The United States assured Afghanistan's leaders on Monday it would keep funding Afghan security forces at a targeted peak level of 352,000 personnel at least into 2017 to provide stability as foreign troops withdraw from the country.
The announcement by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter came ahead of talks at the White House on Tuesday at which Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is expected to press his case for a slowing of the withdrawal of U.S. forces.
After a day of talks at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Carter, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan leaders were at pains to avoid getting ahead of the White House talks, at which Obama is expected to respond to Ghani's plea.
However, in response to a question at a joint news conference, Kerry said, "It’s our knowledge that President Obama is actively considering that request."
Ghani replaced Hamid Karzai as Afghan president last year and enjoys a much smoother relationship with Washington.
Earlier on Monday, he delivered an address to U.S. soldiers and military families at the Pentagon and sought to reassure Americans of the value of their sacrifice in lives lost and money spent in the battle against al Qaeda and other extremists in more than 13 years of war in Afghanistan.
Noting that more than 2,215 Americans had been killed and 20,000 wounded, he said, "Each one of you has left a legacy, but I also understand that Afghanistan has marked you."
Ghani's words of gratitude marked a sharp contrast with Karzai, who left office last year accusing the United States of inflicting a war on his country that intensified with the drawdown of U.S. forces.
With a more friendly partner in Ghani, U.S. officials acknowledge that conditions have changed since May when Obama declared that by the end of 2015 the U.S. force would be roughly halved from the current total of about 10,000 and would operate only from bases in Kabul and Bagram.
The U.S. military has been drawing up revised options and a senior U.S. official told Reuters last week the U.S. military bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad were likely to remain open beyond the end of 2015.
The Department of Defense only has about 250 civilian contractors in Iraq supporting the 2,700 US troops deployed there; but a handful of new solicitations and potential contracts may soon add to that number, according to items posted to a federal contracting Web site.
For the past two decades, the resource-heavy American way of war has dictated that where US troops go, civilian contractors follow. It's a way of doing business that has become ingrained in the Pentagon's culture as end strength has slowly been whittled away while global commitments show no sign of slackening.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have doubled down on the practice, with the number of contractors more than doubling the number of uniformed personnel on the ground at various points over the past decade.
And it's a trend that continues in Afghanistan, where the 10,000 US troops there are dwarfed by the 39,600 contractors supporting their training and advising mission, 14,200 of which are American citizens.
In Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said in an email, DoD contractors are tightly focused in their activities, "primarily performing translator/interpreter, communications, logistics, and maintenance functions."
Overall, there are about 5,000 mainly State Department contractors in Iraq which represents a relatively modest footprint as compared to previous years, where there were over 160,000 during the height of the fighting. There are also 54,000 civilian contractors working across the Middle East for US Central Command.
The cost of the U.S. campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria has passed $2.4 billion since President Obama authorized sending U.S. forces to the region last June, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Currently, the U.S. has 2,875 troops in Iraq, and U.S. warplanes have conducted a total of 2,893 airstrikes that have hit 5,314 targets since bombing began last Aug. 8, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The cost of the campaign through March 12 was $1.83 billion, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman. He also noted that the daily costs had escalated significantly to about $8.5 million daily, up from about $1 million daily last summer. The daily costs through March 19 would put the total at more than $2.4 billion.
The Pentagon statistics on Operation Inherent Resolve against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) showed that the airstrikes had destroyed 73 tanks, 282 Humvees, 85 armored personnel carriers, 47 artillery pieces and more than 1,000 technical and miscellaneous vehicles.
At least 58 boats were also destroyed. ISIS is known to use small boats to ferry supplies on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
The Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve has put a premium on hitting ISIS infrastructure, and the list showed that the airstrikes had destroyed nearly 1,500 buildings used by the terror group in Iraq and Syria for communications, supplies, logistics and command and control.
Quote by wickedpam:
Is Steph not live today?
Quote by Raine:Quote by wickedpam:
Is Steph not live today?
She's live here in FSTV.
TRy her website or Chicago station.
Quote by Raine:
good morning!
WTF Isreal?
I heard about this on the radio this morning.
Quote by Scoopster:Quote by Raine:
good morning!
WTF Isreal?
