Foreign Policy Debate - Troops in Afghanistan: Should mor...

MR. LEHRER: Afghanistan. Lead -- a new lead question. Having

resolved Iraq, we'll move to Afghanistan. (Laughter.) And it goes to

you, Senator Obama, and it's -- it's -- it picks up on a point that's

already been made. Do you think more troop -- more U.S. troops should

be sent to Afghanistan? How many, and when?

SEN. OBAMA: Yes, I think we need more troops. I've been saying

that for over a year now. And I think that we have to do it as

quickly as possible because it's been acknowledged by the commanders

on the ground the situation is getting worse, not better.

We had the highest fatalities among U.S. troops this past year

than at any time since 2002. And we are seeing major offensive taking

place -- al Qaeda and Taliban crossing the border and attacking our

troops in a brazen fashion.

(View cut data)They are feeling emboldened.

And we cannot separate Afghanistan from Iraq, because what our

commanders have said is we don't have the troops right now to deal

with Afghanistan. So I would send two to three additional brigades to

Afghanistan.

Now, keep in mind that we have four times the number of troops in

Iraq, where nobody had anything to do with 9/11 before we went in,

where in fact there was no al Qaeda before we went in, but we have

four times more troops there than we do in Afghanistan. And that is a

strategic mistake, because every intelligence agency will acknowledge

that al Qaeda is the greatest threat against the United States and

that -- Secretary of Defense Gates acknowledged the central front, the

place where we have to deal with these folks is going to be in

A