Tags : army, robert gates
Pentagon Temporarily Increases U.S. Army By 22,000
Washington, D.C. (AHN) – Defense Sec. Robert Gates on Monday said he was increasing the size of the U.S. Army by 22,000 soldiers over the next three years to help U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, wars he described as “faster-paced against an even more adaptive enemy.”
In a press conference, Gates said he will add to the active-duty end strength of the Army from the current authoroized end-strength of 547,000, to a temporary 569,000. “These additional forces will be used to ensure that our deploying units are properly manned, and not to create new combat formations,” he said.
The increase will be implemented over the next three fiscal years, which begins when the 2009 fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. It will also cost $100 million for the two remaining months this year, and about $1 billion in 2010.
“The department will not seek additional funds for fiscal years ‘09 or 2010 to implement this decision, and will work with OMB and the Congress in putting together the necessary fiscal program in the remaining two years,” Gates said.
“We will take that money from some place that we think isn’t as high a priority as more soldiers and taking some additional steps to relieve the stress on the force,” he added. “This is a very high priority, and this is why, frankly, some of the wheeling and dealing on the Hill of a few hundred million here and a few hundred million there for a pet project here and a pet project there confront us with ever more difficult choices when we’re trying to make trade-offs in terms of how do we help our soldiers out, how do we relieve the stress on the force.”
There are about 58,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and 130,000 in Iraq.
The United States is currently increasing its troops in Afghanistan by 21,000. The new troops will train Afghan Security Forces following a shift in the U.S. mission to training and increasing the size of the Afghan Army to 134,000, and the police force to 82,000 by 2011.
The Pentagon launched its first major offensive in Afghanistan under the Obama administration early this month, with 4,000 Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers sweeping through and securing the Helmand River valley.
Helmand is where over 90 percent of Afghanistan’s opium is harvested and where militants support their activities from one of the world’s largest poppy fields.
Operation Khanjar or Strike of the Sword has proved costly in terms of lives lost, with July becoming the deadliest month for American troops since the 2001 invasion.
In Iraq, American forces withdrew from cities and localities on June 30 as part of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed by the U.S. and Iraqi governments December last year. In the weeks preceding the removal of troops, violence was at the lowest levels since the 2003 U.S-led invasion.
But it quickly picked up, with a bomb inthe oil-rich province of Kirkuk on the same day American troops left, that killed 33 people and injured 97 others, and several explosions a week after that left 41 people dead.
Speaking during the same press conference as Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said, ” I’ve grown increasingly concerned over the last year and a half about stress on the force and our ability to meet the demands out there. This temporary increase helps us address that concern.”
“It will also help us get a better handle on dwell time and boost the number of people we can deploy with the capabilities our commanders most need,” he added. “And that’s really the larger point here. It’s not just about relief. It’s about renewing our efforts to fight these two wars.”
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