By Dan De Luce
Agence France-Presse
August 14, 2009

WASHINGTON — US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has left open the possibility of sending more forces to Afghanistan but warned of stretched military resources.

With about 132,000 troops in Iraq, Gates said there were constraints as to how many extra troops could be sent to Afghanistan at least until after Iraq’s elections in January.

“I would say also that the availability of forces is still a challenge,” he told a news conference on Thursday.

Referring to plans to reduce US troops in Iraq over the next year, Gates said that “until the more accelerated drawdown in Iraq begins after the elections there … it will be a challenge for us.”

The military also was limited by efforts to increase the time soldiers spend back at home between combat tours, he said.

The defense secretary’s comments come amid intense speculation that the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is preparing to make a case for more troops in the fight against the Taliban and allied insurgents.

President Barack Obama already ordered an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan ahead of the country’s August 20 elections and the number of US forces is set to reach 68,000 before the end of the year.

There are also some 30,000 international troops under NATO command in Afghanistan.

Asked why US forces were not sent in earlier to southern Afghanistan, where thousands of Marines have deployed over the summer, Gates said: “The forces weren’t available to send in until fairly recently. We got them in there as fast as we could.”

Gates said he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, had told McChrystal that “we want him to ask for what he thinks he needs.”

“And I think you have to allow your commanders that freedom,” he said.

But he repeated his concerns about too big of a US military “footprint,” saying it was important not to alienate Afghans who currently view the NATO-led coalition as “their partner.”

“I just worry that we don’t know what the size of the military presence might be that would begin to change that.

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