Obama wants $14.2 billion more to train Afghan forces

President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress for another $14.2 billion to train Afghanistan's army and police over the next two years, a move a key lawmaker welcomed on Monday as part of a long-term U.S. commitment to that country's military. The proposed amount -- more than double the $6.6 billion already allocated for Afghan security forces this year -- emerged in draft Pentagon budget documents for the rest of this year and fiscal 2011. The sum was first reported by Congress Daily. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters he thought the reported funding was "a worthy investment." Training the Afghans to take on the responsibility of fighting the Taliban would help reduce U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and was ultimately an expense "much smaller than our (U.S. troops) being there," said Levin, a Democrat.