(AKI) - The United States will increase its troop levels in Afghanistan over the next few months with some troops to be transferred from Iraq. President George W. Bush announced the significant policy shift during a speech at the National Defence University in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.Under the plan he will order about 8,000 of the 146,000 US troops in Iraq to return home in February. Another 4,500 troops will be deployed in Afghanistan. "Attacks by the Taliban have increased over the past two years," Bush said. "The enemy for a free Afghanistan refuses to give up the fight."
He congratulated coalition troops for the progress made in Iraq, but warned that the progress was "fragile and reversible". Nevertheless, the US president said troop numbers would be reduced in Iraq so the military could focus on a "quiet surge" in Afghanistan where "huge challenges remain."
"This is a vast country. And unlike Iraq, it has few natural resources and has an underdeveloped infrastructure. Its democratic institutions are fragile. Its enemies are some of the most hardened terrorists and extremists in world," said Bush. He said success of Afghanistan was critical to security in the US and elsewhere.
There are currently 33,000 US troops in Afghanistan - the core of a diverse multinational force of more than 50,000 troops. Bush said a marine battalion intended for Iraq would instead be sent to Afghanistan in November, followed by an army brigade in January, comprising a total increase of 4,500 troops. "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."
Bush also vowed to double the size of the Afghan national army over the next five years, from its current size of 60,000 troops to 120,000.