Increasing Congressional discord over the next steps in Afghanistan, coupled with a spike in violence there, is deepening the political divide on the war, even among US President Barack Obama’s Democratic party.
Key Senate Democrats signaled on Friday that any push by the White House to send more troops to Afghanistan is likely to hit resistance in Congress. Their unease was fueled by the bombing that left as many as 70 dead, including civilians, who were killed when the US blew up tanker trucks hijacked by the Taliban.
That deadly airstrike in Afghanistan on Friday complicates the debate over the need for more US troops, bolstering arguments that Afghan leaders must increasingly fend for themselves.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Democrat, said the US must focus more on building Afghanistan’s security forces. His cautionary stance was echoed by Democratic Senator Jack Reed, who is also on the committee and spent two days in Afghanistan this week with Levin.
The senators will return to Washington next week, just as Obama receives a new military review of Afghanistan strategy that officials expect will be followed by a request for at least a modest increase in US troops battling insurgents in the eight-year-old war.
Obama came into office pledging to shift the US’ focus from the war in Iraq to the Afghan fight, which had long been a secondary priority. But as war-weary Americans watched another 21,000 troops go to Afghanistan this year, and as US casualties rise, support for the war has waned.
As a result, lawmakers say they want the US to more quickly train and equip the Afghan army and police so the embattled country can take over its security needs.
“There are a lot of ways to speed up the numbers and capabilities of the Afghan army and police. They are strongly motivated,” Levin said. “I think that we should pursue that course ... before we consider a further increase in combat forces beyond what’s already been planned to be sent in the months ahead.”
Levin said there was a growing consensus on the need to expedite the training and equipping of the Afghan army to improve security in Afghanistan, where 51 US troops died last month, the bloodiest for US forces there since the US-led invasion in late 2001.
GREAT PROGRESS
Still, the airstrike comes just as US defense leaders insisted this week that troops were making great progress in stemming civilian deaths.
“All I can really do is assure you that they recognize the gravity of these events when they happen and it has the full attention of the leadership,” Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said on Friday of forces in Afghanistan that were investigating the Friday attack.
Under new orders put in place by top commander General Stanley McChrystal in July to reduce civilian casualties, US and NATO forces were directed to limit air support to ground troops when civilians might be present.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff, told Pentagon reporters this week that Afghan civilian casualties were being greatly reduced.
In a separate call with reporters on Friday, Reed said the US must use a multi-pronged approach to win the war in Afghanistan. The US, he said, must build up the Afghan Army, send more civilians to Afghanistan to provide economic and political assistance and reach out to Taliban supporters who are willing to recognize the Kabul government.
HESITANCY
The hesitancy to boost troops levels comes just days after Obama’s defense chief suggested a willingness to consider an increase. Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week urged patience with the war effort, and said he would be comfortable with a larger US military presence in Afghanistan as long as the increase reassured the country’s citizens that the Americans were there for the benefit of Afghans.
Gates has declined to talk about any specific recommendations contained in a new review of Afghanistan strategy sent this week to them and the president by McChrystal. But he has also said he could only consider a major increase in combat troops under certain conditions.
McChrystal is expected to send a separate recommendation on troop increases, but how many troops McChrystal wants is unclear. There could be as many as 20,000, but in recent days military officials have predicted it will be far less, perhaps fewer than 10,000.
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