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The United States is preparing to increase the number of troops it keeps in Afghanistan in 2015 to fill a gap left in the NATO mission by other contributing nations, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the situation. The final numbers are still being agreed, but there will be at least several hundred more than initially planned, one of the sources said. "If they hadn't done that, the mission would have lost bases," the source said. Under the U.S. commitment, described as a "bridging solution" until other nations fulfill their pledges later in the year or the troops...

The Taliban have gained the upper hand in Afghanistan, the top American commander there said, forcing the U.S. to change its strategy in the eight-year-old conflict by increasing the number of troops in heavily populated areas like the volatile southern city of Kandahar, the insurgency's spiritual home. Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned that means U.S. casualties, already running at record levels, will remain high for months to come. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the commander offered a preview of the strategic assessment he is to deliver to Washington later this month, saying the troop shifts are designed to...

The United States currently has about 139,000 troops in Iraq and 52,000 in Afghanistan according to this AP article about the US being ready to be in Iraq for 10 years. Barak Obama took the oath of office on January 20th 2009 at which time there were 142,000 Troops In IraqTurn to page 24 of this Brookings institute report and 31,000 troops in Afganistan according to the Christian Science Monitor

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. troop "surge" in Iraq that President George W. Bush ordered last year has ended after the last of five additional combat brigades left the country, a U.S. military spokesman said on Tuesday. The remaining troops from that brigade departed over the weekend, leaving just under 147,000 American soldiers in Iraq, the spokesman said. "The final elements of the surge brigade have now left, getting out a few days ahead of schedule," he said. The U.S. military had 20 combat brigades in Iraq at its peak in 2007, with troop levels around 160,000-170,000.

en. John McCain (R-Ariz.) spent Friday on the defensive from rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) after mistakenly saying the United States had drawn down its troops in Iraq to pre-buildup levels...

Barack Obama’s adviser on Iraq has written a confidential paper arguing that the US needs to remain robustly engaged in Iraq in order to build on the successes of the past year. The New York Sun’s Eli Lake reports on the confidential paper by Colin Kahl, the coordinator for Obama’s advisory group on Iraq, which foresees the same kind of long-term presence that John McCain has advocated. It calls for a gradual reduction through 2010 to a baseline presence of as many as 80,000 American troops: This has some difficult implications for Obama. He has made a point of distorting...

Excerpt - BAGHDAD - The top American commander in Iraq said Wednesday he was preparing recommendations on troop cuts before he returns to Washington next month for a report to Congress, and believes the U.S. footprint in Iraq will have to be "a good bit smaller" by next summer. But he cautioned against a quick or significant U.S. withdrawal that could surrender "the gains we have fought so hard to achieve." Gen. David Petraeus said the "horrific and indiscriminate attacks" that killed at least 250 Yazidis, an ancient religious sect, in northwestern Iraq Tuesday night were the work of al-Qaida...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2007 – President Bush said today he supports the recommendations on reducing troop levels in Iraq made earlier this week by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq. During his weekly radio address, Bush voiced confidence in Petraeus’ suggestion that U.S. forces reduce their size by 5,700 troops in Iraq by Christmas, and that troop levels could be scaled down from 20 combat brigades to 15 by July. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker presented their report to Congress Sept. 10-11. “I have accepted General Petraeus’ recommendations. And I have...

WASHINGTON - Even with cutbacks promised by President Bush, the United States may wind up with thousands more troops in Iraq next summer than before the buildup of forces he ordered in January. Bush approved the redeployment of five Army combat brigades and three Marine contingents between now and July 2008, but that does not account for thousands of support forces -- including military police and an Army combat aviation brigade -- that were sent as "enablers" and that apparently will stay longer. For example, the headquarters staff of the 3rd Infantry Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, was...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2007 – President Bush spoke to Marines at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., today, thanking them for their service and explaining the way forward in Iraq. (Video) After meeting with young Marine officers and the enlisted troops who train them, Bush said he told the troops about his address to the nation last night, in which he endorsed Army Gen. David H. Petraeus’ recommendations for the future of the U.S. mission in Iraq. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker this week provided their assessment of the situation...

