| The Latest on the Afghanistan Surge |
Interview: General Stanley McChrystalGeneral Stanley McChrystal designed his Situational Awareness Room so it would gear up the American military for the information technology era just as Winston Churchill's map room equipped Britain for war in the industrial age.By Toby Harnden in Kabul
At Nato's Kabul headquarters, his dozen or so key advisers sit behind computers around a u-shaped table opposite eight screens that scroll down intelligence reports, news headlines and operational updates of Improvised Explosives Device (IED) attacks and air strikes across Afghanistan. When he's not visiting troops or conferring with Afghans, Gen McChrystal, a lean, intense and ascetic Special Forces veteran, is usually in the SAR, where he also conducts three or four video teleconferences a day, sometimes with the White House and Pentagon. Up to 50 people crowd into the room for his daily morning updates.  General Stanley McChrystal Photo: REUTERS
The SAR is part of the McChrystal vision for a flatter, less hierarchical way of waging war where information is shared and assumptions challenged. Every other week, he conducts a 45-minute virtual "town hall" meeting in which troops use a chat room to ask questions and he responds over streaming audio.
Gen McChrystal is the man charged by President Barack Obama with turning around a war within the space of 18 months after more than eight years of steady drift towards strategic defeat. He spoke to The Daily Telegraph about his plan for revolutionising ways of fighting by focusing on the Afghan people rather than on the Taliban. "Your security comes from the people," he said. "You don't need to be secured away from the people. You need to be secured by the people. So as you win their support, it's in their interests to secure you, to report IEDs." This can mean patrolling without armoured vehicles or even flak jackets. It means accepting greater short-term risk – and higher casualties – in the hope of winning a "battle of perceptions and perspectives" that will result in longer-term security. "If we respond with overwhelming fire to limited small arms fire from a compound we do protect ourselves but we destroy their livelihood and potentially the people," he said. "Even when we run around in armoured vehicles or personal armour we often send an unintended message that we're more important than they are. If we've got more armour but in reality the people are at more risk they have to question the degree to which we really are protecting them." Two months after he took command in June, after his predecessor Gen David McKiernan was fired, Gen McChrystal warned that the Nato forces were close to an "outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible". Since then, US Marines and British troops, along with Afghan forces, cleared the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Helmand in Operation Moshtarak. Civilian casualties have been reduced and US forces are in the process of being increased by 30,000 – a doubling of the force in place a year ago. "I don't think we've reversed the momentum yet," he said. "I think the situation is still serious but I don't think it's deteriorating now." The glimmer of hope is that Afghans "do sense something different" – even though confidence in President Hamid Karzai's government has plummeted and "the insurgency has gotten to where it threatens more people, more hours of the day". Gen McChrystal said: "They're much more open minded than I sensed even a few months ago ... But they're unconvinced. They're right in the middle – 'Yeah, we want to believe but you just haven't given us enough yet to believe'. "In places where their security is pretty good, people need to be convinced more. In places where their security is very weak it's a very practical issue of survival – they can't afford to believe openly until they can be sure we will protect them." As a way of gauging the shifting opinions of ordinary Afghans, Gen McChrystal regularly meets a group of students. A man of legendary single-mindedness, the 55-year-old, who took part in Special Forces combat missions in Iraq up until 2007, has brought a new seriousness to Nato headquarters. He eats once a day – what one aide described as a "big ass meal" in the evening – and munches on pretzels the rest of the day. He also runs once a day at a ferocious pace, covering some eight miles in an hour while listening to books, including works by Winston Churchill and about Horatio Nelson, on his Kindle. Alcohol is now banned at the headquarters and he has just ordered that Burger King and Pizza Hut fast food outlets on Americans bases be closed. The next big test for Nato and Gen McChrystal will be a summer offensive against Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban and the birthplace of its one-eyed leader Mullah Omar, which is increasingly under the influence of the insurgency. Breaking with traditional military doctrine, Gen McChrystal is announcing the Kandahar objective months ahead of time even though this gives the enemy a chance to prepare. "Telegraphing our punch is important because we've said that we are going to do effective counter-insurgency, protect and respect the people." He continued: "It's also not a bad thing for us to communicate that to the enemy as well