Since the beginning of this year, the United States has roughly doubled its troop contingent in Afghanistan -- but it's been unclear, thus far, whether Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, will ask for more reinforcements.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is up for reappointment, and in a hearing today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he gave a sort-of answer. "A properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces," he said.
So does that mean McChrystal already has a number in mind? Not necessarily. Over at the Washington Independent, Spencer Ackerman spells out how it might happen. Rather than just phoning in a request for more troops, the general may present the administration with a "palette of options" for sending more resources. Taking that approach, Ackerman writes, "may have a political benefit. [President Barack] Obama is in a tight spot: public and Congressional support for the Afghanistan war is diminishing, and Obama already ordered 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in March. A recent Washington Post poll found only 24 percent of respondents backed a second such increase. Yet directly turning down a request for more troops from the commander chosen by the administration just three months ago to turn the war’s fortunes around is perilous as well."
[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]
