In addition to requesting some 45,000 additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan , the country”s top American military commander will ask the Obama administration to double the number of U.S. government civilian workers who are in the country.
The proposed civilian “surge” is the fourth leg of Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal”s emerging strategy to rebuild Afghanistan”s economy and government, along with more American troops, vastly expanded Afghan security forces and closer cooperation between U.S. and Afghan troops, including posting troops from both countries at the same bases.
The request for additional civilian resources will be part of a 60-day assessment of the strategy in Afghanistan . McChrystal”s plan also will outline how the military wants to revamp the relationship between civilians and the military so that soldiers shift economic and political development work to civilians.
It”s not clear, however, whether the State Department can deploy enough civilians fast enough to make progress in an economically backward nation that remains plagued by an Islamist insurgency, internal rivalries, inadequate infrastructure, official corruption and a booming opium trade. What”s more, nearly eight years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan , one thing that many of its people have in common is growing discontent with the presence of foreign forces.
