Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy Page: 26 of 77
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CRS-22
The Insurgency, Combat Environment and U.S. Forces
U.S. and partner country troop levels have increased significantly since 2006
to combat a Taliban resurgence. NATO/ISAF has led peacekeeping operations
nationwide since October 5, 2006, and less than half of the U.S. troops in
Afghanistan (numbers are in the security indicators table below) are under NATO
command. The remainder are part of the original post-September 11 anti-terrorism
mission Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The NATO/ISAF force is headed by
U.S. Gen. David McKiernan. As of October 2008, he also commands all U.S. troops
in Afghanistan - those in OEF as well as those in NATO/ISAF - commander of
"U.S. Forces Afghanistan." McKiernan took over the NATO/ISAF command on
June 3, 2008, from U.S. Gen. Dan McNeill. (McNeill had taken over in February
2007 from U.K. General David Richards.) "U.S. Forces Afghanistan" was created
to unify the U.S. command structure to improve flexibility of deployment of U.S.
forces throughout the battlefield. Gen. McKiernan and his successors also report to
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM, headed as of October 31, 2008, by General
David Petraeus, formerly top U.S. commander in Iraq) not only to NATO
headquarters. The command restructuring implies that NATO/ISAF will be led by
an American commander for the foreseeable future, but U.S. officials say that the
OEF and NATO/ISAF missions will not formally merge. Whether under NATO or
OEF, most U.S. forces in Afghanistan are in eastern Afghanistan and are under the
operational command of Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser as head of Combined Joint
Task Force 101 (CJTF-101, named for the 101" Airborne Division, headquartered at
Bagram Air Base north of Kabul).
Incremental costs of U.S. operations in Afghanistan appear to be running about
$2.5 to 3 billion per month. The FY2008 Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 110-181,
Section 1229) requires a quarterly DOD report on the security situation in
Afghanistan; the first was submitted in June 2008. For further information, see CRS
Report RL33110, The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror
Operations Since 9/11, by Amy Belasco.
OEF Partners. Prior to NATO assumption of command, 19 coalition
countries - primarily Britain, France, Canada, and Italy - were contributing
approximately 4,000 combat troops to OEF. With the exception of a few foreign
contingents, composed mainly of special operations forces, including a small unit
from the UAE, almost all foreign partners that were part of OEF have now been "re-
badged" to the NATO-led ISAF mission. Until December 2007, 200 South Korean
forces at Bagram Air Base (mainly combat engineers) were part of OEF; they left in
December 2007 in fulfillment of an August 2007, agreement under which Taliban
militants released 21 kidnapped South Korean church group visitors.18
Japan provided naval refueling capabilities in the Arabian sea, but the mission
ended in October 2007 following a parliamentary change of majority there in July
2007. The mission was revived in January 2008 when the new government forced
through parliament a bill to allow the mission to resume. In July 2008, Japan
18 Two were killed during their captivity. The Taliban kidnappers did not get the demanded
release of 23 Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government.
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Katzman, Kenneth. Afghanistan: Post-War Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy, report, November 26, 2008; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806716/m1/26/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.