Biden tells Obama Afghanistan will get worse

[unhappycamper]

Biden tells Obama Afghanistan will get worse
By Jennifer Loven - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 14, 2009 21:54:15 EST

WASHINGTON — Freshly returned from a tour of war zones and global hotspots, Vice President-elect Joe Biden told President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday that “things are going to get tougher” in Afghanistan.

GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, Biden’s partner in the five-day, bipartisan fact-finding mission to Kuwait, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, predicted that “casualties are likely to increase” in Afghanistan as the number of U.S. troops there goes up this year.

The U.S. is rushing as many as 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, seeking to the turn the tide in fighting that has seen al-Qaida-linked militants and the Taliban make a comeback after initial defeats in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

“It is a fair criticism to say, Mr. President, that we have taken our eye off the ball in Afghanistan and we need to re-engage,” Graham, R-S.C., said. “And that re-engagement is going to come at a heavy price.”

Biden and Graham gave Obama an initial report on their trip to the four countries, all central to America’s security agenda and the broader war on terror, at Obama’s transition headquarters. They will present the president-elect later with a more detailed accounting, including recommendations for action based on what they saw and heard.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_biden_obama_afghanistan_011409/%2e