USA acknowledges more troops in Afghanistan than previously stated

First, the Obama administration set certain caps on the number of troops permitted to be deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. In 2014, Obama said that he would leave about 8,000 US troops there after all and made an agreement with the new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, that extended their stay “until the end of 2024 and beyond”. The B-52s will remain based in Qatar but will be tasked to cover Afghanistan.

The US values its relationship with Pakistan, the Trump administration said, days after Islamabad suspended official visits and talks with Washington.

Earlier this month, prior to Trump’s Afghanistan speech, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis seemed to suggest that most of the planning was done, and that it was simply a matter of deciding which approach would be best.

Pentagon spokesperson Dana White announced Wednesday that there are approximately 11,000 US troops in Afghanistan. Frank McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff.

United Kingdom troops in Afghanistan have been part of a long-running special forces mission to track down senior Taliban and Al-Qaeda remnants. Doing so, he said, will increase their readiness for combat. There have always been political sensitivities within the Iraq government about the number of American troops on the ground, and those concerns raise questions about whether the Pentagon will be less candid about force numbers there to avoid conflicts. He went on to authorise a surge in USA troop presence from 55,000 in early 2009 reaching 100,000 in 2010.

President Trump was advised by generals and Cabinet members to continue the war in Afghanistan.

However, campaigners believe increased military support will only antagonize the situation.

Based on the last decade and a half of Pakistani foreign policy, Trump shouldn’t be surprised in the end if even a complete break in diplomatic relations with Pakistan is insufficient to compel a change in its behavior.

“In both theaters, eventually we’ll apply the same two pillars: balancing transparency of reporting with a requirement to protect the forces on the ground and give the commander maximum operational flexibility”, McKenzie said. At the very least, it allows Americans, who are increasingly insulated from the costs of US military engagements, to have a clear understanding of our efforts and commitments overseas and to make informed judgments about USA foreign policy.

But following Trump’s address, Mattis said he was waiting on the top USA military officer, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Joseph Dunford, to get him a plan “right away”.

The 350,000-strong Afghan National Security Forces now have security responsibility for Afghanistan’s 30 million citizens.

In 2009, when President Barack Obama authorized the surge of 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, units were notified of their deployments nearly immediately. That may be hard for us to remember, because the USA hasn’t fought a protracted war on its own soil since the Civil War. By the time Obama left office, the United States tried pretty much everything, from passing a $7.5 billion economic support package for the country and continuing coalition support payments, to cutting back on that support and calling Pakistan out as an exporter of violence. Ten U.S. troops have been killed by hostile fire so far in 2017. Helmand province, a largely contested region throughout the war, was also the setting for some large-scale battles.

The fighting in Afghanistan is being done by young soldiers and Marines who just a few years ago graduated from our high schools. 2011 saw the presence of the most American troops in the region, numbering over 100,000. All our enemies had to do was wait us out and, in the meantime, kill as many Americans as they could.