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U.S. President George Bush is sending more U.S. forces to Afghanistan while withdrawing about 8,000 troops from Iraq. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports those wars and U.S. troop levels are part of this year's presidential campaign.
President Bush says some 8,000 troops will leave Iraq by next February, including a Marine battalion from Anbar province, an Army combat brigade and more than 3,000 aviation personnel, construction engineers and military police.
"While the enemy in Iraq is still dangerous, we have seized the offensive, and Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable of leading and winning the fight. As a result, we have been able to carry out a policy of "return on success" - reducing American combat forces in Iraq as conditions on the ground continue to improve," Mr. Bush said.
The president told military commanders at the National Defense University in Washington that there now appears to be a degree of durability to security gains in Iraq that the president ascribes to his decision to send reinforcements last year.
With the withdrawal of 8,000 troops by early next year, there will be slightly more American forces in Iraq than before the surge.
Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain encouraged Mr. Bush to continue the surge. If elected, McCain says he will keep U.S. troops there until al-Qaeda in Iraq is defeated and Iraqi security forces are operating effectively.
McCain's opponent, Democratic Senator Barack Obama, says he will withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months. Responding to the president's speech, Obama said withdrawing troops will force Iraq's political leaders to take more responsibility for their own security.
"In the absence of a timetable to remove our combat brigades, we will continue to give Iraq's leaders a blank check instead of pressing them to reconcile their differences," Obama said. "So the president's talk of return on success is a new name for continuing the same strategic mistakes that have dominated our foreign policy for over five years."
President Bush also announced that he is sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan where he says the Taliban has made some progress in shaking the confidence of the Afghan people.
"Afghanistan's success is critical to the security of America and our partners in the free world," Mr. Bush said. "And for all the good work we have done in that country, it is clear we must do even more. As we learned in Iraq, the best way to restore the confidence of the people is to restore basic security - and that requires more troops."
In November, a Marine battalion that was scheduled to go to Iraq will instead deploy to Afghanistan. The president says they will be followed in January by an Army combat brigade.
McCain and Obama both support more troops for Afghanistan, but the Democratic nominee says the president's action is insufficient because the most substantial increase will not come for another five months.
"His plan comes up short. It is not enough troops, not enough resources with not enough urgency," Obama said.
In addition to more troops for Afghanistan, President Bush says the United States must also help Pakistan defeat Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters who are using remote border regions to destabilize both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Mr. Bush telephoned Pakistan's new president Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday to pledge the full support of the United States in the new government's fight against extremists.
VOA News
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