Agencies dragging feet on AFRICOM

WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- Pentagon officials claim other U.S. agencies are delaying their plans for a new Africa Command.

The U.S. military is looking for a minimum of 25 percent of the billets in the new command to be filled by the departments of State, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services and other agencies. But getting those offices to cough up the people to fill those slots is not easy, according to the head of U.S. European Command, who currently counts most of Africa among his responsibilities.

"My experience has been when you get to (the other agencies) their attitude is what's in it for me, who's gonna pay for it," said Army Gen. Bantz Craddock, EUCOM commander.

AFRICOM will be untraditional in that its staff will focus not on preparations for military action in Africa but instead on stabilizing governments, training their militaries, encouraging their economies and helping governments address destabilizing problems like AIDS and famine. AFRICOM's aim is less to be prepared for military conflict than it is to avert the possibility of it.

"Very few (of Africa's) challenges can be solved by the department of the military," Craddock told reporters Friday. "It's Health and Human Services, Commerce, Department of Justice, Energy, Agriculture. There are a lot of equities across the U.S. government agencies and departments."

Craddock said he ultimately wants to see 40 percent to 50 percent of AFRICOM's billets filled by the agencies.

The Pentagon has received hundreds of billions of dollars in additional funding in the last five years, but other agencies -- already dwarfed by the Pentagon budget -- have not seen their funding grow.

However, Pentagon officials have long complained the other government agencies are not offering up the personnel and expertise that are needed to reconstruct Iraq and Afghanistan.