Word: drawdowns
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...region. Between them, the Indian army, the paramilitary forces and the state police have nearly 700,000 troops stationed among a population of more than 5 million. It is as if the entire U.S. Army and almost all the U.S. Marine Corps were stationed in Minnesota. "A drawdown would be good, as it would make the average Kashmiri feel at ease," says Zarief Ahmed, a retired government official now involved in social work. "When you have so many soldiers and policemen on all sides, it reminds you of the vulnerability you are caught...
...drawdown is unlikely as long as India believes that Pakistan-based militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba remain a security threat--and the Mumbai attacks serve as proof that they are. "It's like a disease in the body," says Sudhir Bloeria, a senior adviser to the governor of the Indian portion of Kashmir. "You have to be vigilant even after the symptoms have disappeared...
...with a sense of urgency--and among some, alarm. Under the terms of the status-of-forces agreement ratified on Nov. 27 by the Iraqi parliament, U.S. troops must leave no later than the end of 2011; a referendum next summer could bring that deadline even closer. As the drawdown gathers speed, it will diminish the U.S.'s ability to influence Iraqi affairs. "Very soon, we will no longer have foreigners to blame for our problems--or to solve them," says Amar Fayyad, a political scientist at Baghdad University. "Iraq will be walking on its own feet...
...likely that Europe's rekindled love affair with the U.S. thanks to Obama will lead to promises of soldiers and cash for Afghanistan. An eventual drawdown of troops in Iraq will free up U.S. investment as well. But as many diplomats and military commanders have said, this war will not be won by military means alone. If Obama intends to solve the problems of Afghanistan, he would best take a page from his first major foreign policy paper, penned in July 2007. "I will encourage dialogue between Pakistan and India to work toward resolving their dispute over Kashmir," he wrote...
...TIME, Commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno said the numbers of U.S. troops can and will go down. "We don't have to do it with 150,000; we can do it with less," Odierno told TIME, without specifically addressing Obama's campaign pledge. But the drawdown will have to be done "slowly, in a deliberate way, so we don't give back the gains...