US commander eyes success in Afghan surge
The US commander in Afghanistan said Thursday a troop surge should start turning the tide of war by mid-2010 as Barack Obama’s new strategy won reinforcements from Italy and backing from Russia.
As senior US officials said a time-line for troops to start leaving was not set in stone, General Stanley McChrystal said Obama’s new war strategy would enable more troops to target Taliban strongholds.
Following Obama’s announcement on Tuesday that he would send 30,000 more troops into combat, NATO foreign ministers gathered in Brussels to consider the US president’s appeal for them to beef up the mission further.