Pentagon seeking trainers for Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

Pentagon seeking trainers for Afghanistan
By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Jun 10, 2008 15:32:15 EDT

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is scrambling to find trainers to send to Afghanistan, but it will be difficult to do that before commanders reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, the top military officer said Tuesday.

The quandary has left U.S. military leaders short in a region of the world where they believe the next terrorist attack against the United States will form. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan — where Osama bin Laden is still rumored to be hiding — is also where planning for the next attack is happening.

Stemming that threat will depend largely on U.S. efforts to train the Pakistani military to fight along the border, and to quell the Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan. In both cases, trainers are critical.

“My top priority is for trainers (in Afghanistan) right now, and I’m pressing the system very hard to see if we can generate any additional trainers for that requirement,” Mullen told reporters at a breakfast meeting. “Then after that, it would be combat forces.”

With more than 150,000 U.S. forces still fighting in Iraq, Mullen must wait for Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, to decide on additional troop withdrawals. Unless Petraeus frees up units that have been destined for Iraq either later this year or early next year, training and combat requirements in Afghanistan will go unmet.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_trainers_afghanistan_060908/