The Pentagon is planning to beef up Afghanistan troops and rebuild the US command in the country to facilitate fight against the resurging Taliban militants, said the New York Times on Friday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates would endorse a plan of 20 billion US dollars, which was proposed by the Afghan government, to nearly double the current size of the Afghanistan National Army in the next five years to a level of over 120,000 troops, according to the paper.
The plan would not be funded alone by the United States, said the report, adding that Gates might seek contribution from allies to help collect the 20 billion dollars.
Apart from that, the Pentagon is also considering reshape a command structure that has divided the NATO and American forces in Afghanistan, military and defense officials told the newspaper.
They said that Gen. David D. McKiernan, the US Army officer who leads the 45,000 NATO forces, including 15,000 American troops, would be given command of most of the 19,000 US troops that have operated separately, a move aiming at creating a more unified command structure that will help to coordinate all forces in Afghanistan.
"This creates one commander in country and in charge of all forces, and establishes a structure to deploy them as best suits the mission and to improve synchronization among all military assets," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told the newspaper.
The two plans were put under spotlight as the security situation in Afghanistan is deteriorated due to resurgence of al-Qaida and Taliban militants.
However, the military has said that it was unlikely to deploy more troops in Afghanistan without further withdrawal from Iraq, where there are currently 148,000 American troops.
As a makeshift, the Pentagon announced last week that more than 1,200 US marine troops who were sent to Afghanistan for a 30-day deployment had to stay longer to train local security forces.
It also said that nearly 200 new support troops would be sent to the country, including helicopter units and teams to clear routes and dispose explosives.
The US troops in Afghanistan were hit by the deadliest month in June since the war broke out in late 2001, when a total of 28 soldiers were killed.
(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2008)
