January 27th, 2014
12:42 PM ET
U.S. commander in Afghanistan to meet with Obama on troops
By Barbara Starr
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is headed to Washington for an expected meeting with President Barack Obama in coming days to discuss future troop levels in Afghanistan, a U.S. military official said on Monday.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, along with the Pentagon, is proposing 10,000 American troops and 2,000 to 3,000 NATO forces be kept on duty after combat operations end at the close of the year.
The numbers could shift, but the basic idea is for the United States to comprise two-thirds of any remaining force, according to the official who declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information.
There are currently 36,500 U.S., and 19,000 allied forces in Afghanistan.
@natlsecuritycnn on Twitter
It's always easy to criticize the U.S plan in Afghanistan behind a computer screen in a protected house, but the scenario is much different behind the eyes of an American soldier on the field.
There are no White babies being born in America and militant black musliums can not wait to stick it to every white girl in America. Nice Job protecting people from terrorism...IDIOTS.
America direct invested 554 Billion with a B dollars in China in 2013...this money was not invested in America. In other words: You have nothing to come back to in America Losers.
The U.S. Military is Anti-American.
Reduce the number of troops, increase the number of drones. Allah fears drones.
No, don't reduce troop levels – get everyone out of this hell hole now! Karsai is a back stabber and a liar. He isn't fit to govern anything! Give Afghanistan back to the Taliban and get the hell out of there!
What an insane proposition this is!!! Gen. Joseph Dunford definitely has no understanding of the situation in Afghanistan as we never had any right whatsoever to be there in the first place and this jerk now wants to keep our troops there indefinitely. Then again, so do the right-wing nut jobs in Washington!!! Let's clean up the mess in Washington, I say!
Just a thought, do you have any ideas for jobs of all of these returning troops?
The plan is to create another war somewhere else! Be it Syria, Egypt, Somalia – just doesn't matter as long as it keeps troops employed and military contractors happy! Military contractors don't benefit from rebuilding our own dilapidated infrastructure. Let's just watch more old bridges fail, don't try to educate our own people, and certainly don't mess with our absurd health care industry!
I do. How about we cut defense spending so that businesses have more spending money, and also spend on building this country instead. These veterans can use their Post 9/11 GI bill and acquire skills that help build business and infrastructure for this country. And When al Qaida enters Afghanistan again, simply bomb them into dust and vapor. It is not our job to build other nations, but it is our job to protect ourselves.
Well said, El Duderino. Thank you.
We had a reason invade the Taliban led Afghanistan; 2,996 of them actually. However, we did stay far longer than we needed to making a mess that we had a responsibility to clean up, which is never going to happen.
The veteran employment proposal put forth by El Duderino is excellent, to those 'in charge' listen to this one.