US sends more troops to flagging Afghan war
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Reuters
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 19, 2009 00:00
KABUL - Afghanistan readies for an Iraq-style surge after US president authorizes the deployment of an extra 17,000 troops for the flagging war, his first major move to change the course of conflict. Barack Obama says the troop increase is vital for stabilization, but he also pledges to use diplomacy
Afghanistan is turning a new page in relations with the United States, an Afghan presidential spokesman said yesterday, as U.S. President Barack Obama ordered 17,000 more troops deployed to battle Taliban insurgents. Obama, in his first major military decision as commander-in-chief, said the troop increase was "necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", but warned military means alone would not solve the problem.
Obama spoke to Afghan President Hamid Karzai overnight for the first time since he took office in Washington a month ago. Ties between Kabul and Washington have been strained since Obama's inauguration, with the new administration questioning Karzai's ability to govern effectively and the Afghan president hitting back at the killing of civilians by foreign troops.
But after a telephone conversation overnight, Karzai's spokesman said: "We have opened a new page."
The reinforcements will take U.S. troop numbers to around 55,000, in addition to the 30,000 troops from 40 other mostly NATO countries already operating in Afghanistan.
The United States will pressure its allies to also send more troops at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Poland this week, but many European countries are wary of getting bogged down in Afghanistan and reluctant to let their troops engage in combat and take casualties due to domestic opposition to the war.
But NATO diplomats said up to 10,000 more troops could be required, as many as 3,000 of them from Europe, as short-term reinforcements to guard elections on Aug. 20, regarded as a key milestone that Afghanistan must pass if it is to attain peace.
Some analysts, however, have questioned the wisdom of sending more troops, arguing that a larger foreign military presence runs the risk of being seen as an occupying force. Others say a bigger force is not necessary to achieve Washington's primary objective in Afghanistan - preventing al-Qaeda using it as a base.
Most of the new troops, including some 8,000 Marines and 4,000 soldiers from an armed brigade, will be sent to southern Afghanistan in an attempt to break the stalemate between mostly British, Canadian and Dutch troops there and Taliban insurgents. Commanders said they do not now have enough troops to hold territory in southern Afghanistan once they have cleared Taliban from an area, and until the Afghan forces can brought up to strength, reinforcements are needed to fill that space, allow development to take place and win over the people.
Increasingly unpopular
But far from winning hearts and minds, polls suggest international troops are becoming increasingly unpopular in Afghanistan with the chief cause of resentment the steady flow of Afghan civilians killed in U.S. and NATO airstrikes. More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year, 40 percent more than 2007, the United Nations said on Tuesday, and a quarter of all civilian casualties, 552 people, died as a result of airstrikes by U.S. and NATO-led forces.
More than seven years after U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban for harboring al-Qaeda leaders behind the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. officials admit the United States and its allies are not winning in Afghanistan.
Obama said Afghanistan had "not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires". The U.S. president pledged to also use diplomacy and development to help end the Taliban insurgency. Karzai is to visit Pakistan for a short visit today, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said. Delegations from both sides are then due to travel to Washington.
Obama spoke to Afghan President Hamid Karzai overnight for the first time since he took office in Washington a month ago. Ties between Kabul and Washington have been strained since Obama's inauguration, with the new administration questioning Karzai's ability to govern effectively and the Afghan president hitting back at the killing of civilians by foreign troops.
But after a telephone conversation overnight, Karzai's spokesman said: "We have opened a new page."
The reinforcements will take U.S. troop numbers to around 55,000, in addition to the 30,000 troops from 40 other mostly NATO countries already operating in Afghanistan.
The United States will pressure its allies to also send more troops at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Poland this week, but many European countries are wary of getting bogged down in Afghanistan and reluctant to let their troops engage in combat and take casualties due to domestic opposition to the war.
But NATO diplomats said up to 10,000 more troops could be required, as many as 3,000 of them from Europe, as short-term reinforcements to guard elections on Aug. 20, regarded as a key milestone that Afghanistan must pass if it is to attain peace.
Some analysts, however, have questioned the wisdom of sending more troops, arguing that a larger foreign military presence runs the risk of being seen as an occupying force. Others say a bigger force is not necessary to achieve Washington's primary objective in Afghanistan - preventing al-Qaeda using it as a base.
Most of the new troops, including some 8,000 Marines and 4,000 soldiers from an armed brigade, will be sent to southern Afghanistan in an attempt to break the stalemate between mostly British, Canadian and Dutch troops there and Taliban insurgents. Commanders said they do not now have enough troops to hold territory in southern Afghanistan once they have cleared Taliban from an area, and until the Afghan forces can brought up to strength, reinforcements are needed to fill that space, allow development to take place and win over the people.
Increasingly unpopular
But far from winning hearts and minds, polls suggest international troops are becoming increasingly unpopular in Afghanistan with the chief cause of resentment the steady flow of Afghan civilians killed in U.S. and NATO airstrikes. More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year, 40 percent more than 2007, the United Nations said on Tuesday, and a quarter of all civilian casualties, 552 people, died as a result of airstrikes by U.S. and NATO-led forces.
More than seven years after U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban for harboring al-Qaeda leaders behind the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. officials admit the United States and its allies are not winning in Afghanistan.
Obama said Afghanistan had "not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires". The U.S. president pledged to also use diplomacy and development to help end the Taliban insurgency. Karzai is to visit Pakistan for a short visit today, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said. Delegations from both sides are then due to travel to Washington.