Top general wants more troops left in Afghanistan post-2014
By Barbara Starr
The top U.S. commander for the Afghanistan-Pakistan region has recommended to President Obama that 13,600 American troops stay in Afghanistan after 2014, a number that is potentially higher than what the administration wants to leave in the country.
At a NATO meeting in February, then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said up to 12,000 troops could stay behind, but not all of those would be American troops necessarily. But Gen. James Mattis, head of the U.S. Central Command, revealed the new recommendation to the Senate Armed Service Committee on Tuesday at a hearing.
Under an agreement between the Afghan government and NATO, the bulk of U.S. and NATO combat forces are to be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. What remains to be decided is how many troops may remain to help train Afghan forces. Mattis also said he believes about 7,000 non-U.S. troops from the NATO alliance could also remain.
@natlsecuritycnn on Twitter
The correct number is zero. After we leave a middle east country, it will revert to lawlessness. Fact. We can no longer afford to kid ourselves. We can no longer afford to be the world's policeman.
What the Top general wants is contrast to the order the Obama has given about the US troops leaving Afghanistan. Therefore, who of the two may be in the right. The answer may be found in THE ART OF WAR by Sun Tzu. For the ART OF WAR givesthe "Five essentials for victory." Point five reads "He will win who has the military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign."
Bring all our troop home !!: our sons, our husbands, fathers,mothers,our boy friends, brothers, sisters, FRIENDS !
.Please !! don't' leave anybody die in that country.
That people don't want us stay there i YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND !!!!!!!
Bring all troops home, they don't want us there.
With the advancement in drones due in the next 2 years, the need for troops in volatile regions is useless. Covert observations and special ops or aerial strikes are more effective. We are not there to make friends, remember!
Leave troops ???
Let's TELL Kim Jr.
WHEN we are going to pull out of South Korea
good thing G. Bush negotiated the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) with Iraq or war criminal obama would still have us there.
war criminal obama? how long have you been serving in the armed forces to know such thing?
During the Vietnam war, my First Sergeant said that it was not much of a war, but it is the best one we got! Is this where we are again?
Bin Laden is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. His followers are not able to do much more than blowing up their own underwear. Such terrorists invoke laughter rather than fear. There wasn't another 9/11. That's pretty good progress.
So you don't believe there will be another 9/11? You are a naive fool.
We have been fighting this war for over ten years, it's time to bring our troops home and save some of that war money for something useful.
Absolutely right. The savings would be huge. Invest that money in the drone program and the payback would be impressive.
We cannot completely abandon Afghanistan again, no matter how painful the situation may be, that is the whole cause of the GWoT in the first place, that we abandoned the Afghanis and allowed the Taliban and their Al Qaeda partners to fill the vacuum.
100% agree. Do not completely abandon. Leave plenty of drones there to take good care of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Make them behave themselves.
I'm finishing up my third year here in the middle east, care to take my place? Or is this one of those "This is what we should do but I'm not going to participate" suggestions?
Of course he does. That's how he gets paid. 1 is too many!!! Hahahahahahahahah