Peacekeeping would take 400,000 troops

WASHINGTON - A new study by the Army's Center of Military History has found that the U.S. military would have to commit 300,000 peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan and 100,000 in Iraq if it were to occupy and reconstruct those nations on the scale that occurred in Japan and Germany after World War II.

The study was requested by the Army's director of transformation in May as part of a force structure review undertaken in light of significant new troop demands in Afghanistan, ongoing commitments in the Balkans and potential peacekeeping duties in Iraq.

Although no one inside or outside the Pentagon is proposing anything close to post-World War II occupation forces in either Afghanistan or Iraq, Army officers say the study underscores the extent of new long-term force commitments the United States could be required to make.

One Army officer said the study was only one of many "data points" being analyzed. But the officer added: "One fact is that where we go, we tend to stay, and the list is increasing."

The officer noted that there are 10 active duty divisions in the Army now, compared with 18 at the time of the Persian Gulf War in 1991. As a result, because of the existing commitments in Korea, Afghanistan and the Balkans, an invasion of Iraq at the same level as in the Gulf War would essentially require the rest of the Army.

The study is based on the number of troops deployed in 16 occupations during the 20th century, from the Philippines in the early 1900s to Iraq after the Gulf War.