The Troop Surge in Afghanistan Has Begun

This story caught me by pleasant surprise. During his presidential campaign, President Barack Obama talked about the need for a troop surge in Afghanistan. Apparently he wasn't just talking. According to this AP story, 3000 troops of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. Army's elite 10th Mountain Division moved into the Logar and Wardak provinces of Afghanistan last month, are now stationed in combat outposts throughout those provinces, and have already engaged in clashes with Taliban insurgents. Colonel David Haight commands the 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

The antecedents of the storied 10th Mountain Division go back to the Second World War, to the campaign in Northern Italy in 1945, where the Division cleared out the mountainous regions of Tuscany and the Po Valley of German troops. In more recent campaigns, units of the 10th Mountain Division have seen action in Somalia, Iraq and in Afghanistan, even before the arrival of the 3rd Brigate Combat Team.

This is one action by the Obama Administration that the loyal opposition of the Hedgehog Blog heartily supports.