Troop surge in Afghanistan to hasten US pull-out

US President Barack Obama hopes the troop surge in Afghanistan will accelerate a withdrawal date. According to an unnamed US official, Obama plans to begin exiting troops from the region by July 2011.

By Luke BROWN / Meriem AMELLAL (video)
FRANCE 24 (text)

US President Barack Obama has hopes that the increase of soldiers in Afghanistan now, will facilitate a troop pull out by 2013. In a much-anticipated speech tonight outlining his new Afghan strategy, Obama is expected make it clear that US deployment will not be open-ended.

A senior US official told reporters that the president has set the date of July 2011 for

French military presence in Afghanistan

Aerial transport detachment (Dushanbe, Tajikistan): Two Transall C-160 planes used for transport into the conflict zone. One C-135 plane used for in flight refuelling.

The joint tactical group (GTIA) in Kapisa functions as a support for the ANA (Afghan National Army) in the region.

Drone detachment in Baghram: Two drones which carry out monitoring and recon missions for ground troops.

HQ Battalion, based in Kabul, coordinates the logistical operations for all French troops in Afghanistan.

The Helicopter Battalion (Bathelico) based in Kabul is used for troop transportation, ground support, surveillance and medical evacuation missions.

The aerial combat unit based in Kandahar is made of three Mirage 2000s and three Mirage F1 jet fighters.

The aircraft-carrier Charles-de-Gaulle is equipped to carry out several air support missions. It can launch up to 28 Rafale and Super-Etendard jet fighters.

US troops in Afghanistan to start coming home. However, he added, the pace and timeframe of a full exit strategy will depend on conditions on the ground.

Earlier Tuesday, a US official speaking on condition of anonymity announced that the president will send 30,000 additional troops to the Afghan front.

Obama has reportedly decided that trickling in extra troops over the next many years would be ineffective, and is therefore set to order a troop surge, the official said.

Obama already sent 21,000 troops in March this year to boost the existing 50,000-strong force. These additional 30,000 soldiers will bring the total number of US troops in Afghanistan to 100,000, doubling the US presence over the past year.

An estimated cost of up to 40 billion dollars

The new Afghan strategy will be announced in a live broadcast from the West Point military academy at 2am Paris time (GMT+1) on Wednesday. According to military experts, having an additional 30,000 US troops in Afghanistan is expected to cost between 20 and 40 billion dollars.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama will, however, offer a timeframe for reducing troop numbers in a war which is now in its ninth year. "Our time there will be limited," he said. "We're not going to be there in another eight or nine years."

Earlier, his administration reportedly called on allies, including France, to increase their troop presence in Afghanistan. However, French Defence Minister Herve Morin stressed on Tuesday that France is unlikely to send more troops to the war zone, preferring instead to concentrate on preparing Afghan security forces for a greater role in anti-insurgency operations.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro in October, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asserted that France would send "not a single soldier more" to Afghanistan. But on Tuesday the paper quoted an unnamed senior French official as saying Sarkozy might be open to reconsidering this position.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that the UK would boost its regular troops in Afghanistan by 500 to a total of 9,500 by the end of the year.