McChrystal Faces a Tough Road Ahead in Afghanistan
The new commander headed to the war zone just after his confirmation
On Capitol Hill last week, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the special operations veteran confirmed Wednesday to take over command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, predicted tough months ahead there, bluntly warning Congress to expect more casualties and more mistakes as new U.S. troops arrive this summer. "There is no simple answer," he said at his confirmation hearings. "It's the environment we have today and the place from which we must navigate a way forward."
Just what that way forward will be was the topic of the day. McChrystal boarded a plane on the heels of his confirmation to join Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in Brussels. There, he met with NATO partners before traveling on to Afghanistan, where he will begin a 60-day review of the military's way forward for the region. The results of that review will offer a window into the dilemmas that will face the Obama administration as it crafts its new strategy for the increasingly violent country, where attacks and roadside bombings reached record levels last week . McChrystal will be tasked with implementing that strategy at a time when violence throughout the country continues to rise considerably and stands 25 percent over June of last year.
These figures are up in part as a result of a surge of U.S. troops. There are now more U.S. soldiers available to "take the fight to the enemy," as Pentagon officials like to say. But it's also clear that insurgent attacks on U.S. troops and Afghan government security forces are also on the rise. Senior U.S. military officials say that these attacks tend to succeed at times when Afghan civilians, angry at the Afghan government or U.S. forces, look the other way. McChrystal said that civilian sentiment is one of his chief concerns. "How you operate, the impact of civilian casualties, collateral damage, cultural insensitivity," he noted, "often determine success or failure."
And as conditions in many parts of the country have continued to backslide, sustaining any gains made by a fresh influx of U.S. troops is a chief concern among Pentagon officials. One way to do that will be to develop Afghan security forces, McChrystal said. The current goal is to grow the Afghan National Army to 134,000 troops; there are some 86,000 Afghan soldiers now. But senior military officials believe that, given the size of the country and the level of violence, the Afghan Army will need to be twice that size—somewhere in the neighborhood of 200,000 to 250,000. McChrystal concurred with this assessment, calling the development of Afghan security forces "our highest priority task."
But there remains a critical shortage of trainers to mentor them. It is unclear, too, whether McChrystal will ultimately need an additional 10,000 U.S. troops, a long-standing request by outgoing commander Gen. David McKiernan. On this point, McChrystal said, "I don't know. It may be some time before I do." But he said that he was convinced he would get more troops if he needed them. "I believe that if I have a requirement, I can look [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike] Mullen in the eye and tell him, 'That's what I need.' "
Given stepped-up resources, the question on the minds of many on Capitol Hill remained whether it is a winnable war. McChrystal responded that it was, with a caveat that hints at tough times to come for U.S. forces. "I believe it is winnable," he said, "but I don't think it will be easily winnable." To win at all, the Pentagon must first find a new way forward.
- Read 10 Things You Didn't Know About McChrystal.
- Read more about the future in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Reader Comments
This is how Obama promise 2 American how he will fight Terrorist
pull back on the tatical air strike and close air support and reduce on full strength of the military out base defense and leave small forces on top of the hill is not a good tactic it a quick end strategy and a deathly blow to ya force if u set up battle that way. The F-18 speed is at march 1.8 good enought and well accurated to bomb the Taliban much better compare to F-15 and F-16 which are the speed level around march 2 and 2.5 not accurate for low level surgical air strike bombing as i watching fighter jet plane i discover they pulling F-18 back in the US instead of leaving them back in Afgan for the troop to using them as top air cover in 2009 watch this video on you tube ya know what i mean
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Attack on remote Afghan outposts kills 8 US troops
Attack on remote Afghan outposts kills 8 US troops
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By LORI HINNANT, Associated Press Writer Lori Hinnant, Associated Press Writer – Sun Oct 4, 7:39 am ET
KABUL – Militant fighters streaming from an Afghan village and a mosque attacked a pair of remote outposts near the Pakistani border, killing eight U.S. soldiers and as many as seven Afghan forces in one of the fiercest battles of the eight-year war.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack for coalition forces since a similar raid in July 2008 killed nine American soldiers in the same mountainous region known as an al-Qaida haven. The U.S. has already said it plans to pull its soldiers from the isolated area to focus on Afghan population centers.
