The United States is planning to send a further 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in a clear attempt to replicate the supposed success of the 'surge' in Iraq, claimed by supporters to have pacified much of the country. The troops will arrive by July and follow the deployment of an air combat brigade in January, specifically ordered by defence secretary Robert Gates, who is staying on under Barack Obama. Earlier this week British PM Gordon Brown said the UK would send a further 300 troops to Helmand Province in Afghanistan, which sounds a bit feeble in the new circumstances. More to the point Brown has hinted that he doesn't plan to send all the troops currently in Iraq to Afghanistan when the Brits pull out of Basra in July. In other words the Americans can get on with it. Barack Obama has said repeatedly that he wants, even expects, his Nato allies to do more to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. At the moment the Brits and Canadians are fighting but the other European allies aren't, and the Brits and Canadians are having second thoughts as casualties mount. Obama has nailed his colours to the mast now so he has little choice but to trust that the extra US forces will at least check the Taliban and maybe open the way to some sort of peace deal that can save everyone's faces. But it's all worryingly reminiscent of the early days of John Kennedy's presidency when another young Democrat came into power and, maybe to show he could be just as tough as his gnarled Republican opponents, began pouring troops into Vietnam.