Iraq withdrawal: 27 bases in 29 days
By month's end, US president to complete withdrawal of almost 100,000 US troops from Iraq. Some soldiers to stay behind to train local troops, but Obama's main focus will now be on war in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON - Leaving Iraq, moving to Afghanistan. US President Barak Obama's announcement on Monday to withdraw all forces from Iraq by the end of the month was meant partly to ease some of the growing frustration that has stemmed from the war in Afghanistan. And it's not just the public that is frustrated. Most of the arrows pointed at Obama come from the Democratic Party's liberal wing, which was the president's powerhouse during his campaign when he was the only candidate to oppose the war in Iraq.
The pace of the scheduled withdrawal in the coming weeks is almost inconceivable. In the next 29 days, the American forces will evacuate 27 military bases in Iraq, which will join the 23 bases that have already been shut down or transferred to Iraqi forces in the past year. One million pieces of military equipment will be loaded on trucks, and some of them will likely be used by the forces in Afghanistan.
The official statement was made during a speech before wounded American soldiers in Georgia, and was accompanied by a detailed White House statement that outlined the number of soldiers to stay in the country at the end of the month, the amount of equipment to be taken out of Iraq and the changes that have befallen American presence in Iraq since the invasion in 2003. All this in an effort to demonstrate to Obama's supports and opponents that he has managed to end at least one war during his tenure.
On the day Barack Obama entered the White House there were 144,000 American soldiers in Iraq. By the end of the month there will be no more than 50,000 US troops there, and they will not be serving combat purposes. The forces to remain in the Middle Eastern country will continue to train the local soldiers in the war on terror and other civilian security missions. The last of the American soldiers are slated to leave Iraq by the end of next year.
The war in Afghanistan, which has been going on for nine years now, is considered "Obama's war", but the US president has highlighted the fact that in the 18 months since he came to power, the number of American soldiers on both fronts will have declined from a total of 177,000 to 146,000 by the end of this month. The president's main problem is that the war in Afghanistan has already lasted longer than the Vietnam War and there is no end in sight.
Afghanistan next, but outlook is bleak
The month of July, which was the most deadly month for American forces in Afghanistan since the start of the war, was tough on the American public, which is already torn with regards to the continuation of the dragged-out war in a distant country, and Obama's Democratic colleagues also seem to be fed up. Just last week 102 democrats in the US House of Representatives voted against allotting $59 billion towards funding the two wars. In contrast, last year only 32 democrats voted against funding the wars.
While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supports the timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates opposes setting a timeframe that would play into the hands of the Taliban and other militant groups fighting the US. For the war's commanders, it is obvious that a military victory is required to persuade certain bodies in the Taliban to reach an agreement that would enable the withdrawal of troops.
The withdrawal from Afghanistan has been set to start next year, and it seems Obama's declaration in Atlanta indicates he plans to keep his promise in this case as well. However, the increasing violence against the coalition's troops, attacks by the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and troubles among the war's commanding elite, leave Obama with a difficult task ahead of him.
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