Afghanistan troop buildup is key... Obama's isn't

Though much of the current news on Afghanistan is devoted to Obama's troop surge, I found an article that deals with how the United States' troop surge is not nearly as crucial as Afghanistan's own quiet troop buildup. Afghanistan Defense Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak said that every Afghan defense unit in the southern part of Afghanistan would receive an additional 17% percent of troops to significantly increase the strength of counter terrorism in the area. The additional 17% would mean a swell of almost 50,000 Afghan troops by Halloween, 2011. The article talks about how the success of the Afghan troops directly affects Obama's plan to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in July 2011. If the Afghan troops fail, then it will be extremely hard for the United States to withdraw from Afghanistan safely.


This article caught me by surprise because I had always thought that the United States' troop surge was the key on the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. However, I now know that the United States is merely helping Afghanistan become independent in order to fight its own battles. I sure hope it works. Also, I found this article interesting because it highlighted the media's focus on AMERICA and not on the country for which we are helping. Had the media focused on Afghanistan more, it would be more widely known that Afghanistan plans to have a troop surge of its own. I, for one, did not have any idea that Afghanistan was planning on raising a bigger army. Or maybe that just goes to show how much I read the news.