WASHINGTON: Navy Admiral Mike Mullen won Senate confirmation on Friday for a second, two-year term as chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, the most senior officer in the U.S. military.
First appointed to the post during the Bush administration, Mullen spent much of his first term focused on Pakistan but recently has been paying more attention to Afghanistan. He was reappointed to his position by President Barack Obama.
Testifying before Congress earlier this month, Mullen said more U.S. troops will likely be needed in Afghanistan – beyond the 68,000 who will have already deployed there.
Mullen said he felt a sense of urgency about the war but pleaded for patience as skepticism about it grows among members of Congress, especially in President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party, and the American public.
Obama is under pressure from those who favor sending in more troops, as well as from those who oppose doing so. He has not yet announced what he will do.
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