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Booster shot – The US increases its forces in Afghanistan
18 June 2009
British soldiers of The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, disembark from a Chinook helicopter in the Upper Sangin Valley in Afghanistan on 31 May 2009. US Marines will assist the 5,700 British forces currently fighting in Helmand province. (PA)
What the Obama administration lacks in definition it makes up for in enthusiasm. Despite failing to clearly enunciate its strategy for Afghanistan, President Barack Obama has elevated the Afghanistan conflict to his highest foreign policy concern since coming to power. He appointed State Department veteran Richard Holbrooke to head his Afghan-Pakistan strategy and dedicated an extra 21,000 troops to the fight.
In the latest policy coup, the Obama administration removed the commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), General David McKiernan, who was replaced on 15 June by General Stanley McChrystal.
Gen McKiernan, a veteran of the army's 2003 dash to Baghdad, was considered "too conventional", according to an unnamed Pentagon official, for the current counter-insurgency campaign that Obama and Gates want waged. Gen McChrystal, who commanded the special forces operations that captured high-value targets in Iraq, is expected to bring in sweeping changes.