because we say, 'We are going to do this and the reality is, you can't stop us'." It is inevitable that "the insurgents will make a tremendous effort to upset this and prevent it" and "they'll have to use mostly assymetric tactics, which means they'll plant IEDs, use suicide bombers". This, he argued, means that two different visions of Afghanistan would be presented. The Taliban "blowing up civilians is not going to be particularly compelling ... the people will get a fair chance to view and make their choice". The biggest challenge, he conceded, was something largely out of his control – the ineffectiveness and corruption of the Karzai government. He said: "The government of Afghanistan has got to get control of that to a degree where the people believe it's at least an acceptable political environment". What is needed is "probably a hybrid of using natural leaders in the community and their natural traditional structure like shuras and jirgas". He added: "In some cases it's using sharia law down at the local level to get timely and fair justice. But that's got to be linked to a central government that's credible." Eventually, he predicted, senior Taliban figures would opt to cut a deal. Military success by Nato would lead to the Taliban being "in the position, 'If we cant win and continue to fight on and be potentially killed or captured or we can say OK, what could we do to get into the political process'". Until then, however, Special Forces would be used to kill as many senior Taliban as possible with little consideration of which ones might eventually come to the negotiating table. "You need not let yourself be too constrained because the Taliban leaders need to understand that the willingness for their ability to make an accommodation is not endless and so if they're going to be out there as functioning insurgent leaders they are at risk," he said. "If they send a message that they're interested in working with the government then I think there's room to consider not targeting them. But just because somebody might some day do something I don't think gets them protection." Top U.S. Commander Sees Progress in Afghanistan, Iraq Updated February 20, 2010 - AP
Army Gen. David Petraeus said in a speech at Princeton University that after more than eight years of fighting in Afghanistan, the U.S. finally is getting enough troops, diplomats and organizational structure to be able to keep extremist groups from taking over again there. The U.S. commander overseeing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan said Saturday that the military is on pace in its plans to shift away from a combat mission in Iraq, but he warned that casualties will worsen in Afghanistan. Army Gen. David Petraeus said in a speech at Princeton University that after more than eight years of fighting in Afghanistan, the U.S. finally is getting enough troops, diplomats and organizational structure to be able to keep extremist groups from taking over again there. "We've gotten the inputs right, now we are embarking on what's going to be the output," he said. "The reality is it's going to be hard, it's going to be hard all the time. We're going to have tough losses." Petraeus, who was the top commander in Iraq before becoming head of the U.S. Central Command in October 2008, said the U.S. has done more than commit more resources to Afghanistan. It's also changed big ideas about how to handle the war, he said. One key, he said, is recognizing the Afghani people as part of the terrain of war. Last year, for example, the military cut back on use of air power as civilian casualties piled up. He said that tactical decision was made because the Taliban used the civilian deaths as propaganda. He says the policy change shifted that dynamic. "We're going to be able to beat the enemy around the head with civilian casualties that he is causing," Petraeus said. Petraeus said some of the approaches to Afghanistan come from Iraq, where he commanded the troop surge and where strategies were tested. Despite growing political problems there, the violence is down and the U.S. is on course to shift from a combat mission to one where the military will provide support and advice as of August. "Touch wood on that, if you please," he added. In the past week, the number of U.S. troops in Iraq dropped below 100,000 for the first time since fighting began there in 2003. Petraeus was in Princeton to receive the Madison Medal, the highest award given by the graduate school there. The general received a master's degree from Princeton in 1985 and a Ph.D. in 1987. He's so proud of his alma mater that he often signs his e-mails with "PITNS," shorthand for the school's motto, "Princeton in the Nation's Service and in the Service of All Nations." Former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, a Republican from Iowa, who now heads the National Endowment for the Humanities, received the Woodrow Wilson Award, a top honor for undergraduate alumni. Don't have a Facebook account? Join now by clicking http://www.facebook.com Already have a Facebook account? Join VMW's Facebook page now by clicking HEREShare U.S. Marines Seize Taliban HQ in Marjah Saturday, February 20, 2010
