WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has signed off on an increase in U.S. forces for the flagging war in Afghanistan, defense and congressional officials said Tuesday.
The Obama administration is expected to announce by Wednesday that it will send one additional Army brigade and an unknown number of U.S. Marines to Afghanistan in coming months. One source says the total is about 17,000 troops.
That would be a down payment on a larger influx of U.S. forces that has been widely expected this year. It would get a few thousand forces in place in time for the increase in fighting that usually comes with warmer weather and ahead of national midyear elections.
This is the first time the new commander in chief has sent significant numbers of new forces into battle. Obama campaigned on a new strategy for the Afghanistan war, but he has taken his time to approve the new forces.
Identifying and narrowing the goals in Afghanistan is part of a broad U.S. government reassessment of the war effort that is under way.
U.S. commanders have said they could send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan this year, nearly doubling the American contingent. Pentagon chief Robert Gates has said two brigades could be ready to go there by spring and a third by summer.
Earlier Tuesday, the Rand Corp. issued a report concluding that a “game-changing” strategy is urgently needed in Afghanistan to save the faltering international campaign.
“All is not lost in Afghanistan,” RAND Corp. experts said in a paper released by the congressionally funded United States Institute of Peace.