[R-G] U.S. Escalates in Afghanistan

[Anthony Fenton]

U.S. endorses $20 billion bid to aid Afghans
By Thom Shanker
Friday, August 8, 2008
http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=15099606

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Robert Gates will endorse a $20 billion  
plan to substantially increase the size of Afghanistan's army and will  
also restructure the military command of American and NATO forces in  
response to the growing Taliban threat, senior Pentagon and military  
officials said Thursday.

Taken together, the two decisions are an acknowledgment of  
shortcomings that continue to hinder NATO- and American-led operations  
in Afghanistan. With the war in Iraq still an obstacle to any  
immediate American troop increase in Afghanistan, the plan was  
described by officials as an attempt to increase allied and Afghan  
capabilities in advance of deploying the additional American brigades  
that Gates and his commanders agree are necessary.

The additional American troops are unlikely to be available until next  
year.

Under a plan initially proposed by the Afghan government and now  
endorsed by Gates, the Afghan National Army will nearly double in size  
over the next five years, to more than 120,000 active-duty troops.

Such a large increase would not be possible without American funds,  
which will pay for trainers and for equipment, food and housing for  
Afghan forces. But Pentagon officials said that Gates would seek  
contributions from allies to help underwrite the $20 billion cost over  
five years.

In a closely related decision, Gates plans to reshape a command  
structure that has divided the NATO and American missions in  
Afghanistan, a system now viewed as unwieldy in the face of increasing  
insurgent violence, senior Pentagon and military officials said. Under  
an order expected to be signed by Gates before the end of August,  
General David McKiernan, the four-star army officer who leads the  
45,000-member NATO force, would be given command of most of the 19,000  
American troops who have operated separately. (The NATO force already  
includes about 15,000 other Americans.)

The moves come nearly seven years into the war in Afghanistan, a  
conflict that has claimed more than 500 American lives. The last two  
months have been among the deadliest in Afghanistan for American  
forces, who are trying to contend with a sharp increase in attacks by  
Taliban militants, some of them staged with support from insurgents  
based in the remote tribal areas of neighboring Pakistan.

Pentagon officials say they hope the creation of a more unified  
command structure under McKiernan will help to coordinate all forces  
in Afghanistan — most notably American units near the Pakistani border  
in eastern Afghanistan, which have operated independently of the NATO- 
led force in charge in southern Afghanistan.

"General McKiernan is in the best possible position to most  
efficiently and effectively deploy all of the resources to the benefit  
of the overall mission," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press  
secretary. "This creates one commander in country and in charge of all  
forces, and establishes a structure to deploy them as best suits the  
mission and to improve synchronization among all military assets."

In the months ahead, NATO and the United States will nevertheless  
continue to pursue somewhat different missions in Afghanistan,  
Pentagon officials said, and the new command structure will not result  
in a merger of the two missions.

NATO took command of the nationwide mission to stabilize Afghanistan  
in 2006. The allies expected to face little direct combat and to focus  
on reconstruction and on maintaining security in areas that were  
relatively calm.

In contrast, the American-led mission in Afghanistan has focused from  
the start of the war on combat operations to capture or kill  
insurgents and terrorists, as well as on training Afghan security  
forces, counter-insurgency and reconstruction.

Although the situation has significantly changed, some allied units  
operate under strict constraints placed by their home governments that  
prevent them from participating in certain kinds of combat missions,  
which American officials have said is a major obstacle to beating back  
the Taliban.

Pentagon policy makers said one goal of the command restructuring  
would be to allow the movement of American and allied troops —  
including the British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers who participate in  
a full range of combat missions — to support one another in a more  
seamless fashion. It remains unclear if the change will persuade the  
militaries operating under restrictions to take on additional  
battlefield responsibilities.

Because of the constraints on allied forces, Pentagon officials said,  
two kinds of missions will remain under a separate American command:  
running prisons and counterterrorism operations to capture or kill  
high-value Taliban and Qaeda leaders. Many of those counterterrorism  
missions are classified, so it is not publicly known how many troops  
will remain under American command.

The command reorganization implies that an American officer will be in  
charge of the NATO and American missions for the foreseeable future.

The restructuring would also be intended to streamline the American- 
led training mission, which to a large extent has been outside the  
NATO structure.

But Pentagon and military officials said the new approach was crafted  
with attention to the sensitivities of NATO allies, and Gates and  
other officials consulted with the NATO secretary general, Jaap de  
Hoop Scheffer, and with the governments that have the largest number  
of troops in Afghanistan.

Gates has pledged that the United States will work to send up to two  
additional combat brigades to Afghanistan next year, a force that  
would number 6,000 to 10,000 troops.

Previously, the goal had been to expand the Afghan Army to 80,000 from  
63,000 troops, and funds had already been allocated for that. The $20  
billion will pay for the additional increase in soldiers.

Pentagon officials expect that they will need an estimated $5 billion  
per year for the first three years of the expansion, and then about $3  
billion for each of the final two years of the expansion.

The United States will work with allies to help pay for the effort,  
Morrell said. Any new American money for the expanded Afghan Army, or  
proposals to divert money currently in the budget to that effort,  
would have to be approved by Congress. More Articles in World » A  
version of this article appeared in print on August 8, 2008, on page  
A1 of the New York edition.