US President Barack Obama is likely to announce a troop surge of over 30,000 in Afghanistan with the number of American troops set to cross the all-time high of 100,000 in an increasingly unpopular war, reports said on Tuesday ahead of the unveiling of his new Af-Pak strategy.
As Obama
began to brief his international partners, key global players and US lawmakers on his new Af-Pak policy, less than 24 hours before his scheduled announcement from the West Point Military Academy in New York, leaked reports put the figure of additional troops between 30,000 to 34,000.
The New York Times and The Cable – a blog of the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine – put the additional increase of US troops to 30,000, while The Washington Post said Obama would announce to send an additional 34,000 troops.
In both cases, the total number of US troops in the Taliban infested country will cross an all time high figure of 100,000, more than half of which has been sent by the Obama Administration.
There are about 71,000 US troops currently in Afghanistan. NATO and other allies collectively have an additional 36,000 troops in the country.
However, the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs refused to divulge any figure for additional troops.