I heard about this on the radio this morning.
Does anyone else think that the spying excuse is just a cover for the GOP deliberately leaking state secrets to Israel?
And again, taking intel from a foreign power with the express intent of using it to sabotage US foreign policy to help the foreign power? There’s a term for that, and it’s not a pretty word.
Quote by Raine:
(I can't get behind the WSJ paywall for the story here in the USA)
Quote by Scoopster:Quote by Raine:
(I can't get behind the WSJ paywall for the story here in the USA)
I learned a handy-dandy trick to get around the paywall. Apparently if you google the story's headline and follow the search result link it displays.
Quote by Scoopster:And again, taking intel from a foreign power with the express intent of using it to sabotage US foreign policy to help the foreign power? There’s a term for that, and it’s not a pretty word.
Quote by Scoopster:
Sen. Dan Coats (R-IN) is retiring.
Early chatter is a comeback by Evan Bayh (ugh..)
Quote by TriSec:
Boston won't be getting the Olympics now.
Mob rule, Y'all!
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by TriSec:
Boston won't be getting the Olympics now.
Mob rule, Y'all!
Are they sure they really want them?
They demand to meet the king prior to the opening ceremony. Afterwards, there shall be a cocktail reception. Drinks shall be paid for by the Royal Palace or the local organizing committee.
Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation.
A welcome greeting from the local Olympic boss and the hotel manager should be presented in IOC members' rooms, along with fruit and cakes of the season. (Seasonal fruit in Oslo in February is a challenge ...)
The hotel bar at their hotel should extend its hours “extra late†and the minibars must stock Coke products.
The IOC president shall be welcomed ceremoniously on the runway when he arrives.
The IOC members should have separate entrances and exits to and from the airport.
During the opening and closing ceremonies a fully stocked bar shall be available. During competition days, wine and beer will do at the stadium lounge.
IOC members shall be greeted with a smile when arriving at their hotel.
Meeting rooms shall be kept at exactly 20 degrees Celsius at all times.
The hot food offered in the lounges at venues should be replaced at regular intervals, as IOC members might “risk†having to eat several meals at the same lounge during the Olympics."
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by TriSec:
Boston won't be getting the Olympics now.
Mob rule, Y'all!
Are they sure they really want them?
List of demands from IOC.They demand to meet the king prior to the opening ceremony. Afterwards, there shall be a cocktail reception. Drinks shall be paid for by the Royal Palace or the local organizing committee.
Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation.
A welcome greeting from the local Olympic boss and the hotel manager should be presented in IOC members' rooms, along with fruit and cakes of the season. (Seasonal fruit in Oslo in February is a challenge ...)
The hotel bar at their hotel should extend its hours “extra late†and the minibars must stock Coke products.
The IOC president shall be welcomed ceremoniously on the runway when he arrives.
The IOC members should have separate entrances and exits to and from the airport.
During the opening and closing ceremonies a fully stocked bar shall be available. During competition days, wine and beer will do at the stadium lounge.
IOC members shall be greeted with a smile when arriving at their hotel.
Meeting rooms shall be kept at exactly 20 degrees Celsius at all times.
The hot food offered in the lounges at venues should be replaced at regular intervals, as IOC members might “risk†having to eat several meals at the same lounge during the Olympics."
Quote by TriSec:
Well, another of the many benefits of working from home is I can add a splash of *something* to my 3pm cuppa.
Quote by Mondobubba:
Um Scoop, since GenCon is owned by owned by Wizards of the Coast (it came to them when they bought TSR from Gygax etc) it is based in Seatle. They moved it from Lake Geneva (that's the Gen in GenCon) to Indy. You have been out-nerded!
:takes a mighty huff of +5 inhaler of geekiness:
Twitter, you have one job. You know what to do. pic.twitter.com/QtxArUs5vW
— Kelly Hills (@rocza) March 23, 2015
Quote by TriSec:
Pix now circulating on Buzzfeed from today's crash site. Damn, they sure piled it in.
Pure speculation from your resident av-dork....essentially an 8-minute CFIT? I'm suspecting pressurization issues. The plane was cruising at FL38 before it started what appears to be an emergency descent to around 6500, then they ran out of altitude.
Yeesh.