US Seeks 10K Allied Troops in Afghanistan

Grumbling nations only want to provide half
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 26, 2009 7:56 AM CST
US Seeks 10K Allied Troops in Afghanistan
US soldier Mike Greenberger checks the size of a shirt on an Afghan boy while distributing clothes on Thanksgiving Day outside the US base of Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan, today.   (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

The US is struggling to convince its allies to commit 10,000 more troops to the war in Afghanistan, according to federal sources. Allied leaders are willing to provide only half that figure for an operation increasingly unpopular with their citizens, particularly amid concerns about corruption in the Afghan government. The Obama administration views allied troops as both a tactical benefit and a way to help derail criticism in its own political problems with the war.

Citizens in Britain, Germany, France, Canada and the Netherlands are strongly opposed to the war. Washington hasn't yet made an official request for more allied troops, but informal talks have already begun, reports the New York Times. President Obama will announce the next US troop increase in Afghanistan on Tuesday. Sources have indicated he plans to commit 30,000 new troops in addition to the 68,000 already stationed in Afghanistan.
(More Afghanistan stories.)

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