U.S. Cool to Surge in Afghanistan's Own Force

[MollieB55]

U...S. Cool to Surge in Afghanistan's Own Forcehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB125953301936168677.htmlWhite House Leaning Against Call to Double Nation's Police and Army, but Surge of Some 30,000 American Troops Is LikelyWASHINGTON -- The Obama administration has soured on a call from its top commander to double the size of the Afghan police and army, reflecting the White House's continued skepticism about the Afghan government even as the U.S. prepares a surge of troops into the country, people familiar with the matter say.At an address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Tuesday, President Barack Obama is expected to announce that he will send roughly 30,000 American reinforcements to Afghanistan in addition to the 21,000 he deployed early in his administration. The escalation would bring total U.S. forces to some 100,000, the largest American troop deployment to Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion that toppled the Taliban government.Obama may need Republicans to back his latest troop increase to make up for Democratic antiwar defections. The GOP, however, will question any decision that falls short of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops, said Rep. Tom Price (R., Ga.). In a phone interview from Afghanistan, where he and other lawmakers were visiting, Price was skeptical of what he feared would be half measures to try to please both parties. "If what you're trying to do is to please all people, than that might not make any sense," he said.But the administration seems prepared to reject another of Gen. McChrystal's top priorities: his call to double the size of the Afghan police and army over the next few years.The administration now favors an alternative plan that would seek to build a larger Afghan security force, but one that would be considerably smaller than what Gen. McChrystal had wanted, these people said. The president is likely to talk about Afghan troops Tuesday, without specifying a growth target for expanding their ranks."The president has a realistic view of how successful the training regimen can be, and that has helped inform his decision," a senior administration official said Sunday. (Realistic view? Give me a break! I am sure all of us ladies have our dresses hand sewn by 40 people. That is MY real world. How about you? Oh, I forgot! Soros is not bankrolling most of us nor are we puppets!)Placing less emphasis on Afghan forces risks irking Democrats leery about an extended and expensive escalation. On CBS's "Face the Nation," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D., Mich.) said the president needs to show how a surge would speed the training and deployment of Afghan soldiers to ensure Democratic support. "The key here is an Afghan surge, not an American surge," he saidAllied commanders have said the majority of the new soldiers and Marines will go to the hotly disputed provinces of southern Afghanistan, and that the main focus in the south will be securing Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban and their ethnic support base, the Pashtun.As he announces the increased U.S. commitment, Mr. Obama is expected to outline broad performance goals for the Afghan government, including improvements in tackling corruption and taking control of security.The U.S. military police in Kandahar say progress takes time and can be hard to measure. U.S. troops say some Afghan patrolmen seem honest and competent; others fear Taliban assassination and rarely venture out of their stations at night without a coalition escort."They have their good days and they have their bad days, said 2nd Lt. Danielle Champagne, a 24-year-old from Houma, La., and leader of Black Sheep -- 1st Platoon of the 293rd Military Police Co., the only regular U.S. force based inside Kandahar.Inside one police outpost, Lt. Col. Abdul Qader, the Afghan station commander, said he hopes Mr. Obama uses the moment to force a crackdown on Afghan public corruption. "The police always arrest the Taliban, but when they go to court, they pay a bribe and get released," Col. Qader said.In the bleak war assessment that he delivered to Mr. Obama earlier this year, Gen. McChrystal called for expanding the Afghan army to 240,000 and the Afghan police to 160,000, roughly twice the size of their current growth plans. The proposal initially found support within the administration, where senior officials have talked openly about wanting to quickly transfer security responsibility to Afghan forces.But as the months-long administration strategy review has worn on, Vice President Joe Biden and other senior administration officials have become skeptical that the Afghan central government could retain, train and support so large a force, even with considerable Western support.For U.S. forces in Afghanistan, meanwhile, the expected troop surge can't come fast enough. "We could use as many troops as possible," said Staff Sgt. Jeff Schaffer, a 25-year-old Black Sheep squad leader. "It's ridiculous to think you can tame a city like this with as few people as we have.""I think they should send more" than the expected 30,000, said Cpl. David Pisano, 21, from Rossiter, Pa. "If they put just as much effort into Afghanistan as they did into Iraq, it would help out."