WASHINGTON - U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates says it would be difficult to request more troops for Afghanistan in six to 12 months.
"It would be a hard sell, there's no question about it," Gates told CNN in response to a question about additional troops.
Excerpts of Gates' interview to be aired Sunday on "Fareed Zakaria GPS" were released Friday night.
"I think we will have between the American military commitment and our coalition partners -- the ISAF partners -- we will have about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan," he said, referring to NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
"That's only about 10,000 shy of what the Russians had and I think we need to think about that."
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan three decades ago and withdrew after a decade of fierce resistance from U.S.-backed Afghan fighters.
President Barack Obama this year ordered 21,000 new troops to the Central Asian country to bolster the record 38,000 already there. Taliban and other militants have made a comeback the last three years after what appeared to be an initial defeat following the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan that came after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
A week ago, Gates said more civilians with skills beyond the battlefield will be needed. The administration said it would send several hundred citizens, from agronomists to economists, to work on reconstruction and development issues as part of the military's counterinsurgency campaign. That has proven to be difficult, and the Pentagon said reservists, who often have the skills needed in such a buildup, might be asked to fill the gap.
