Military Briefs: Kerry is critical of war plan

Kerry is critical of war plan

WASHINGTON — A war plan that asks President Barack Obama to commit tens of thousands of additional U.S. forces to Afghanistan is too ambitious, a top Senate Democrat said Monday. Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the White House’s point man during last week’s tense talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, praised commanding Gen. Stanley McChrystal but said his plan for adding troops in Afghanistan "goes too far, too fast.” Kerry’s stance would aim for a modest increase in American forces, treading middle ground between Republicans who have said Obama would put soldiers and the country at risk by rejecting McChrystal’s larger request and anti-war Democrats who question whether the United States has already taken on too much in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON — Three Drug Enforcement Administration agents were killed Monday when a U.S. military helicopter went down in the west of Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. The casualties mark the first DEA deaths in Afghanistan since the drug agency began operations there in 2005. Seven U.S. service members were also killed in the crash in the west of the country. Officials say the helicopter had left the scene of a fire fight with insurgents. Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium — the raw ingredient in heroin — and the illicit drug trade is a major source of funding for insurgent groups.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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