AFGHANISTAN/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The United States has about 11,000 troops in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Wednesday [8-30-17], acknowledging for the first time publicly that the total forces there are higher than formally disclosed in recent years.
Previously, Defense Department officials had said 8,400 troops were in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s Resolute Support mission. An additional 2,000 American troops, which military officials have not publicly acknowledged, are in Afghanistan to help local forces conduct counterterrorism missions.
The new count includes covert as well as temporary units, defense officials said.
The disclosure came after Defense Secretary Jim Mattis expressed frustration with how troops in war zones were counted. To get around Obama-era restrictions on the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, commanders sometimes resorted to ad hoc arrangements…
Before Mr. Mattis sends 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan, as he is expected to do under President Trump’s new strategy for the war there, he has said he wants to know how many troops are on the ground…
In announcing the new numbers, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the staff of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, called the move ‘not an attempt to bring more forces in.’ Rather, he said, ‘it is an attempt to actually clarify a very confusing set of reporting rules that has the unintended consequence of forcing commanders to make readiness trade-offs.’ “
-Helene Cooper, “U.S. Says It Has 11,000 Troops in Afghanistan, More Than Formerly Disclosed,” The New York Times online, Aug. 30, 2017