Reuters Feb. 19: U.S. Marine Captain Ryan Sparks runs after Taliban fighters opened fire in Marjah.MARJAH, Afghanistan — After a fierce gunfight, U.S. Marines seized a strongly defended compound that appears to have been a Taliban headquarters — complete with photos of fighters posing with their weapons, dozens of Taliban-issued ID cards and graduation diplomas from a training camp in Pakistan. Insurgents who had been using the field office just south of Marjah's town center abandoned it by the end of Friday's fighting, as Marines converged on them from all sides, escalating operations to break resistance in this Taliban stronghold in southern Helmand province. Marines from Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines fought their way south from the town center Friday after residents told them that several dozen insurgent fighters had regrouped in the area. Throughout the day, small groups of Taliban marksmen tried to slow the advance with rifle fire as they slowly fell back in face of the Marine assault. "They know that they are outnumbered ... and that in the end they don't have the firepower to compete with us conventionally," said Capt. Joshua Winfrey of Tulsa, Oklahoma, commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. As the Marines advanced, they found rows of abandoned bunkers dug alongside an irrigation canal that the Taliban had used to fire on them the day before. Located at a crossroads, the five abandoned bunkers, camouflaged under a layer of mud, looked out across an open field. In the near distance, large stones had been set up to help the Taliban site in on their targets. Just behind the bunkers, the Marines found a compound, surrounded by a mudbrick wall, typical of family homes in the town. Inside the compound, where a few chickens still wandered, Marines uncovered dozens of Taliban-issued ID cards, official Taliban letterhead stationery and government stamps. They also found graduation diplomas from an insurgent training camp in Baluchistan, an area of southern Pakistan that borders Helmand province, along with photos of fighters posing with AK-47 assault rifles. The insurgents had fled with their weapons and ammunition. The Marines said they'd been coming under fire all day — but never saw any of the elusive gunmen, who retreated to resume hit-and-run tactics using snipers and small gun squads to harass Marine lines. Lima Company's advance was part of a move by several Marine companies to converge on a pocket of Taliban fighters from all four directions. The Marines believe they've cornered what appeared to be a significant Taliban fighting force. "It seems that it's their last stand," Winfrey said. NATO said one service member died Friday in a small-arms attack but did not identify the victim by nationality. Six coalition troops were killed Thursday, NATO said, making it the deadliest day since the offensive began Feb. 13. The death toll for the operation stands at 12 NATO troops and one Afghan soldier. Britain's Defense Ministry said three British soldiers were among those killed Thursday. No precise figures on Taliban deaths have been released, but senior Marine officers say intelligence reports suggest more than 120 have died. The officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. The Marjah offensive is the biggest since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and a test of President Barack Obama's strategy for reversing the rise of the Taliban while protecting civilians. Marjah, 360 miles southwest of Kabul, has an estimated population of 80,000 and had been under Taliban control for years. Before dawn on Saturday, about two dozen elite Marines were dropped by helicopter into an area where skilled Taliban marksmen were known to operate, an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. A NATO statement said troops were still meeting "some resistance" from insurgents and that homemade bombs remained the key threat. At a briefing in London, Maj. Gen. Gordon Messenger said the militant holdouts don't threaten the overall offensive but will take time to clear out. "The levels of resistance in these areas has increased but not beyond expectation. We expected after the enemy had time to catch its breath, they would up the level of resistance, and that's happened," he said. As U.S. and Afghan troops moved south Friday, they continued to sweep through houses, searching for bombs and questioning residents. One man came forward and revealed a Taliban position a mile away. The man, who was not identified for security reasons, said he was angry because insurgents had earlier taken over his home. He gave U.S. forces detailed information, saying more than a dozen Taliban fighters were waiting to ambush troops there. The position was rigged with dozens of homemade bombs and booby-traps, he said. Outside of Marjah, U.S. and Afghan troops, backed by Stryker infantry vehicles, pushed into a section of mud-walled compounds that had been occupied by the Taliban in the Badula Qulp region, northeast of town. Hit with small arms fire, the troops retaliated with machine guns and fired off a missile at a house where insurgents were believed to be hiding, and the militants quickly withdrew. Elite U.S. Marines Airdropped Into Taliban-Held Territory Friday, February 19, 2010
AP Feb. 17: U.S. Marines with NATO forces talk as newly raised Afghan flag is seen in the background at a deserted market of Marjah, Afghanistan.
