Pentagon Plans Afghan Surge of 20,000

Commanders say extra 20,000 troops will quell rising Taliban violence

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 22, 2008 2:24 AM CST

(Newser) – US commanders are drawing up plans to send an extra 20,000 troops to Afghanistan over the next 12 to 18 months, Reuters reports. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the surge will help reverse the rising violence in the country and safeguard elections planned for next fall. Commanders say the current NATO force in southern Afghanistan is overwhelmed by the growing Taliban insurgency.

Barack Obama has said he wants more troops in Afghanistan and plans to urge other countries to send in reinforcements. Britain and Canada complain that they are already doing a disproportionate amount of the fighting, however, and say Obama should be knocking on the doors of the NATO allies that insist on keeping their troops in quieter parts of the country.

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US soldiers board an Army Chinook transport helicopter after it brought fresh soldiers and supplies to the Korengal Outpost on October 27, 2008 in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. (Getty Images)

British troops attend a sunset vigil at their base in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Tuesday Oct. 21, 2008, dedicated to a trooper who was killed on Oct. 15 while serving in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Dave Husbands, Royal Marines)

A US Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit speaks on radio during a patrol in the town of Garmser in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, Sunday, July 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

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We are clearly going to be putting more troops in and I think that the prospects for being able to have these elections successfully are good. - Defense Secretary Robert Gates

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Pentagon Plans Afghan Surge of 20,000