Shift of Marines to Afghan role expected
WASHINGTON - There is a growing consensus among defense leaders to send a substantial contingent of Marines to Afghanistan, probably beginning next spring, while reducing their presence in western Iraq, the top Marine general told the Associated Press yesterday.
General James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, said in an interview that Marine units tentatively scheduled to go to Iraq next spring are already incorporating some training for Afghanistan into their preparations.
He said he has had discussions with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and believes that the Pentagon chief "would not object to the idea of a fairly strategic shift of focus of Marines from Iraq to Afghanistan."
At the same time, Conway said that when the 22,000 Marines in Anbar Province leave Iraq, he believes that they should all go and not leave training teams behind.
More than a year ago, when early discussions of sending more Marines to Afghanistan became public, Gates signaled opposition to the idea.
At that time, Conway said that Gates and others thought that the timing was not right to shift the Marines out of Anbar Province. Yesterday, however, Conway took a decidedly different tone.
"I just see that people have, over time, understood we don't want to take over Afghanistan, such as was rumored when we first started talking about a shift of forces," Conway said. Instead, he said officials now realize that the Marines are an expeditionary fighting force that is better suited to the Afghanistan battle. 