To the Editor:

I would like to respond to a comment made in the Oct. 27, 2009 edition of the Bulletin, More troops are needed now. It was stated that upon President Obamas election, the President declared that he was going to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan.

The fact is the President did keep his promise and authorized 21,000 additional troops to be sent there. There are currently more than 65,000 forces in Afghanistan. Defense secretary Robert Gates recently ordered another 3,000 enablers to the region. Taking rotations into account, U.S. forces will total 67,000 and are expected to reach President Obamas authorized total of 68,000 by years end.

The current issue pertaining to Gen. Stanly McChrystals request for additional troops (40,000) would have committed troops to Afghanistan.

By the way, I do support Gen. MChrystals assessment that calls for a new committed and comprehensive counter insurgency strategy that is properly resourced. I also feel his request for the additional troops should have been approved weeks ago.

M.J. Hannon