MARJAH, Afghanistan — Elite Marine recon teams were dropped behind Taliban lines by helicopter Friday as the U.S.-led force escalated operations to break resistance in the besieged insurgent stronghold of Marjah. As the major NATO offensive entered its seventh day, about two dozen Marines were inserted before dawn into an area where skilled Taliban marksmen are known to operate, an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. Other squads of Marines and Afghans, marching south in a bid to link up with Marine outposts there and expand their territory, came under sniper fire and rocket attacks by midday. The rattle of machine-gun fire and the thud of mortars echoed nearby. "We had a few companies engaged in firefights that lasted a few hours," said Marine spokesman Lt. Josh Diddams, who added that overall resistance appeared lighter than in previous days. The Marjah offensive is the biggest since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and a test of President Barack Obama's strategy for reversing the rise of the Taliban while protecting civilians. A NATO statement said troops were still meeting "some resistance" from insurgents who engage them in firefights, but homemade bombs remain the key threat to allied and Afghan forces. Six coalition troops were killed Thursday, NATO said, making it the deadliest day since the offensive began. The death toll so far is 11 NATO troops and one Afghan soldier. Britain's Defense Ministry said two British soldiers were among those killed Thursday. No precise figures on Taliban deaths have been released, but senior Marine officers say intelligence reports suggest more than 120 have died. The officers spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. As U.S. and Afghan troops moved south Friday, they continued to sweep through houses, searching for bombs and questioning residents. One man came forward to the Marines and revealed a Taliban position a mile (1.6 kilometers) away. The man, who was not identified for security reasons, said he was angry because insurgents had earlier taken over his home. He gave U.S. forces detailed information, saying more than a dozen Taliban fighters were waiting to ambush troops there. The position was rigged with dozens of homemade bombs and booby-traps, he said. Other people interviewed said some Taliban fighters in the area were non-Afghan. "Some of them are from here. Some are from Pakistan. Some are from other countries, but they don't let us come close to them so I don't know where they are from," said opium poppy farmer Mohammad Jan, 35, a father of four. Marines also uncovered a row of machine gun bunkers alongside a canal where they suspect enemy fighters had been firing on them the previous day. Located at a crossroads, the five newly abandoned bunkers, camouflaged under a layer of mud, aimed out across an open field. In the near distance, large stones had been set up to act as machine gun sights. "These guys aren't doing anything new, but it's pretty much the good basics of defense," said Lt. Scott Holub, from Pasadena, Maryland. Outside of Marjah, U.S. and Afghan troops, backed by Stryker infantry vehicles, pushed into a section of mud-walled compounds that had been occupied by the Taliban in the Badula Qulp region, northeast of town. Hit with small arms fire, the troops retaliated with machine guns and fired off a missile at a house where insurgents were believed to be hiding, and the militants quickly withdrew. Brig. Gen. Mohiudin Ghori, who is in charge of Afghan troops in the offensive, said security responsibilities in a few sections of town, including the main bazaar, have been turned over to Afghan police, although they will continue to get assistance from Afghan soldiers. A second group of Afghan police were dispatched to Marjah on Friday, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said. Altogether, 1,100 additional police will join the 400 police currently assigned to Marjah and Nad Ali district to the north, he said. Some 200 of them will focus on narcotics, he said. Policeman Mohammad Lahaq Khanjer, from Kandahar, said he was proud to be chosen to help patrol town. "We are coming to Marjah to provide security for the people and clear the area of militants," he said. "I'm ready to serve Marjah's people." Ghori said five suspected militants who had stashed Afghan army and police uniforms in their homes had been arrested. They were handed over to intelligence services, he said. Infiltration of police and army ranks by insurgents has been a constant concern. U.S. and Afghan troops encountered skilled sharpshooters and better-fortified Taliban positions Thursday, indicating that insurgent resistance in their logistics and opium-smuggling center was far from crushed. Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, commander of U.S. Marines in Marjah, told The Associated Press on Thursday that allied forces had taken control of the main roads, bridges and government centers in the farming town of 80,000 people about 360 miles (610 kilometers) southwest of Kabul, but fighting raged elsewhere. Increasingly accurate sniper fire from militants — and strong intelligence on possible suicide bomb threats — indicated that insurgents from outside Marjah are still operating within the town, he said. British Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, NATO commander in southern Afghanistan, told reporters in Washington via a video hookup that he expects it could take another 30 days to secure Marjah. Under NATO's "clear, hold, build" strategy, the allies plan to secure the area and then rush in a civilian Afghan administration, restore public services and pour in aid to try to win the loyalty of the population in preventing the Taliban from returning.
