Obama Wants Another $83 Billion for Iraq, Afghanistan
April 10th, 2009Via: CNN:
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.
The request is expected to pay for those conflicts for the rest of the 2009 budget year, two Democratic congressional sources said.
The money would bring the running tab for both conflicts to about $947 billion, according to figures from the Congressional Research Service.
More than three-quarters of the $864 billion appropriated so far has gone to the war in Iraq, the agency estimated.
Since taking office in January, President Obama has announced plans to shift troops out of Iraq and beef up U.S. forces in Afghanistan, where American troops have been battling al Qaeda and Taliban fighters since al Qaeda’s 2001 attacks.
In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Obama said the situation in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan “demands urgent attention.”
“The Taliban is resurgent, and al Qaeda threatens America from its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border,” Obama wrote in submitting the funding request.
“There is no question of the resolve of our military women and men. Yet, in Afghanistan, that resolve has not been matched by a comprehensive strategy and sufficient resources,” Obama wrote.
