U.S. to double troops in Afghanistan

Posted: Friday, December 19, 2008 5:49 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: Security, Jim Miklaszewski

From NBC's Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has signed a deployment order to send a combat aviation brigade, about 3,000 troops, to Afghanistan in early 2009.

The brigade, from the 82nd Airborne, will fulfill one of the critical deficits for U.S. forces in that country right now -- helicopters.

Last week, Gates said he expects to have three more brigade combat teams in Afghanistan by "summertime." A senior defense official said that the combat aviation brigade is not among those brigades mentioned by the secretary (one brigade, the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, deploys there in January).

So, with the addition of this aviation brigade, the three BCTs Gates spoke about last week, and the logistics forces needed to support all of these new troops, the U.S. now plans to send between 21,000 and 25,000 new troops to Afghanistan in 2009.

That nearly doubles the number of U.S. boots on the ground there now, which stands at 31,000.

EMAIL THIS

Comments

War is fun! It's fun pushing other people around.

Sgt. Moore, Georgia (Sent Friday, December 19, 2008 6:04 PM)

Did we not learn our lesson in Vietnam? Did we forget what happened to Russia when they invaded Afghanistan?
You can kill the body with bombs and bullets but you'll never kill the spirit. Afghanistan started off as a just cause: Get Bin Laden and his terrorist group for attacking America. Bush got us in Iraq through bad intel, not that it mattered to him. Now that region sees us as aggressors trying to take them over for the oil. Which is probably correct. As a former Marine I know the training it takes to learn to fight for you country. Those people are born to fight for their country and have nowhere else to go, unlike us. We'll get Bin Laden one day but when we leave things will go back to the way they were. That is probably correct too.

Joe Sepeda,Early,Texas (Sent Friday, December 19, 2008 6:54 PM)

So, liberals, does it matter to you if our troops die in Afghanistan instead of Iraq?

Joey Lott, SF (Sent Friday, December 19, 2008 8:26 PM)

Truly:
What is every one's problrm with the USA. We let all of Osama's family get out of our sight's. We should have killed them them like they killed us. I believe that is us or them, an eye for an eye. Did Osama(the PUSSY) care about us or his family. Do not give into them or the russians they are all about being the bad ass and that is us. We can go back to being pussys ask world war 2 vets about that. And ask them if Ciltorious or clinton should have said sorry that we dropped the A bomb on those gooks after they bombed us without warning.
Pussys piss me off!! you wanna throw down lets go toe to toe. We have never thrown down without being thrown on first. it is time to let all know that you are all not worthy of taking us on.

IF THERE IS ANY SAND NIGGERS, GOOKS, MIDDLE EASTERN COCK SUCKERS, AFRICAN NIGGERS THAT THINK THEY CAN KICK OUR ASSES BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MIKE (Sent Friday, December 19, 2008 9:20 PM)

Whatever it takes. Obama will screw it up in January anyway.

Fair Game (Sent Friday, December 19, 2008 9:33 PM)

What is the Objective?
What is the exit strategy?
Be sure to remember your Kipling Mr. President.
And it isn't called the Graveyard of Empires for no reason.

Gary Schear, Bozeman Montana (Sent Friday, December 19, 2008 10:14 PM)

Perhaps this should have happened...oh say...by 2003?

Maybe at that time, we could have actually defeated the Taliban...like the Prez claimed we did when he pranced himself across that aircraft carrier claiming "Mission Accomplished". He likes to say, now, that the banner was for the sailors on that ship. Um...no. If you actually go back and LISTEN to his speech on that ship, he says "Major Combat Operations in Iraq are complete." He also says "We've defeated the Taliban in Afghanistan."

Both of those statements were, and still are, COMPLETE LIES! Maybe more troops in Afghanistan will make the difference. They certainly aren't able to change much in Iraq at this point.

Michelle, Denver (Sent Saturday, December 20, 2008 1:51 AM)

Obama has BEEN saying more troops need to be deployed to Afghanistan. Apparently, Bush didn't think so,
but now he would like to take the credit for doing
the correct thing. But we all know the score!

Stape, Oklahoma City, OK (Sent Saturday, December 20, 2008 1:57 AM)

Got a better idea? Maybe we'll finally catch/kill those terrorists.