Taliban Sniper Teams Attack U.S., Afghan Troops Monday, February 15, 2010 
AP Feb. 14: A U.S. soldier returns fire as others run for cover during a firefight with insurgents in Marjah, Afghanistan. MARJAH, Afghanistan — Sniper teams attacked U.S. Marines and Afghan troops across the Taliban haven of Marjah, as several gun battles erupted Monday on the third day of a major offensive to seize the extremists' southern heartland. Multiple firefights in different locations taxed the ability of coalition forces to provide enough air support as NATO forces forged deeper into the town, moving through suspected insurgent neighborhoods, the U.S. Marines said. SLIDESHOW: U.S.-Led Attack in Helmand Province Michael Yon reports from Afghanistan In northern Marjah, an armored column came under fire from at least three separate sniper teams, slowing its progress. One of the teams came within 155 feet and started firing. Troops braced for the estimated 2.5-mile march to link up with U.S. and Afghan troops who had been airdropped into the town. Small squads of Taliban snipers initiated firefights throughout the day in an attempt to draw coalition forces into a larger ambush. The massive offensive involving some 15,000 U.S., Afghan and British troops is the biggest joint operation since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. On Monday, Afghan military officials gave a more optimistic view of the progress being made, with Brig. Gen. Sher Mohammad Zazai saying Afghan and NATO forces have largely contained the insurgents and succeeded in gaining trust from residents, who have pointed out mine locations. "Today there is no major movement of the enemy. South of Marjah they are very weak. There has been low resistance. Soon we will have Marjah cleared of enemies," Zazai said at a briefing in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand province. He added that only three Afghan troops had been injured. However, the mission faced a setback on Sunday when two U.S. rockets slammed into a home outside Marjah, killing 12 civilians. NATO said Monday that the rockets missed their target by about 600 meters, or about a third of a mile. NATO had earlier said the rockets missed their target by just 300 meters. The civilian deaths were a major blow to NATO and Afghan efforts to win the support of residents in the Marjah area, a Taliban logistical center and a base for the lucrative opium trade that finances the insurgency. Before the offensive began Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai had pleaded for the Afghan and foreign commanders to be "seriously careful for the safety of civilians." Karzai has called for a thorough investigation into the airstrike. Differing accounts have emerged about the details. On Monday, Afghan Interior Minister Atmar said at the briefing in Lashkar Gah that nine civilians and two or three insurgents were among those killed, suggesting that insurgents were firing at troops from a civilian home. "The reality is this ... the enemy did capture some civilians in their house and they were firing at our forces from this house. Unfortunately our forces didn't know that civilians were living in that house," he said. The top NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, apologized for "this tragic loss of life" and suspended use of the sophisticated rocket system pending a thorough review. The rockets were fired by the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, at insurgents who had attacked U.S. and Afghan forces, wounding one American and one Afghan, NATO said. However, the projectiles veered off target and blasted the home in northern Nad Ali district, which includes Marjah, NATO added. Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said the president "is very upset about what happened" and has been "very seriously conveying his message" of restraint "again and again." Inside Marjah, sporadic firefights increased by midday as small sniper teams fired at U.S. Marines before withdrawing, hoping to lure them into chasing them into a larger ambush. "Literally every time we stand up, we take rounds," warned one Marine over the radio. Marines said their ability to fight back has been tightly constrained by strict new rules of engagement that make their job more difficult and dangerous. Under the rules, troops cannot fire at people unless they commit a hostile act or show hostile intent. "I understand the reason behind it, but it's so hard to fight a war like this," said Lance