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Bush Sending More Troops to Afghanistan

By Scott Stearns
White House
09 September 2008

U.S. President George Bush is sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan while withdrawing about 8,000 troops from Iraq. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story.

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.

"Here's the bottomline: 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," Mr. Bush said. "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."

The president told military commanders at a defense university in Washington that if progress continues, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, believes more troop reductions may be possible in the first half of next year.

Mr. Bush says 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.

All five of the Army combat brigades, the Marine Expeditionary Unit and the two Marine battalions that made up that surge have returned home. With the withdrawal of the additional 8,000 troops by February 2009, there will be slightly more American forces in Iraq than before the surge began.

The president is also 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.

Mr. Bush says those forces will work with Afghan troops to provide security, protect infrastructure, and help ensure access to education and health care.

In addition to more troops for Afghanistan, Mr. Bush says the United States must also help Pakistan defeat Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who are using remote border regions to destabilize both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"Defeating these terrorist and extremists is in Pakistan's interest," Mr. Bush said. "They pose a mortal threat to Pakistan's future as a free and democratic nation. Defeating these terrorist and extremists is also Pakistan's responsibility - because every nation has an obligation to govern its own territory and make certain that it does not become a safe haven for terror."

Mr. Bush says he 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.