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Afghan shift could be near
By Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press
Jul 24, 2008
WASHINGTON - Top Pentagon leaders are expected to recommend soon to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates which additional U.S. troops could be sent to Afghanistan in the next month or so, according to a senior military official. The units are likely to be small and could include engineers, ordnance-disposal troops, and other support forces needed to shore up fighting needs and the training of Afghan forces.
Officials have not ruled out identifying a larger, brigade-sized unit before the end of 2008 that could be shifted to Afghanistan from a planned deployment to Iraq or moved from some other location.
U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have been asking for three combat brigades, or roughly 10,000 more troops, to help quash rising violence.
The senior official, who requested anonymity because the proposals are not public, said the recommendations had not yet been approved by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or delivered to Gates.
Last week, Gates said he hoped to address some of those requirements sooner rather than later.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said yesterday that any sizable increase in troop levels in Afghanistan might not come until the new administration takes over next year.
Any decision to shift large units such as combat brigades into Afghanistan after they have been preparing to go to Iraq later this year would take additional training and time, Morrell said.
"You can't snap your fingers and make this happen, unfortunately," he said.
He added later that the Pentagon was not kicking any decisions down the road to the next White House. Rather, he said, decisions made now may require months to execute.
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