Think tank: ‘Surge’ now needed in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

Addressing the ‘other’ war
Major changes recommended in Afghanistan strategy


Think tank: ‘Surge’ now needed in Afghanistan
By Sean D. Naylor - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 20:53:43 EST

The American Enterprise Institute, the think tank that came up with the “surge” strategy for Iraq, has just completed a re-evaluation of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan and concluded that another surge of U.S. forces is required, this time into southern Afghanistan.

AEI gathered at least “two dozen” experts for three days of discussions that finished Sunday, according to a Washington source familiar with the proposal. The AEI team was headed up by resident scholar Fred Kagan and included “many of the previous participants” from the discussions that preceded AEI’s Iraq surge proposal, including retired Army Gen. John M. “Jack” Keane, the source added.

In a telephone interview, Kagan said AEI did not conduct the study at the administration’s request. While a “core group” of AEI employees worked on both studies, along with a small number of retired Army officers, “otherwise the personnel were Afghanistan instead of Iraq,” Kagan said.

“Our goals are just to take a look at this obviously very important issue, understand it and make recommendations about what should and should not be done,” he added.

The Iraq strategy of surging some 30,000 additional troops to conduct counterinsurgency operations in the Baghdad area, implemented by the administration early in 2007, closely tracked the recommendations made in a paper authored by Kagan and titled “Choosing Victory – a Plan for Success in Iraq.” The paper was based on the work of an ad-hoc collection of experts gathered by AEI and called the “Iraq Planning Group.”


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/army_afghanpolicy_080129w/



uhc comment: So now the RW nutbags want to 'surge' Afghanistan to keep the $$$$ flowing.

[Lasher]

1. Here a surge, there a surge, everywhere a surge surge.

Everybody who works for AEI should enlist, since they think war is such a good idea.

This is a direct result of Junior taking his eyes off the ball to chase after President Cheney's adventure in Iarq.