Word: troop
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...April, the U.S. will deploy a mini-surge of 3,200 marines to boost the overstretched coalition military units already in place. While the troop commitment is welcome, it may also trigger a rise in attacks such as the strike on the Serena. "The Taliban cannot fight us face to face. So they continue killing people this way," says Amrullah Saleh, head of Afghanistan's National Directorate for Security, which is investigating the attack. "An enemy who cannot hold territory, an enemy who can find no refuge among the people, has no other recourse but suicide bombing...
...most Americans. If the last year in Iraq has changed the course of the war and the region's future, the next year in that country may determine who will succeed Bush in the White House. Petraeus and Crocker have started an analysis that will determine the troop levels through the heat of the election season from July through November. The success of the surge has diminished the role of Iraq in the U.S. campaign; but the political - and electoral - ramifications of the next decision on troop levels remain an open question. Bush even said Saturday that the current draw...
There are at least two views of what the effects on the presidential campaign will be of Petraeus' decision in the spring. One says that further troop reductions will help those who have been relatively hawkish compared to the rest of their parties - including Hillary Clinton and John McCain. (Any Democrat is likely to benefit if violence requires an increase in troops or if the current draw down is halted.) Another says that the lower the violence in Iraq, the better for candidates who have relatively less experience on foreign and national security policy, like Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee...
...plan for troop reductions between now and July appears to be on track for now. From the 20 combat brigades that were in place at the height of the surge last summer, five will come out and not be replaced. "These improvements [in security in Iraq] are allowing some U.S. forces to return home - a return on success that has now begun," Bush said at the rally Saturday. Beyond that, Bush said, a decision on further troop withdrawals will rest with Petraeus...
Further reductions are not a foregone conclusion. According to Petraeus' spokesman, Col. Steven Boylan troop levels could hold at the July level or could drop, depending on how things stand over the next three months. Violence levels are an important factor, but so is the Iraqi ability to take over security from the American troops. Iraqi security forces have the nominal lead in nine of 18 provinces, having recently taken over from the British in Basra. A proposal to hand over security to Iraqi forces in Anbar this spring is now being considered. Anbar province has been the U.S. military...