U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan Strained

Online, February 9, 2011 (Newswire.com) - WASHINGTON, (UPI) -- U.S. Special Operations Forces can't keep up with the demands in Afghanistan despite troop and financial reinforcements, a U.S. Navy admiral said.

U.S. warfare has undergone a sea change at least since a new counterinsurgency strategy was introduced during the Iraq war starting in 2003.

Navy Adm. Eric Olson, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, said there were massive increases in the number of troops fighting wars, though demands in Afghanistan were "insatiable," the U.S. Defense Department quoted him as saying.

"We are doing more with more but the more we're doing it with doesn't match the more we've been asked to do," he said. "We are, frankly, beginning to show some fraying around the edges."

Olson said recruiting and training for special operations forces is up since 2006 but the pressure from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking a toll.

"The force has proven far more resilient than we predicted, (and) the families have proven far more resilient than we predicted," he said. "But like the rest of the force -- not on the same scale, but like the rest of the force -- we're seeing the indicators of pressure."