Pentagon may beef up Afghanistan command role

[unhappycamper]

Pentagon may beef up Afghanistan command role
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday May 1, 2008 7:32:34 EDT

WASHINGTON — Pentagon officials are quietly considering a significant change in the war command in Afghanistan to extend U.S. control of forces into the country’s volatile south. The idea is partly linked to an expectation of a fresh infusion of U.S. combat troops in the south next year.

Taliban resistance has stiffened in the south since NATO took command there in mid-2006, and some in the Bush administration think the fight against the Taliban could be strengthened if the U.S., whose span of control is now limited to eastern Afghanistan, were also in charge in part or all of the south.

The internal discussions about expanding the U.S. command role were described in recent Associated Press interviews with several senior defense officials who have direct knowledge but were not authorized to talk about it publicly. All said they thought it unlikely that a decision would be made anytime soon.

Giving the U.S. more control in the south would address one problem cited by U.S. officials: the NATO allies’ practice of rotating commanders every nine months — and their fighting units every six months, in some cases. The 101st Airborne, by comparison, is in eastern Afghanistan on a 15-month deployment. In the U.S. view, nine-month commands are too short to maximize effectiveness.

U.S. combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq are to shrink to 12 months starting in August.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_afghanistancommand_043008/