Matt, Seattle, Wash. (Sent Saturday, December 20, 2008 7:19 AM)

This assignment to Afghanistan will be harder, more complex than Iraq just by the difficult terrain! Read
all the books your library has on this country: tribal leaders for centuries have defended "their" territories against intrusions. Unless we have skills
in their languages, their cultures, and can communicate WHY were in their land, I fear we will be
considered intrusive infidels. But if we do some good - schools, aid, beneficial partnerships, maybe
we will succeed.

c.smith, Steuben WI (Sent Saturday, December 20, 2008 9:31 AM)

Have we forgotten the hard lessons from Vietnam? Do we remember what happened to the Russians when they were in Afghanistan? You can kill the body with bombs and bullets but the spirit endures. As a former Marine I know the training it takes to learn how to fight for your country. The Afghans are BORN to fight for their country and unlike us, have no other place to go. Our involvement in Afghanistan started off as a just cause: Get Bin Laden and his terrorist group for attacking America. Then Bush got us into Iraq through false intel, not that it mattered to him because he was dying to show Daddy what he could do. Now the region sees us as invaders after their booty...oil. We'll get Bin Laden eventually and after we leave things will go back to THEIR normal. It's in the spirit of the Afghan people to endure and prevail.

Joe Sepeda,Early,Texas (Sent Saturday, December 20, 2008 10:22 AM)

More helicopters. Hmmmmmmm.
Some where in a resurgent nationalistic Russia, a Russian version of Charlie Wilson is working feverishly to secure effective anti-helicopter weapons for willing Taliban hands. (probably Stingers because they already know how to use them and the irony will appeal to the Russians).
"The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend."
"Afghanistan, the Graveyard of Empires"
"Every stone in the Khyber has been soaked in blood."

We are truly a stupid self centered people with no attention span, a learning disability the size of Texas, and streak of Hubris as wide as the Mississippi.

Gary Schear, Bozeman Montana (Sent Saturday, December 20, 2008 11:40 AM)

No one should be surprised if it takes A LOT more troops than this to fix the problem that never should have been.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/world/europe/07diplo.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Anna Molly (Sent Saturday, December 20, 2008 2:16 PM)

Would someone please tell me what we're fighting about in Afghanistan? I know there are bad guys over there, but in addition to that what? With all those "boots on the ground" over there, some will not be coming home, and I am wondering why the sacrifice? What exactly will victory mean?

Sylvia Carlsson Anchorage Alaska (Sent Sunday, December 21, 2008 11:29 AM)

Someone wise once said that history is doomed to repeat itself. How many different invaders have the Afghan people endured over the centuries? Mongols, British, Russians and now the USA to name a few. Though the people are a mixed race the word Afghanistan means "Land of Afghans" and they will defend it to the death. Unlike us they have no other place to go. Remember Vietnam? Our involvement in Afghanistan started off as a just cause: Get Bin Laden and his terrorist group for attacking America.
While working on that Bush mired us in Iraq due to faulty intel, not that it mattered to him because he was on a roll and was dying to show Daddy what he could do. Now the region sees us as invaders after their countrys only natural resource....oil. It will be interesting to see what history says about us.

Joe Sepeda,Early,Texas (Sent Sunday, December 21, 2008 2:28 PM)

The is another item Obama promised during the Campaign and I am glad he's doing it.b

Barbara C - Fort Lauderdale, FLb (Sent Sunday, December 21, 2008 2:55 PM)

Well,Well? And you thought the "chosen ONE" was going to keep his election Promise? This article proves he is a liar. A idiot would have had better information, but deception and liar's rule! Pump more troops into another Vietnam and the body bag count will escalate. GWB was a fool and he had to show daddy "He would finish what his daddy screwed up. Now the chosen one shall be sworn in with blood. Like all Washington self serving useless paper hangers we the people will pay the price for their blunders.

fact (Sent Monday, December 22, 2008 4:29 AM)

Its about time. Maybe we could have captured BinLaden and finished off the Taliban if we had the 100,000 troops we sent to Iraq over there.

Michael M (Sent Monday, December 22, 2008 5:44 AM)

Whats this? 7 years after we were attacked by osama bin forgotten Bush is finally getting around to ordering real firepower to fight the real enemy of America...

Still looking for those non existent WMD's in Iraq cheney?

Rick, NC (Sent Monday, December 22, 2008 8:42 AM)

SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.):

Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private) Remember me?

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=1722037