Afghanistan Troop Levels May Rise To 60K, Says Chairman Of Joint Chiefs Of Staff

(CBS) U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan could rise to as high as 60,000 over the next 12 to 18 months, says Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen. The war in Afghanistan is one of several topics Mullen discusses with CBS News correspondent David Martin in a profile to be broadcast on 60 Minutes this Sunday, Jan. 11, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Mullen recently visited U.S. troops in Afghanistan and told them reinforcements are forthcoming. "I talked yesterday about a range between 20,000 and 30,000," he tells Martin. With the current level at 32,000, that would mean as many as 60,000 troops could be stationed in Afghanistan. "We could [have that many],"says Mullen.

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Comments

[mamacat]

When the commander on the ground wanted 5,000 special forces to clean up al Qaeda at Tora Bora, Dubya said no.

Now Obama wants 60,000 American troops to fight the Taliban, who had nothing to do with 9/11. I don't know if more troops are a good idea, but I sure wish we had got bin Laden back in 2001, when we had the chance.

[twofish]

My "deja vu" is LBJ: the right instincts and legislation domestically, sunk in the quagmire of Vietnam. And he KNEW it was the wrong thing to do, but was being baited from the right and didn't want to be tagged as the guy who lost a war, the guy who lost Vietnam (like it was ever ours to lose). I just hope Obama is as courageous as he is intelligent and resists the need to save face and the temptation to think he could win this thing with just a few more troops, a little more effort.

"We're waist deep in the Big Muddy, and the big fool says, push on."

[Stirner]

Let's see now... a whole British army was annihilated in Afghanistan it the 19th Century, the Russians were crushed in the 20th., and the 21st Century? Get ready for more American blood and treasure to be sunk into the Mideast religious cesspool... to whose benefit? Hey, don't ask, don't tell....

[IllinoisTexan43]

Still chasing apparitions, I see.

[holeybuybull]

Not very surprising. This must be part of our economic plan. Death is one of the only viable industrial exports we have left.

[pfc1369]

It boggles the mind to think someone as informed and brilliant as Obama could learn absolutely nothing from history and doom his presidency to failure from the get go by becoming mired in Afghanistan, "where empires go to die."

George Bernard Shaw may have been right when he said, "We learn from history that we don't learn from history."

[JoeBlough]

Where is the money going to come from to raise the troop level? Our country is tapped out.

[blimie]

No more wars in the mideast. I know we are very tied into it because of oil but nothing good has come out of military solutions. We are so in debt, unemployment is so high. Let's focus on rebuilding America and creating clean energy that keeps us from being so dependent on oil.

[drauz]

I'd be more interested in know;
a) what are our clearly articulated victory conditions in Afg? &
b) what is the order of battle that Gen Shinseki says are required to achieve those conditions?
The rest is just quagmire management.