Troop surge in Afghanistan

By the time you read this, US President Barack Obama must have announced his revised policy for Pakistan and Afghanistan and also unveiled his troop surge plan. Obama has already taken his time contemplating the decision on sending additional troops to supplement the 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan. He was vacillating perhaps in view of costs involved, or the possible heavy toll of lives of US servicemen. The US commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, had requested for 40,000 additional troops in mid September, yet the pronouncement has taken more than 10 weeks. US decision makers have been there before. The 2007 troop surge in Iraq generated heavy debate although it is supposed to have contributed to US success in Iraq. The Democrats in US Congress at that time opposed the troop surge, yet now they will have to weigh in favour of the surge since they rule the roost. The main constraint is budgetary. According to media reports, US Budget Director Peter Orszag was invited by Obama to sit in for weighing the budget consequences of the troop surge.
The war in Afghanistan has already cost $232,578,144,445. White House budget analysts have estimated that it may cost as much as $1 million a year for each soldier sent to Afghanistan - on top of the $227 billion already appropriated for the war from 2001 through 2009. US taxpayers will have to tighten their belts in an already dismal and grim economic crunch they are facing. A brief look at the history of financial decisions to augment the war effort reveals that Abraham Lincoln levied USA's first income tax to help pay soldiers and buy rifles for the Civil War. Franklin D Roosevelt raised taxes, as well, to help pay for World War II. Lyndon B Johnson acked a temporary 10 percent top of normal income taxes to help pay for the Vietnam War. The Congressional Research Service says the US has used four methods to fund wars: Raise taxes; cut other spending; borrow; and print more money. According to reports, a group of top legislators, led by US Republican David Obey of Wisconsin, proposes a surtax to help pay for the war. Obey's proposal would impose a 1 percent surtax on people earning less than $150,000.