Pentagon Asks McChrystal to Delay Troop Request

2 years ago

0 Comments Say Something »

Text Size

Washington Reporter

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has completed a classified report that requests significant increases of American troops in the country, including some options that would put the U.S. presence at over 100,000 troops for the first time. But as support for the war flags in Congress and among the public, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has instructed McChrystal to delay submitting the request until the administration can complete a sweeping strategy review.

In an assessment of the war submitted to the Pentagon last month and made public Monday, McChrystal warned that if the Taliban insurgency is not supressed in the next 12 months, victory may never be possible. His urgency seems increasingly at odds with the administration, as President Obama has repeatedly expressed hesitance about increasing troop levels, and White House aides continue to say there is no need for an immediate decision.

Pentagon Delays Troop Call [Wall Street Journal]

Filed Under: Obama Administration, Afghanistan

Tagged: afghanistan war, AfghanistanWar, daily guidance, DailyGuidance, obama administration, ObamaAdministration, stanley mcchrystal, StanleyMcchrystal, troops

Our New Approach to Comments

In an effort to encourage the same level of civil dialogue among Politics Daily’s readers that we expect of our writers – a “civilogue,” to use the term coined by PD’s Jeffrey Weiss – we are requiring commenters to use their AOL or AIM screen names to submit a comment, and we are reading all comments before publishing them. Personal attacks (on writers, other readers, Nancy Pelosi, George W. Bush, or anyone at all) and comments that are not productive additions to the conversation will not be published, period, to make room for a discussion among those with ideas to kick around. Please read our Help and Feedback section for more info.