Corp. Travis Anderson, 20, from Altoona, Iowa. "They're using our rules of engagement against us," he said, stating that his platoon had repeatedly seen men dropping their guns into ditches before walking away to melt among civilians. Allied officials have reported two coalition deaths so far -- one American and one Briton killed Saturday. Afghan officials said at least 27 insurgents have been killed in the offensive. In unrelated incidents in southern Afghanistan, NATO said two service members died Sunday -- one from small-arms fire and the other from a roadside bomb explosion. The international force did not disclose their nationalities, but the British defense ministry reported that a British soldier died Sunday of wounds suffered in an explosion. Don't have a Facebook account? Join now by clicking http://www.facebook.com From
February 7, 2010
Special forces assassins infiltrate Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan British and US troops are planning a major operation against the Taliban in Helmand province AMERICAN and British troops poised to assault the Taliban stronghold of Marjah have begun targeting insurgent leaders for assassination. Military sources said special forces had been infiltrating the town on “kinetic” missions — jargon for armed attacks. “Special forces guys have been going in on assassination missions with the aim of decapitating the Taliban force,” one said. At the British base of Camp Bastion and the adjoining Camp Leatherneck, the US marine base, troops and munitions have been airlifted in by night to avoid enemy rockets. It is clear that international forces are on the brink of a big battle. All yesterday morning, the thud-thud-thud of heavy machineguns and the crump of mortars filled the air. In a break from traditional military secrecy, American, British and Afghan commanders have announced that Marjah, the last town in Helmand under Taliban control, will be attacked. Operation Moshtarak (“Together”) will be by far the largest offensive since General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, instigated his counter-insurgency strategy, backed by President Barack Obama’s 30,000-troop “surge”. About 1,000 Taliban, mostly Afghans but with some foreign fighters in their ranks, are believed to be in Marjah, an opium centre and local headquarters for bomb-making and sending out suicide bombers. Military sources described the use of publicity as a psychological tactic to intimidate the Taliban into laying down their weapons or fleeing. The risks are huge. By surrendering the element of surprise, the coalition has given the insurgents time to dig in and expand an already extensive tunnel network. Taliban diehards are known to have been placing bombs along alleyways, roads and in a network of irrigation canals. “Around Marjah is a mass of canals in a neat grid, the kind of terrain that’s difficult to clear, easy to defend,” said a military source. There was little evidence of a Taliban retreat this weekend. Reached by satellite telephone, a Taliban commander expressed defiance. Said Mawlawi Abdul Ghafar vowed he would never lay down his arms. “We’ve got experts and brave fighters who have fought and killed the infidels,” said Ghafar, 38, who commands 120 fighters in what he called the “first battle circle”. With overwhelming force and air power on the allies’ side, the outcome is in little doubt. Success in Marjah, however, will not be judged on who wins the battle. Late in the day, military commanders have accepted that the solution to the eight-year war will be political, not military. According to McCrystal’s strategy, clearing the Taliban from strongholds such as Marjah is only the first step towards “clear, hold and build”. In the past, Nato would clear Taliban fighters from towns, but without sufficient troops to remain and secure it. The Taliban simply returned, flushed out any hapless police and seized back control. It was deeply dispiriting to troops who paid a high price in deaths and injuries, and it instilled a deep streak of scepticism in ordinary Afghans. “For now, the local population is sitting on the fence,” said Frank Ruggiero, the senior American civilian representative in southern Afghanistan, who has hundreds of millions of dollars at his disposal. The money is to implement Washington’s plan to make Afghanistan sufficiently stable for it to begin to withdraw troops by the summer of next year. “They’ve seen us come and make promises before, and then [we] leave,” Ruggiero said. “They’re not coming down off that fence until they are sure that they are secure, that a local policeman is going to be at his post in the morning and that the Taliban are not coming back.” In Marjah, the plan is to move quickly to set up a local administration and to provide jobs such as clearing roads and canals. “You have to give people something they can see,” said Ruggiero. The question being asked is whether the Taliban will choose to slink away and wait 18 months for an American withdrawal to begin. It is a high-stakes game, and the people of Marjah are expected to be at the heart of it this week.
