30,000 for a good cause

President Barack Obama has ordered a deployment of 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and Pakistan to combat the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces. His intention is to provide enough support so that we can teach Afghan security forces how to control their own borders and control extremists. Troops will be deployed mainly in the south and east borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan. At the same time he announced the additional troops, he announced that they would start returning to the US in July of 2011. The additional deployment of troops in this region will give the United States a greater capacity to partner with Afghan security forces along the border and to go after insurgents along the border. President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has pledged cooperation with the increased number of troops and has pledged to “spare no effort” to cooperate with the United States war strategy. While grouping with the Afghan security forces the U.S and NATO will be able to train and increase the capability of Afghan security forces. Army General Stanley Mc Chrystal requested even more forces in a report to Congress earlier in the year, but respects Obama’s recommendations. Congress is considering the order, but has questions about the cost of such an operation ($30 Billion per year) and whether it was smart to mention a date for removing the troops. Afghanistan is very mountainous and has a difficult terrain. Opium is quite prevalent and poppies are the largest crop grown by the Afghan people. This war is very different from others the United States and NATO forces have been involved in. Even though the President has ordered more troops, it will take months to get equipment and troops deployed. Some people say that it may be fall of 2010 before all of these troops are in place.