December 21, 2010 3:05PM 

# The Incredible Expanding Afghan War 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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This simple chart dramatizes something that I don’t think most Americans realize: the tripling of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by President Obama.

![U.S. Troops in Afghanistan](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/Resized.png?itok=tt1tnYct) 

Now it’s true that when candidate Barack Obama [vowed](https://www.cato.org/its-the-end-of-2009-where-are-our-troops/), “I will bring this war to an end in 2009,” he was talking about Iraq. In [July 2008](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/us/politics/15text-obama.html) he [suggested](http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/07/obama_afghanist.html) that he would send two more brigades — about 8000 troops — to Afghanistan. He has far exceeded that, and we can only wonder whether the voters who responded to his antiwar message anticipated that he would increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by almost as much as he reduced the number in Iraq.

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Afghanistan](https://www.cato.org/afghanistan) 

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