By Fred W. Baker III ISTANBUL, Feb. 4, 2010 – Although he stopped short of saying the worst is over for troops as they prepare to surge into some of the toughest Taliban-held areas, the top NATO and U.S. commander in Afghanistan said here today that conditions no longer are deteriorating. “I am not prepared to say that we have turned the corner. I am saying that the situation is serious. But I think we have made significant progress in setting conditions in 2009, and … we’ll make real progress in 2010,” said Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan. The general spoke in an interview with reporters who accompanied Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to Istanbul for a meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers to determine how many more additional resources, if any, they will contribute to the fight in Afghanistan. Last summer, McChrystal delivered a much harsher description of the situation on the ground to the Defense Department and the White House, saying that conditions were deteriorating, Taliban influence was growing and the confidence of the people of Afghanistan in U.S. efforts there was waning. President Barack Obama directed a revamped strategy for Afghanistan. As part of that change, Obama ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops to deploy to Afghanistan by this summer. McChrystal called 2010 an important year, as critically needed troops flow into the country as fast as facilities and bases can be built for them. U.S. forces will number about 100,000 by the time all of them arrive this summer. NATO has offered up an additional 9,000 forces, but that still leaves ISAF about 4,000 short of the mentors and trainers it needs, officials said. Sixty-four mentoring teams are operating now in all five regions of Afghanistan. Another 80 are expected in the next few months, but 20 more are needed as the Afghan security forces grow this year. McChrystal’s prediction of continued progress in Afghanistan comes as coalition and Afghan forces prepare for one of their largest combined operations to remove insurgents from areas of central Helmand province not already cleared by ISAF troops. It is not typical of military commanders to announce operations in advance, but the general said they are trying to send a message. “We’re trying to signal to the Afghan people that we are expanding security where they live. We are trying also to signal to the insurgents … that it’s about to change,” McChrystal said. The general said he also wants to give those Taliban members and other insurgents who would rather not fight a chance to consider their options. “If they want to fight, then obviously that will have to be an outcome. But if they don’t want to fight, that’s fine too,” he said. “We’re not interested in how many Taliban we kill. We’d much rather have them see the inevitability that things are changing and just accept that.” The general said he considers this operation a “next step” as NATO forces continue to work to develop the size and capacity of the Afghan national security forces. Over the past few months, McChrystal said, ISAF has made internal command changes and has begun partnering more closely with the Afghan government, from the ministries down to the local level. He said progress has taken place as the government now works to direct the planning efforts to provide security. Recruiting is up for the Afghan forces, McChrystal said. More than 11,000 joined in December and January. Attrition still is higher than officials would like, he acknowledged, but it is dropping. As of December, the Afghan army had just more than 100,000 troops, and officials want to grow its force to more than 171,000 by October 2011. As of December, the Afghan police had just under 100,000 members, and officials want to expand their ranks to 134,000 officers by October 2011. Along with growing the size of the force, the Afghan government wants to develop the professionalism of the force. An Afghan military academy is ready to graduate a four-year class and the police academy just graduated a class after completing a three-year program, McChrystal said. Before, only about one quarter of the Afghan National Police had any formal training. Now, the training will become standardized across the country. The Afghans are standing up a command to manage police training. Literacy is a challenge, McChrystal said, but that doesn’t mean the recruits are not trainable. “Being illiterate doesn’t mean you’re not smart,” he said. “The Taliban’s illiterate. It means you haven’t had a