Obama admin seeks another $83 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will ask Congress for another $83.4 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September, Democratic congressional sources said Thursday.
President Barack Obama's spending measure is likely to be the last supplemental request submitted to pay for the wars, presidential spokesman told a White House briefing.
Obama began including war spending in his 2010 budget, but the Bush administration relied on supplemental spending bills to fund the conflicts.
The request is expected to pay for those conflicts for the rest of the 2009 budget year, the sources said.
Last month, Obama announced the United States' plan to withdraw most of its troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010. A residual force of between 35,000 to 50,000 troops will remain until December 31, 2011. There are 142,000 American troops in Iraq now.
In Afghanistan, Obama has ordered the deployment of 17,000 troops to fight the Taliban in the south and east and 4,000 more to train Afghan troops.