Growing the Afghan Army

In a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations today, Sen. Lieberman called for a significant expansion of the Afghan military:

"Most important of all, what is needed is an immediate commitment to a significant expansion in the end strength of the Afghan National Security Forces, in particular the Afghan National Army. In September of last year, the Bush administration belatedly agreed to double the Afghan army to 134,000 soldiers by 2011-a goal that the Obama administration has since reaffirmed. Unfortunately, this is still too little, too late. No less than a total Afghan security force of 425,000 to 450,000 is needed, including an Afghan National Army that is at least 250,000 strong. It is only when Afghan forces reach those numbers that the ratio of security personnel to population will achieve the level necessary for success in counterinsurgency. Some have suggested that we should first reach our goal of 134,000 soldiers by 2011, and then reassess whether further growth is needed. This would be a grave mistake in my view and a perpetuation of the Bush administration's incrementalist approach in Afghanistan. Given the country's population, size, geography, and security environment, it is apparent that a 134,000-strong army will be insufficient to the country's needs. There is nothing to be gained from postponing a recognition of this reality. On the contrary, given how long it takes to recruit, train, equip, and mentor additional Afghan forces, President Obama and our allies need to commit now to a significant expansion in the Afghan National Security Forces, in order to begin reaping the benefit of a larger Afghan army by the end of his first term."

Full speech after the break:

It is an honor to be here at the Council on Foreign Relations this afternoon.

As you know, the Council was founded nearly ninety years ago, in 1921, by a group of far-sighted leaders who recognized that the era in which America could remain safely disengaged from the rest of the world, protected by two great oceans, was over. This was by no means a popular position to take in the 1920s. On the contrary, after the bloodshed of the First World War, many Americans wanted nothing more than to withdraw behind our borders and pull up the drawbridge-putting in place protectionist economic policies, restrictions on immigration, and above all, avoiding any further entanglements abroad.

The founders of the Council stood athwart this isolationist tide and instead set out to build a new internationalist consensus in American foreign policy. In doing so, they invited Democrats and Republicans alike to join their ranks.

Today, preserving and expanding that bipartisan commitment to internationalism, here in Washington and throughout our country, remains a vitally important and sometimes challenging task-and it is especially relevant as we consider the future of our engagement in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Since his Inauguration three months ago, President Obama has significantly expanded America's commitment to the security and stability of South Asia. After years of under-resourcing, the President has ordered the deployment of over 20,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan along with a dramatic increase in the number of civilian experts on the ground. He has also backed substantially greater aid to the region. And he has appointed one of our most accomplished and talented diplomats, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, as special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

There were some who warned that the American people-tired of war and worried about our problems here at home-would not support such an ambitious new international commitment. But instead of encountering resistance, the President's new strategy has been greeted with broad support from Democrats and Republicans in Congress, as well as from our allies abroad.

Part of the reason for this, I believe, is that, although the American people are understandably focused on the extraordinary economic crisis we now face, they understand the importance of Afghanistan and by extension Pakistan, and know that we cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past and turn our back on this region, as we did after the Soviet withdrawal. And they know that we were attacked from Afghanistan on 9/11, and will be again if we fail there. As President Obama himself rightly put it during last year's campaign, "As 9/11 showed us, the security of Afghanistan and America is shared."