers around 94,000 troops and the Afghan police bring another 93,000 shooters to the fight. That will give McChrystal around 330,000 troops with which to launch a counteroffensive in 2010.

The Soviet 40th Army in Afghanistan numbered 118,000 at the height of the war in the 1980s. Of course the Soviets battled a far larger Mujaheddin enemy than the coalition faces today. The Taliban are believef to field no more than 25,000 fighters.

“The Afghanistan-Pakistan review led by the President has provided me with a clear military mission and the resources to accomplish our task,” McChrystal, in Kabul, said in a statement released after Obama’s address. He clearly appreciates the “commitment” to the war effort the troop surge demonstrates as he mentioned the word four times in a four paragraph statement.

Joint Chiefs chair Adm. Mike Mullen said in a Pentagon press release that the military leadership “fully and unhesitatingly” supports Obama’s strategy. That the Pentagon gets the political wrangling surrounding Obama’s decision was clear in a headline on the DoD web site that reads: “McChrystal Voices Support for President’s Strategy.”


Rest of article at: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2009/12/02/now-i-have-the-troops-i-need-mcchrystal/?wh=wh