Lugar: Withdrawn Iraq troops could go to Afghanistan

With the White House discussing the possibility of withdrawing additional troops from Iraq, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said Sunday those forces might need to be shifted to Afghanistan where he sees the need for military personnel as “intense.”

“The battles on the border with Pakistan, with the al Qaeda forces assisted by the Taliban are a source of more killing of American troops right now than anything occurring in Iraq,” Lugar said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

{mosads}Discussions over further force reductions have increased this week, fueled by reports that President Bush is considering speeding up the troop withdrawal in the fall. In addition, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the first time pushed the U.S. for a timetable indicating when U.S. forces would leave the country.

“As far as our troops are concerned, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen, has indicated we need troops in Afghanistan,” Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said. “But he has no troops to send to Afghanistan. So it is logical in the military sequence that we are going to move troops out of Iraq, not immediately perhaps to Afghanistan, but at least to relieve the strain, which is intense right now upon our armed forces.”

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (Mich.) accused the administration of taking “its eye off the ball in Afghanistan” but also said that it is up to coalition partners to step up their efforts in the country.

“We ought to insist that other NATO countries carry out their commitments to send troops to Afghanistan,” Levin said.

The Michigan Democrat strongly supported pulling troops out of Iraq, arguing that “there is no other way to force the Iraqi government to work out those political settlements which are absolutely essential to end the conflict.”