chance to learn to read.” Literacy issues do, however, make it harder to train the recruits on the more modern equipment, the general acknowledged. McChrystal described 2010 as “an exceptionally important year,” as he observed the Afghan people are ready for the decades of war to come to an end. The general predicted significant growth of the Afghan national security forces as the summer 2011 deadline looms when U.S. troops are slated to start their withdrawal. How many and how fast U.S. troops depart Afghanistan, McChrystal said, will depend on how much progress has been made between now and then. “I’m not prepared to say we are winning. I’m prepared to say we are very much engaged, and I am confident we are going to see serious progress this year,” he said. The progress has come at a price, McChrystal acknowledged. “We have paid for progress we’ve made,” the general said. “We’ve paid for it individual by individual.” McChrystal Says Pieces in Place for Success By Jim Garamone Testifying before the House Armed Services Committee, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said he is fully behind President Barack Obama’s decision to send 30,000 more American troops to Afghanistan to reverse the Taliban’s momentum and create time and space to develop Afghan security and governance capacity. Updated December 06, 2009 General: President Looked at Iraq Surge to Plan Afghanistan StrategyFOXNews.com
President Obama did acknowledge the success of the surge in Iraq and used some of its lessons to develop a plan in Afghanistan, the head of Central Command said Sunday. 
Gen. David Petraeus speaks in October (AP). President Obama did acknowledge the success of the surge in Iraq and used some of its lessons to develop a plan in Afghanistan, the head of Central Command said Sunday. Gen. David Petraeus, who is in charge of military operations throughout the Middle East and Central Asia -- regions containing Iraq and Afghanistan -- said the president asked him how troops worked to secure the population and achieve cooperation with various Iraqi factions, and held several lengthy sessions to review the principles that could be applied in Afghanistan. During his presidential campaign, Obama frequently discussed how he strongly opposed the war in Iraq and the surge of 2007. Petraeus said that while Obama "did, in fact" acknowledge the success of the surge, "we've spent a lot of time taking the rear view mirrors off the bus and avoiding re-litigating, if you will, you know, past battles and all the rest of this, and focusing to the future." The top commander also told "Fox News Sunday" that while "certainly there are some similarities and the -- and the focus again on focusing on the security of the people is an important component of this. But we have to be very careful to recognize the enormous differences between Afghanistan and Iraq." To that end, the general, who opposed deadlines in Iraq, said he now sees benefits to setting a timeline for withdrawal from Afghanistan. Recognizing the inherent contradictions of announcing a plan to begin a withdrawal of troops in July 2011 while also implementing a surge of 30,000 troops between now and May 2010, Petraeus said the strategy demonstrates both resolve and an urgency to get Afghanistan's military and police forces operational. "There is undeniably some tension between" announcing a surge and a withdrawal, Petraeus said. "But ... this will be conditions-based, responsible and a transition starting, but not a race to the exits." Separately, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Americans should expect a significant U.S. military presence in Afghanistan for another two to four years. Appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Gates noted that Afghan President Hamid Karzai talked in his inaugural address about taking over security control in all of Afghanistan in five years, so an initial troop withdrawal in Afghanistan in 2011 may involve only a small number of troops. Gates says that just as in Iraq, the U.S. will turn over provinces to homegrown security forces, allowing the United States to bring the number of troops down steadily. Gates also told CBS' "Face the Nation" that if the Taliban lays low until the troops begin withdrawing in 2011, the coalition forces will have made great progress in stabilizing Afghanistan. He also rejected any suggestion that setting a transition date for withdrawing U.S. forces in Afghanistan will embolden the Taliban. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Watch CBS News Videos Online |
