Obama vows to send more US troops to 'finish job' in Afghanistan

Published on Wednesday 25 November 2009 00:44

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama last night finally committed to increasing the number of American troops in Afghanistan and a statement on definitive numbers is expected within a week.

Mr Obama vowed to "finish the job" in the region, adding that his decision over how many additional soldiers were needed to achieve this would be made public after the US Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday.

Earlier, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth risked ruffling feathers in Washington by suggesting that lengthy deliberations over the issue had hit public support for the mission in the UK.

It is now more than three months since the Obama administration began deliberating a report from the top US commander on the ground, General Stanley McChrystal, which calls for an additional 40,000 troops. Speculation has mounted that the announcement will lead to the deployment of an additional 34,000 US troops to Afghanistan.

Giving evidence to the Commons defence committee, Mr Ainsworth indicated that America's delay in deciding whether to send more US troops to Afghanistan has made it harder to push the case for action.

The Defence Secretary said the 98 British deaths this year were a key factor, but said the "hiatus" in the US had not helped. He added: "And we have had the Afghan elections – which have been far from perfect let us say – and all of those things have mitigated against our ability to show progress.

"We must get the Afghan government in the place where they start delivering on governance and the action against corruption; I hope and believe that we are about to get an announcement from the US on troop numbers and I think that will be followed by contributions from many other Nato allies and so we will be able to show that we are going forward in this campaign."