Defense Department officials say that Gen. John Allen, the current commander of the occupation of Afghanistan, has submitted a series of three proposals for continuing the occupation with varying troop levels past 2014.
President Obama signed a deal to keep troops in Afghanistan through 2024, but the exact levels have yet to be determined. Gen. Allen’s proposals start with a “high risk” version of 6,000 troops and scale up with a 10,000 and a 20,000 alternative.
Of course all troops aren’t created equal, and the 6,000 proposal relies on the assumption that the troops would be all Special Operations forces continuing combat on the ground, while the larger versions add trainers and other ground troops.
Currently the US has about 66,000 troops in Afghanistan, meaning that any of these proposals would see fewer troops overall in the nation. Such proposals remain largely speculative, however, as 60,000 are expected to remain through much of 2013, and the big drawdown is expected to come on the basis of an oft-predicted calm that never seems to materialize. The Afghan government has been talking with Pakistan about coming to an arrangement giving the Taliban several provinces for a peace deal, but whether this will ultimately happen is unclear.
Three proposals, but when is Gen. Allen going to propose to Jill Kelley?
Keeping troops in Afghanistan until 2024? What the hell is going on here?! That makes it at least two decades and then you can be damn sure they'll cook up some other rot gut excuse to make it permanent, aka Korea-Japan etc. Sweet Jeebus!
There should be NO proposal on the table other than withdrawing ALL our troops by the end of 2013 and bringing them home.
This nonsense has gone on long enough and has produced nothing for the United States.
If we are serious about reducing our deficits, let's start by ending our occupation of Afghanistan.
Proposal #4: 0 troops in Afghanistan.
We'd be just as safe as Americans, it would cost a heck of a lot less money, and none of our children come home in body-bags. Why the heck are we fighting in Afghanistan anyways? Because OBL had a man-cave there 12 years ago?
Don't ever vote for any elected official who doesn't support this proposal, and it will happen. Unfortunately, most of the 'Democratic', 'Liberal', 'Progressive' part of the country just voted to stay in freakin Afghanistan for another decade. If you asked Democratic voters is they want to stay in Afghanistan for another decade, I'm sure a vast majority would say no. But, they all still just voted for exactly that, and rejected candidates on the ballot that would have done what they would say they want.