By the end of this year, we will have 68,000. I just did the addition.
A couple of sources:
The situation in Afghanistan is "serious and deteriorating", according to the United States' top military officer Admiral Mike Mullen.
The bleak assessment is shared by the US commander in Afghanistan, Army General Stanley McChrystal, who is expected to ask President Barack Obama for between 15,000 and 45,000 more troops to help fight the Taliban.
Admiral Mullen's remarks underscore the difficulties facing the almost 100,000 American, British, Australian and other Coalition troops arrayed against the Taliban and their international terrorist allies.
The situation has eroded public support in the US for the war.
According to the most recent polling, just over 50 per cent of Americans believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting, and Americans are against sending more troops by a ratio of two to one.
Admiral Mullen says he is aware of that flagging support.
"Certainly the numbers are of concern. That said, the President has given me and the American military a mission and that focuses on a new strategy, new leadership," he said.
Within the next fortnight General McChrystal will deliver his on-the-ground assessment to Mr Obama.
Members of Congress who have just visited Afghanistan and been briefed by the General say they are in no doubt he will ask for thousands of more troops.
The only question, they say, is will General McChrystal ask for the low-risk option of 15,000 or the high-risk option of 45,000 extra troops.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/24/2664412.htm?section=worldMuch of the politicking on the military side appears to be aimed at legitimising a potential request from General McChrystal to Mr Obama for troops at the maximum range of 45,000.
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint chief of Staff, made candid admissions about conditions in Afghanistan yesterday. "It is serious and it is deteriorating," Admiral Mullen said. "And as I've said over the last couple of years, the Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated."
Admiral Mullen said that General McChrystal, who is believed to have delayed his recommendations on the Afghan conflict until after the country's presidential elections, had yet to make any decisions about asking for extra troops.
In a separate interview, Admiral Mullen admitted that falling public support for the Afghanistan war effort was worrying, and said he was aware US public support was critical.
From a security standpoint, he said, the US-led mission needed to "turn this thing around" within 18 months.
The US ambassador to Afghanistan, retired general Karl Eikenberry, who joined Admiral Mullen in two political talkshows to discuss the conflict, admitted he was not optimistic.
"I'm giving a candid assessment that, as Admiral Mullen said, we have a very difficult situation in parts of Afghanistan today," he said.
Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has toured Afghanistan during the August congress recess, said yesterday that he supported Mr Obama's position on maintaining the war effort, but believed General McChrystal was coming under great pressure from within the White House, though possibly not from the President himself, not to recommend a larger number of additional troops.
"There are great pressures on General McChrystal to reduce those estimates," Senator McCain said. "I don't think it's necessarily from the President, I think it's from the people around him and others."
Senator McCain said progress was possible within 18 months and acknowledged the fall in public support.
"You need to see a reversal of these very alarming and disturbing trends on attacks, casualties, areas of the country that the Taliban has increased control of," he said.
As part of the surge in Afghanistan, US troop numbers will increase to 68,000 in the next few months, in addition to 35,000 troops from other nations including Australia.
As the war turns sour after eight years of battle, General McChrystal will almost certainly ask for a further boost, which is expected to be in the range of 15,000 to 45,000 troops.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25975165-2703,00.html