Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday it was too early to tell if more US troops should be dispatched to Afghanistan, where a Taliban-led insurgency is on the rise. "It's much too premature to make a judgement that we need more troops, let alone tens of thousands of more troops," Biden told CNN. "The decision about troop levels will be made after all the present troops are in place, the civilians are in place, the election is determined."
His comments added to uncertainty about the timing of President Barack Obama's decision on whether to add reinforcements to the nearly eight-year campaign, beyond the extra 21,000 troops he has already dispatched. General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, is expected to submit a formal request to increase the US military presence in the war-torn country beyond the 68,000 due there by year's end.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs indicated last week that Obama would not make a troop decision for "many, many weeks." But Congress may force the Obama administration to unveil its hand sooner, as the leader of the Republican minority in the House of Representatives called for McChrystal to testify in a public congressional hearing. "I respect the fact that the president wants to deliberate before making a decision on the next step in Afghanistan," House Minority Leader John Boehner told reporters.
"But I think it's imperative that the American people and members of Congress hear directly from General McChrystal about the situation on the ground and we need to hear from him soon." Afghanistan's recent election, which has been riddled with accusations of widespread voting fraud favouring incumbent President Hamid Karzai, has further complicated the debate. If Afghans doubt the legitimacy of Karzai's government should he gain a second term, the outcome "makes everything considerably more difficult," Biden acknowledged.
Comments
Comments are closed.