Gold9472
09-01-2009, 08:28 AM
Gates Says Additional Local Forces May Be Needed in Afghan War
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ani9IGkycOOQ
By Peter Cook and Tony Capaccio
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates described the military situation in Afghanistan as a “mixed” picture and said Afghan forces may have to be increased beyond the planned level of 230,000 personnel to make headway.
Gates made his comment as General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, yesterday sent his assessment of the mission to General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, and to the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“The situation in Afghanistan is serious but success is achievable,” McChrystal said in a statement. He called for a stronger focus on beefing up Afghan forces and protecting civilians.
Gates said he hasn’t yet seen McChrystal’s report in its final form. He said he asked the general during drafting of the report to consider the “implications of significant additional” U.S. forces and whether Afghan citizens “will see this as us becoming more of an occupier or their partner.”
“How do you make sure you don’t lose their confidence in us as their partner?” Gates said.
McChrystal’s review doesn’t include any recommendation or request for additional U.S. forces, according to a NATO statement issued from Afghanistan. This question “will be considered separately and subsequent to this assessment and its approach,” NATO said.
The assessment outlines NATO’s revised strategy, “which reflects an integrated and properly-resourced civilian-military campaign with a greater emphasis on counter-insurgency and protection of the population,” it said.
More Troops
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he won’t rule out the need for more troops in Afghanistan.
“I would not exclude the possibility that we need more combat troops, but first and foremost I would say that we need to increase significantly the number of Afghan soldiers,” Rasmussen said in an interview at NATO headquarters in Brussels yesterday.
Gates also alluded to the issue of whether the Afghan police and military forces should be increased more than the combined level of 230,800 planned by 2011 from 175,000 today.
The forces should be “maybe larger than that depending on General McChrystal’s recommendations,” he said.
U.S. senators as well as civilian advisers who helped McChrystal with his assessment have pressed the administration to more than double the size of this force to at least 400,000.
President Barack Obama has made fighting a resurgent Islamist Taliban movement in Afghanistan a priority of his administration. He faces increasing unease about the war among fellow Democrats in Congress and dwindling support for the effort from the American public.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Aug. 19 showed a majority of Americans now see the war in Afghanistan as not worth fighting. Only 24 percent said more troops should be sent to the country.
There are 62,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan today. That is scheduled to increase to at least 68,000 by December, and more might be needed to support any increase in Afghan security forces greater than now planned.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ani9IGkycOOQ
By Peter Cook and Tony Capaccio
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates described the military situation in Afghanistan as a “mixed” picture and said Afghan forces may have to be increased beyond the planned level of 230,000 personnel to make headway.
Gates made his comment as General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, yesterday sent his assessment of the mission to General David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, and to the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“The situation in Afghanistan is serious but success is achievable,” McChrystal said in a statement. He called for a stronger focus on beefing up Afghan forces and protecting civilians.
Gates said he hasn’t yet seen McChrystal’s report in its final form. He said he asked the general during drafting of the report to consider the “implications of significant additional” U.S. forces and whether Afghan citizens “will see this as us becoming more of an occupier or their partner.”
“How do you make sure you don’t lose their confidence in us as their partner?” Gates said.
McChrystal’s review doesn’t include any recommendation or request for additional U.S. forces, according to a NATO statement issued from Afghanistan. This question “will be considered separately and subsequent to this assessment and its approach,” NATO said.
The assessment outlines NATO’s revised strategy, “which reflects an integrated and properly-resourced civilian-military campaign with a greater emphasis on counter-insurgency and protection of the population,” it said.
More Troops
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he won’t rule out the need for more troops in Afghanistan.
“I would not exclude the possibility that we need more combat troops, but first and foremost I would say that we need to increase significantly the number of Afghan soldiers,” Rasmussen said in an interview at NATO headquarters in Brussels yesterday.
Gates also alluded to the issue of whether the Afghan police and military forces should be increased more than the combined level of 230,800 planned by 2011 from 175,000 today.
The forces should be “maybe larger than that depending on General McChrystal’s recommendations,” he said.
U.S. senators as well as civilian advisers who helped McChrystal with his assessment have pressed the administration to more than double the size of this force to at least 400,000.
President Barack Obama has made fighting a resurgent Islamist Taliban movement in Afghanistan a priority of his administration. He faces increasing unease about the war among fellow Democrats in Congress and dwindling support for the effort from the American public.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Aug. 19 showed a majority of Americans now see the war in Afghanistan as not worth fighting. Only 24 percent said more troops should be sent to the country.
There are 62,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan today. That is scheduled to increase to at least 68,000 by December, and more might be needed to support any increase in Afghan security forces greater than now planned.