Friday, October 30, 2009
(photo: AP)
U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal wants more troops sent to Afghanistan, insisting the additional forces are necessary to defeat the Taliban. But the question of how much is enough is being raised in light of the fact that the Taliban are already outnumbered 12-1, according to an assessment by the Associated Press.
There are currently 100,000 troops from the United States, Europe and other countries fighting in Afghanistan. Add to this another 200,000 Afghan security forces and police, and the Taliban—which is estimated to have only 25,000 fighters—find themselves vastly outgunned. And yet they are gaining the upper hand, according to McChrystal. The problem, according to one expert, is the Taliban don’t fight fair.
“The U.S. and its allies already have ample numbers and firepower to annihilate the Taliban, if only the Taliban would cooperate by standing still and allowing us to bomb them to smithereens,” Andrew Bacevich, a Vietnam veteran and professor of international relations and history at Boston University, told the AP. “But the insurgents are conducting the war in ways that do not play to (allied) strengths.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Troops in Afghanistan Outnumber Taliban 12-1 (by Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press)
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