Gates has called funding from Congress for the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan as inadequate and added that constraints to the budgets were undermining planning. He said that the Pentagon needs more money from Congress.
Earlier in the week, Congress approved an extra seventy billion dollars to be used for Iraq and Afghanistan. The amount is half of what US President George W. Bush had originally sought out.
Robert Gates adds that many troops could possibly be pulled out of Iraq by next year due to better security conditions in the country. The possibility has been raised of five combat brigades coming back by July of 2008. The first unit is due to return this month.
He said at an end-of-year news conference: “Funding the war in fits and starts is requiring us to make short-term plans and short-term decisions.”
In September, Gates said he hoped the levels of US troops would be reduced to 100,000 by the end of 2008. There are almost 160,000 US troops in Iraq right now.
He said to reports that next year’s challenge would be to maintain what they have gained in Iraq.