Pentagon Wants To Extend Surge

Agence France Press a month before a scheduled withdrawal, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The timeline would mean the president could promise large troop reductions to a war-weary public just ahead of the November 2012 presidential elections in which he seeks a second term, but military officials told the Journal that the electoral schedule had nothing to do with their proposal. Instead, they said they were focusing on placing as much pressure as possible on the Taliban and the violent eastern provinces bordering Pakistan, especially during the next two warm-weather fighting seasons, usually the period of heaviest fighting from militants." target="_blank">reports:

The US military is asking President Barack Obama to maintain its troop surge in Afghanistan until the fall of 2012, a month before a scheduled withdrawal, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The timeline would mean the president could promise large troop reductions to a war-weary public just ahead of the November 2012 presidential elections in which he seeks a second term, but military officials told the Journal that the electoral schedule had nothing to do with their proposal.

Instead, they said they were focusing on placing as much pressure as possible on the Taliban and the violent eastern provinces bordering Pakistan, especially during the next two warm-weather fighting seasons, usually the period of heaviest fighting from militants.