Afghanistan and Pakistan: The nature of the troop presence in Afghanistan is currently under a review coordinated with NATO. It is expected that the review will recommend that the US increase its troop presence in Afghanistan by over 10,000 soldiers. Gates’s more definitive policy argues that the US military should focus on working with Provincial Reconstruction Teams and local governments in order to foment effective reconstruction. The goal is to weaken the Taliban presence and remove opportunities for al Qaeda infestation. As for Pakistan, the plan is to ally with the Pakistani government in order to coordinate counterinsurgency measures in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Iraq: Gates pledges to maintain a commitment to the Status of Forces Agreement, which removes our military presence by 2011. However, he does note that we will continue to be “involved in Iraq on some level for many years to come – assuming a sovereign Iraq continues to seek our partnership.”