President Bush, defending an unpopular war, ordered gradual reductions in U.S. forces in Iraq on Thursday night and said, "The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home." Still, Bush firmly rejected calls to end the war, saying the insurgents who threaten Iraq's future are a danger to U.S. national security. American troops must stay in the battle, Bush said, and more than 130,000 will remain after the newly ordered withdrawals are completed in July. "The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is: return on success," the president said.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gen. David Petraeus told Congress on Monday that he believes the U.S. military can reduce forces in Iraq to pre-surge levels by the summer of 2008, and that the military objectives of the surge "are in large measure being met." Petraeus, the commanding general of the war, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker were testifying before Congress.......

September 7, 2007 Petraeus, Seeing Gains in Iraq as Fragile, Is Wary of Cuts By DAVID E. SANGER and DAVID S. CLOUD WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 — Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, has told President Bush that he wants to maintain heightened troop levels in Iraq well into next year to reduce the risk of military setbacks, but could accept the pullback of roughly 4,000 troops beginning in January, in part to assuage critics in Congress, according to senior administration and military officials.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace is labeling as "purely speculative" a report in the Los Angeles Times Friday that he is expected to recommend to President Bush that U.S. troop levels in Iraq next year should be cut by nearly half. However, Pace's reaction to the story did not deny that a significant troop reduction is an option being considered by the Joint Chiefs as they develop a strategic assessment on the way forward in Iraq. Citing unnamed administration and military officials, the Los Angeles Times article said Pace is concerned that keeping a military force significantly larger than...

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half, potentially creating a rift with top White House officials and other military commanders over the course of the war. Administration and military officials say Marine Gen. Peter Pace is likely to convey concerns by the Joint Chiefs that keeping well in excess of 100,000 troops in Iraq through 2008 will severely strain the military. This assessment could collide with one being prepared by the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, calling...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "The chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to urge President George W. Bush to cut U.S. troop levels in Iraq next year, the Los Angeles Times said on Friday, citing military and administration officials." "Marine Gen. Peter Pace, whose term as chairman expires at the end of September, is expected to contend that keeping significantly more than 100,000 troops in Iraq through next year would severely strain the military and compromise its ability to respond to other threats, the newspaper said."

by Mark Finkelstein October 12, 2006 - 08:19 On Wednesday, the MSM had a field day with two reports. The first was by a Johns Hopkins scientist, suggesting that there have been over 600,000 civilian deaths in Iraq during the current conflict - a full order of magnitude greater than the US-government estimate of 30-50,000. Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies criticized the way the estimate was derived and noted that the results were released shortly before the Nov. 7 election."They're almost certainly way too high. This is not analysis, this is politics," Cordesman said. The...

    U.S. troop levels in Iraq will likely stay around the 133,000 mark in the coming months even if an Army brigade or two is cut from the current number of 15 total combat brigades, defense officials say.     The officials said Army Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, may decide he does not need a replacement brigade for one going home. Yet the overall force level will likely stay the same because new training teams are entering the country to embed with units of the Iraq Security Force (ISF).     Gen. Casey is also periodically tapping an Army "call-forward" brigade...

The ranking Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joseph Biden of Delaware, told NBC "Meet the Press” host Tim Russert, Sunday, that "unless we fundamentally change the rotation dates and fundamentally change how many members of the National Guard we’re calling up, it’ll be virtually impossible to maintain 150,000 folks this year.” But the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner of Virginia, disagreed, saying that in conference with chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, that top military leader opined: "That’s inaccurate, that assumption. We can do it. And we will do...

KERRY'S WRONG GENERAL, WRONG REASON, WRONG TIMEKerry Misleads America With Conspiratorial Fantasy About Retired Army General________________________________________________________CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT JAMIE MCINTYRE: "[T]he fact that the Army chief of staff was not fired or forced to retire early is just that, Judy. It is a fact." (CNN's "Inside Politics," 9/24/04)KERRY'S FALSE CLAIMKerry Claimed President "Fired His Own Army Chief Of Staff [Eric Shinseki] When His Army Chief Of Staff Said How Many Troops He'd Need [In Iraq]."  (Sen. John Kerry, Press Conference, Tipton, IA, 10/5/04)THE FACTSIn Fact, Shinseki's Retirement Was Announced In April 2002, Long Before He Testified About Potential Conduct Of...