The cost of fighting the war in Afghanistan will surpass that of the Iraq conflict for the first time next year, Pentagon budget documents showed Thursday. In addition to the basic defense budget of $533.7 billion, the White House is requesting a further $130 billion for overseas missions, including $65 billion for Afghanistan and $61 billion for Iraq. “This request is where you're going to first see the swing of not only dollars or resources, but combat capability from the Iraqi theater into the Afghan theater,” Navy Vice Admiral Steve Stanley, the director of force structure for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters. About 136,000 U.S. soldiers are currently in Iraq, but they are set to be progressively withdrawn by the end of 2011 in accordance with a security agreement between Washington and Baghdad. The withdrawal from Iraq will be accompanied by a troop buildup in Afghanistan, which President Barack Obama has made a top foreign policy priority, sending 21,000 extra soldiers to the country to fight the insurgency. U.S. forces in Afghanistan are set to reach 68,000 by the end of this year.
