Obama Sends Two More Brigades to Afghanistan

Couple thoughts...

President Barack Obama has authorised the deployment of up to 17,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan, saying they are to “meet urgent security needs”.

Two brigades - one army and one marine - are to be sent, Mr Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

This first major troop deployment under Mr Obama comes as his administration reviews US policy in Afghanistan.

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The additional troops to be sent to Afghanistan had originally been scheduled to go to Iraq.

I’m not going to argue against sending more troops to Afghanistan.  The Taliban has clearly regrouped and is on the offensive.  Given that this is a NATO operation now, I would like to see our allies step up and send more troops, but we know how that goes.

My greatest concern is that these brigades were intended for Iraq.  Up until a month ago, the military obviously saw the need for them in the Iraq theater.  Since conditions have not dramatically improved in Iraq in the past month, I am worried that the troops in Iraq will be stretched thin prematurely and left vulnerable. 

Time will tell.