June 12, 2009 -- The White House's plan to surge nearly 21,000 U.S. troops into Afghanistan, including a significant infusion of special operations forces, is expected to wrap up by late summer, according to a senior defense official.
“The strategy is being implemented as we speak,” the official said, noting that different elements of the “force flow” of U.S. troops into Afghanistan are on different time lines.
The majority of U.S. “counterinsurgency-focused” general-purpose forces -- consisting of Army and Marine Corps units -- into southern Afghanistan will be in place by July 30, the official said. Shortly thereafter, elements of the 82nd Airborne will deploy to the country in September to provide training and support to the Afghan National Security Forces.
Members of the 82nd will be attached to Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A) upon deployment to Afghanistan. Following those troop deployments, civilian support personnel from “some other elements of the U.S. government” will begin to surge into the country to support ongoing civilian-military operations.
Aside from counterinsurgency and training personnel, Pentagon planners also expect to increase the number of special operations forces in Afghanistan to grow by a total of 50 percent by August, the official said, adding that part of the special operations force increase was already in place as well.
“So we have elements of this reinforced strategy, significant elements, in place by late this summer,” the official said, noting that the influx of civilian support personnel into the theater may take longer.
The troop surge is part of the Obama administration's new strategy for combat operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, dubbed “AFPAK” by DOD and administration officials.
On the special operations surge, the official said the force increase will consist of a combination of “enablers and maneuver elements” going to Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A).
Overall, the Pentagon plans to increase special operations forces at CJSOTF-A by 17 operational detachments, the officials said. Operational detachments usually consist of small teams of 12 to 16 special operations troops each.
To complement the increases in military and civilian personnel, DOD plans to initiate an “intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance surge” led by the deployment of the Air Force's new MC-12 Project Liberty aircraft, the official said.
“Intelligence is really the coin of the realm in these types of operation. Most of these operations are intelligence-driven, particularly in the counterterrorism arena, but also in more surgical, counterinsurgency operations,” the official said.
In addition to funneling more ISR platforms into Afghanistan, the official noted, a similar kind of surge is being eyed for Pakistan to increase pressure on Taliban and al Qaeda operatives there.
“I think it is fair to say anywhere there is a growing al Qaeda problem, there is an intelligence surge. There may not always be a military surge, but there is generally an intelligence surge,” said the official.
The U.S. forces set to be deployed into southern Afghanistan will face resurgent Taliban and al Qaeda forces, which have stepped up violent operations in the region over the past few months, according to DOD officials.
This week in Washington, U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus noted that violence in the region of southern Afghanistan known as Regional Command-South has hit levels unseen since the initial U.S. invasion in 2001.
Accordingly, reversing the momentum of the Afghan insurgency “won't come without a fight,” the official said. “So the coming months will likely witness some intense fighting.”
The most violent areas in RC-South where U.S. forces are set to deploy “have been . . . security vacuums where the Taliban have had free reign in the past,” the official said.
“The Taliban have put up significant fights in the past to try and defend their sanctuaries . . . and so it came with a fight,” the official said. “So I think that we should anticipate that these [U.S. and coalition] forces will see some significant fighting this summer.”
That said, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has set a 12-to-18 month window in which U.S. and coalition forces “have to show results” in the region, according to the official. -- Carlo Muñoz