Breakdown Of Obama's Plan For Afghanistan
POSTED: 10:17 am EDT March 27,
2009
UPDATED: 10:41 am EDT March 27,
2009
President Barack Obama announced plans to send more U.S. forces into Afghanistan, hoping to end a conflict that still has no clear end in sight.Here is a breakdown of Obama's plan:
- Numbers: Obama plans to send 4,000 military trainers to Afghanistan. They will come from 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
- Those forces are on top of the 17,000 extra combat troops that Obama has already approved.
- Currently, there are an estimated 65,000 international troops in Afghanistan. More than half are from the U.S. Timetable: All of the troops Obama is dispatching to Afghanistan, including the combat troops, will be there by the fall. The president's plan includes no timeline for withdrawal.Why: Violence is rising in the region. The war in Afghanistan saw American military deaths rise by 35 percent in 2008 as Islamic extremists shifted their focus to a new front with the west.Price Tag: Obama's plan will also cost many more billions of dollars. His officials said Thursday night that they did not yet have a specific budget figure tied to the strategy.Obama's plan notes that the top U.S. general in Afghanistan still wants some 10,000 or 11,000 additional U.S. forces next year, but it does not say whether Obama intends to fulfill that request now, sources said. That decision would come by the end of this year.
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