White House delays potential Afghan surge
White House delays sending more troops until Afghan government is 'true partner'
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 19, Oct 2009 10:23
By Sarah Garrod
The White House has delayed a decision to send more troops to Afghanistan until it is confident the country's new government is a "true partner".
Aides to the president Barack Obama have indicated more troops will not be sent to the country until a thorough analysis of the new government was completed.
Speaking to CNN, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said it would be "reckless" for the US to send a requested 40,000 more troops to the country until the new government were officially in power. Results are due into fraud claims, which have hampered the presidential election in Afghanistan, in the next few days.
Mr Emanuel told CNN: "It would be reckless to make a decision on US troop levels if, in fact, you haven't done a thorough analysis of whether in fact there is an Afghan partner ready to fill that space the US troops would create and become a true partner in governing the Afghan country."
The Electoral Complaints Commission investigation into the fraud claims is believed to have knocked support for incumbent president Hamid Karzai down to between 47 and 49 per cent in the first round vote.
The commission's decision was delayed as the west asked Mr Karzai and his rival Abdullah Abdullah to reach a decision which could avoid second round voting.
"The question does not come how many troops you send, but do you have a credible Afghan partner for this process that can provide the security and the type of services that the Afghan people need?" Mr Emanuel added.