To put it simply, the U.S. Army is maxed out. An assessment performed by the RAND Arroyo Center, at the request of Army officials, showed that nearly 70% of U.S. soldiers are already in Iraq or Afghanistan. Another 20% are new troops not yet ready for combat. This situation means the only way Afghanistan can get more soldiers is if the withdrawal from Iraq is sped up—something commanders in that country do not want to see for fear of creating more security problems and adding more stress to an already overworked military force.

 

“There’s no additional slack to send more troops to Afghanistan without taking them [directly] from Iraq,” Timothy Muchmore, deputy director of the Army office supporting the Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review, told Government Executive.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

More Troops for Afghanistan Might not be Possible Anytime Soon (by Katherine McIntire Peters, Government Executive)