Fighting began around dawn Saturday and lasted several hours, punctuated by American airstrikes. Jamaludin Badar, governor of Nuristan province, said the two outposts were on a hill — one near the top and one at the foot of the slope — flanked by the village on one side and the mosque on the other.
Nearly 300 militant fighters flooded the lower, Afghan outpost then swept around it to reach the American station on higher ground from both directions, said Mohammad Qasim Jangulbagh, the provincial police chief. The U.S. military statement said the Americans and Afghans repelled the attack by tribal fighters and "inflicted heavy enemy casualties."
Jangulbagh said that the gunbattle included U.S. airstrikes and that 15 Afghan police were captured by the Taliban, including the local police chief and his deputy. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said a council would decide the fates of the police, confirming the capture of the two top local officers.
Badar said five or six Afghan soldiers died, as did one policeman.
Afghan forces were sent as reinforcements, but Jangulbagh said all communications to the district, Kamdesh, were severed and he had no way of knowing how they were faring Sunday. The area is just 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Pakistani border and 150 miles (230 kilometers) from Kabul.
"This was a complex attack in a difficult area," U.S. Col. Randy George, the area commander, said in the American statement. "Both the U.S. and Afghan soldiers fought bravely together."
Jangulbagh said the bodies of five enemy fighters were found after the battle.
U.S. Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a military spokeswoman, said American forces continued to man the outpost and there was scattered fighting early Sunday. She said was unclear if the attackers were Taliban or from another group linked to them.
She said American officials were working with the Afghan army to relay messages to Afghan forces in the area.
Separately, a roadside bomb southwest of Kabul killed a U.S. service member on Saturday, Mathias said.
Nuristan, bordering Pakistan, was where a militant raid on another outpost in July 2008 claimed the lives of nine American soldiers and led to allegations of negligence by their senior commanders. Army Gen. David Petraeus last week ordered a new investigation into that fighting, in which some 200 militants armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars pushed their way into the base, which is no longer operating.
Badar said he had sought more security forces for Kamdesh district. He said Taliban fighters had fled to Nuristan and neighboring Kunar province after Pakistani forces drove many extremists from the Swat Valley earlier this year.
"When there are few security forces, this is what happens," he said.
He also complained about a lack of coordination between international forces and Afghans.
The U.S. statement said the attack would not change previously announced plans to leave the area.
Afghanistan's northeastern Nuristan and Kunar provinces are home to al-Qaida bases as well as those of wanted terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose military chief Kashmir Khan has been unsuccessfully targeted by U.S. missiles over the past eight years. Kamdesh district has no regular cell phone or landline contact and few roads, dirt or paved. Local security forces communicate by handheld radio.
The region was key for Arab militants who battled alongside Afghan warriors during the 1980s U.S.-backed war against invading Russians because it is a rare place in South Asia where the Wahhabi sect of Islam is practiced — the same sect followed by Osama bin Laden and most Saudis.
Many Arabs remained in Afghanistan, marrying Afghans and integrating themselves into local society. Many also belonged to Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami group, now sought as terrorists by the U.S.-led coalition.
Bin Laden also considered the region a useful hiding ground, his former bodyguard, Naseer Ahmed Al-Bahri, told The Associated Press in a 2006 interview in Yemen.
It sits directly across the border from Pakistan's Bajaur Agency, where bin Laden's No. 2, Ayman al Zawahri, was last seen.
Peace
Too much troops in Afghanistan is not a good way to secure the poor nation and its people.It will trigger more attacks and just like the upper commenter said more mothers will suffer from sorrow of the grave of their sons.The US army 'd better withdraw and give Afghanistan the sovereignty.You know a lot of attacks happened because they want US army get out of their country.
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