- Reaction score
- 64
- Points
- 530
Petraeus and McKiernan wanted 33,000 so Obama splits the difference. :
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/02/military_obama_afghanistan_troops_021709/
Obama announces Afghanistan buildup
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 17, 2009 18:43:44 EST
President Barack Obama will send an estimated 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan this spring and summer to help quell rising insurgent violence, the White House announced today.
“This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires,” Obama said in a statement. “The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan demands urgent attention and swift action.”
The deployment marks the first time the new president has deployed troops overseas.
Obama said he approved Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s request to send a Marine Expeditionary Brigade “later this spring” and an Army Stryker Brigade and additional support troops and specialists, “later this summer.” The Pentagon confirmed late Tuesday that the units are the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., and the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, of Fort Lewis, Wash.,
The Marine unit will include about 8,000 Marines and the Stryker brigade will total about 4,000 troops, the Pentagon said. An additional 5,000 troops approved by Obama, which could include engineers, intelligence specialists and military police, will be identified later, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
Marines began planning for the 2nd MEB deployment in January, said one person familiar with the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Details, including which units from II Marine Expeditionary Force would be tapped to go, have not been released.
All of the forces will be deployed to Regional Command South, Whitman said.
Obama gave the order although an interagency administration review of strategy in Afghanistan and the tribal areas in neighboring Pakistan that harbor Taliban and al-Qaida extremists, ordered Feb. 10, won’t be done until well into March. Obama said the new deployments do not pre-empt that study but will instead provide some measure of stability.
“This troop increase does not pre-determine the outcome of that strategic review,” Obama said. “Instead, it will further enable our team to put together a comprehensive strategy that will employ all elements of our national power to fulfill achievable goals in Afghanistan.”
Last fall, Army Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, requested an additional 30,000 troops. With the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division having already been sent in response and with the two units announced today, just one combat brigade out of his original request remains to be sent.
Whether that will happen remains to be seen. The Associated Press reported Feb. 4 that the Pentagon will or has advised Obama to shift strategy in Afghanistan by de-emphasizing democracy-building and focusing military efforts on striking insurgents hiding across the border in Pakistan, with the help of Pakistani forces. The report also emphasizes a greater role for U.S. military training of Afghani army troops, AP said.
Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month that Afghanistan is “our greatest military challenge” and that the Pentagon would be in the position send McKiernan two of his desired four combat brigades “in the relatively near future.” But he also said the U.S. needs “more modest goals.”
That, he said, means getting “more of an Afghan face” on the effort.
Currently, about 38,000 U.S. and 32,000 other NATO troops are serving in Afghanistan.
Among those is a Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force composed of various units from across the service. Lejeune’s 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment serves as the infantry leg of that unit.
Larger than a MEU, but smaller than a full MEF, the MEB is a scalable, mid-sized option for the Corps. The brigade can swell to as many as 20,000 Marines, and is usually built around a reinforced rifle regiment — similar to the regimental combat teams currently deployed to Iraq — plus a composite Marine Air Group and a combat logistics regiment.
The command structure for the MEB is embedded within its parent MEF, as the deputy MEF commander also serves as the MEB commander. That position is currently held at II MEF by Brig. Gen. John E. Wissler.
Lejeune’s 2nd MEB has a history dating back to 1936, when it was activated in San Diego only to be deactivated later. On Nov. 10, 1999, the unit was brought back to life.
The brigade deployed in February 2003 to Kuwait, where it was reorganized as Task Force Tarawa and commanded by now-Lt. Gen. Richard Natonski. During operations in Iraq, the MEB lost 23 Marines.
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/02/military_obama_afghanistan_troops_021709/
Obama announces Afghanistan buildup
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 17, 2009 18:43:44 EST
President Barack Obama will send an estimated 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan this spring and summer to help quell rising insurgent violence, the White House announced today.
“This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires,” Obama said in a statement. “The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan demands urgent attention and swift action.”
The deployment marks the first time the new president has deployed troops overseas.
Obama said he approved Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s request to send a Marine Expeditionary Brigade “later this spring” and an Army Stryker Brigade and additional support troops and specialists, “later this summer.” The Pentagon confirmed late Tuesday that the units are the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., and the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, of Fort Lewis, Wash.,
The Marine unit will include about 8,000 Marines and the Stryker brigade will total about 4,000 troops, the Pentagon said. An additional 5,000 troops approved by Obama, which could include engineers, intelligence specialists and military police, will be identified later, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
Marines began planning for the 2nd MEB deployment in January, said one person familiar with the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Details, including which units from II Marine Expeditionary Force would be tapped to go, have not been released.
All of the forces will be deployed to Regional Command South, Whitman said.
Obama gave the order although an interagency administration review of strategy in Afghanistan and the tribal areas in neighboring Pakistan that harbor Taliban and al-Qaida extremists, ordered Feb. 10, won’t be done until well into March. Obama said the new deployments do not pre-empt that study but will instead provide some measure of stability.
“This troop increase does not pre-determine the outcome of that strategic review,” Obama said. “Instead, it will further enable our team to put together a comprehensive strategy that will employ all elements of our national power to fulfill achievable goals in Afghanistan.”
Last fall, Army Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, requested an additional 30,000 troops. With the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division having already been sent in response and with the two units announced today, just one combat brigade out of his original request remains to be sent.
Whether that will happen remains to be seen. The Associated Press reported Feb. 4 that the Pentagon will or has advised Obama to shift strategy in Afghanistan by de-emphasizing democracy-building and focusing military efforts on striking insurgents hiding across the border in Pakistan, with the help of Pakistani forces. The report also emphasizes a greater role for U.S. military training of Afghani army troops, AP said.
Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month that Afghanistan is “our greatest military challenge” and that the Pentagon would be in the position send McKiernan two of his desired four combat brigades “in the relatively near future.” But he also said the U.S. needs “more modest goals.”
That, he said, means getting “more of an Afghan face” on the effort.
Currently, about 38,000 U.S. and 32,000 other NATO troops are serving in Afghanistan.
Among those is a Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force composed of various units from across the service. Lejeune’s 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment serves as the infantry leg of that unit.
Larger than a MEU, but smaller than a full MEF, the MEB is a scalable, mid-sized option for the Corps. The brigade can swell to as many as 20,000 Marines, and is usually built around a reinforced rifle regiment — similar to the regimental combat teams currently deployed to Iraq — plus a composite Marine Air Group and a combat logistics regiment.
The command structure for the MEB is embedded within its parent MEF, as the deputy MEF commander also serves as the MEB commander. That position is currently held at II MEF by Brig. Gen. John E. Wissler.
Lejeune’s 2nd MEB has a history dating back to 1936, when it was activated in San Diego only to be deactivated later. On Nov. 10, 1999, the unit was brought back to life.
The brigade deployed in February 2003 to Kuwait, where it was reorganized as Task Force Tarawa and commanded by now-Lt. Gen. Richard Natonski. During operations in Iraq, the MEB lost 23 Marines.
