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Print Brad Norington, Washington correspondent | August 25, 2009
Article from: The Australian
PRESSURE is mounting on Barack Obama to ignore US public opinion and approve a significant boost in the number of troops committed to the Afghanistan war, after military commanders on the ground complained they lacked enough forces to defeat the Taliban.

US commanders have reportedly told the President's top envoy in the region, Richard Holbrooke, that their numbers are insufficient as insurgents make gains in the south and east.

Over the past two days, during a visit to all four regional command centres, Mr Holbrooke was delivered the blunt message that additional troop numbers from the US and smaller numbers from its NATO partners had provided some benefit but were below what the commanders needed, The New York Times said.

The plea for more troops comes as the US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, finalises a review of the Afghanistan conflict and weighs up a likely request for more troops.

Mr Obama appears to be caught in a political pincer as the military pushes for increasing US troop numbers by up to 45,000 while public support at home for the war effort wanes.

As part of a troop surge overseen by General McChrystal, the US has already committed to boosting its forces from 31,000 to 68,000 this year.

The extra forces being canvassed indicate the magnitude of the problem as the Taliban gains the upper hand in new areas.

US commanders have complained that the Haqqini family network, which has been linked to al-Qa'ida, is using eastern sanctuaries in Pakistan to launch attacks against allied forces.

Only last week Mr Obama described the conflict in Afghanistan as a "war of necessity" and drew a direct link with defeating the Taliban to stave off further terror attacks on US soil by its al-Qa'ida allies.

An added complication for Mr Obama is how the US will continue to deal with Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government after serious allegations of ballot rigging in the elections last week, which, if true, were intended to fraudulently secure his grip on power.

The difficulty for Mr Obama at home as troop casualties mount is that more than 50 per cent of Americans no longer support US involvement in Afghanistan.

Even some of Mr Obama's opponents in the Republican Party who have supported the war in the past are raising doubts.

Much 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.