The United States will change the way its forces are arrayed in Afghanistan as part of an overhaul of U.S. strategy in the flagging war, a senior defense official said Friday.
President Barack Obama is expected to unveil a revamped plan for fighting insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan next week. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the review is not complete, said it would call for new garrisons in far-flung Afghan communities. That would help the U.S. hold ground against a resurgent Taliban-led insurgency, the official said. Under today's hub-and-spoke system, U.S. forces leave protected bases to conduct anti-insurgent operations. When they leave, insurgents come back.
The forthcoming plan also places an onus on Pakistan to confront the threat of insurgents who use its territory as a sanctuary from attack by U.S. and allied forces, officials familiar with the program have said.
The emerging plan contemplates a large build-up of Afghan armed forces and security services, to as many as 400,000!!!, other defense officials said. That would be more than twice the number Afghanistan now has.
U.S. military leaders have said an able Afghan military is the key to allowing U.S. and allied forces to leave.
Obama's plan looks at goals over three to five years, with the goal of containing the insurgency, heading off the possibility that it could topple Afghanistan's fragile central government and providing enough security for Afghan citizens that they reject the insurgents of their own accord. ... |