from SLATE: > The Los Angeles Times leads with new Pentagon data that show insurgent > activity is on the rise in Afghanistan, a development that has led military > leaders to order a review of current strategy in the country. In the first > five months of the year, insurgent attacks have gotten more sophisticated and > increased almost 40 percent in the eastern provinces, a region of Afghanistan > that was once relatively calm and several senior Pentagon officials had > frequently touted as an example of success. ...
>While the rate of U.S. military deaths in Iraq keeps on decreasing, the >opposite is true in Afghanistan, where 50 Americans have been killed in combat >this year, compared with 28 who were killed in the first six months of 2007. >Pentagon leaders want to increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan but >can't do much about that desire until there's a significant withdrawal of >forces from Iraq. Although many in the Pentagon once advocated that troop >reductions in Iraq should be used as an opportunity to give servicemembers >more time to rest and train stateside, military planners now agree that any >drawdown from Iraq will lead to an increase of forces in Afghanistan. Problem >is that no one knows when there will be further withdrawals from Iraq. ... < -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
