Cmdr. to Seek Expansion of Afghan Forces

Washington Post: McChrystal Says Security Forces Will Have to Exceed Planned Levels to Win War

(Washington Post)  This story was written by Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung.

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Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the newly arrived top commander in Afghanistan, has concluded that Afghan security forces will have to expand far beyond currently planned levels if President Obama's strategy for winning the war there is to succeed, according to senior military officials.

Such an expansion would require additional billions beyond the $7.5 billion the administration has budgeted annually to build up the Afghan army and police over the next several years, and the likely deployment of thousands more U.S. troops as trainers and advisers, officials said.

McChrystal has not yet completed a 60-day assessment of the war due next month. But Defense Department officials in Washington and in Kabul said he has informed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, including in a status update this week, of the need to increase the Afghan force substantially. Officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss findings that have not yet been made public.

The Afghan army is already scheduled to grow from 85,000 to 134,000, an expansion originally expected to take five years but now fast-tracked for completion by 2011. Several senior Pentagon officials indicated that an adequate size for the Afghan force might be twice the expanded number.

"There are not enough Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police for our forces to partner with in operations . . . and that gap will exist into the coming years even with the planned growth already budgeted for," said a U.S. military official in Kabul who is familiar with McChrystal's ongoing review.

Without significant increases, said another U.S. official involved in training Afghan forces, "we will lose the war."

Gates would have to agree to any request from McChrystal for additional funding or troops, and recommend it to President Obama. In February, Obama authorized 17,000 additional combat troops and 4,000 military trainers for deployment to Afghanistan during 2009, bringing the total U.S. force there to about 68,000 by the end of the year. He rejected a military request to pre-authorize another 10,000 U.S. combat troops to be sent in 2010.

Since then, the White House has continued to resist making any commitment for future U.S. military growth. National Security Adviser James L. Jones told commanders in southern Afghanistan during a visit late last month that Obama wants to give the non-military elements of his strategy the time and resources to progress before considering new troop requests. The commanders made clear to Jones that additional Afghan forces are needed.

The non-military elements include reconstruction and economic development, and establishment of the rule of law and public services by a competent Afghan government. "It was never my intention to stifle anybody in the future, but to remind everyone that we have a strategy . . . and it would be good to see how we're doing on all aspects of the strategy before we start focusing, as we always seem to do, on how more troops are going to solve the problem," Jones said yesterday in a telephone interview from Italy, where he was traveling with Obama.

But Jones and others acknowledged that both reconstruction and competent governance cannot be achieved until the Afghan people are secure. The strategy calls for U.S. and Afghan forces to clear areas of the Taliban and then hold them. Commanders leading a Marine operation launched last week to drive Taliban forces from Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan are already asking, "Where are the Afghan troops? Where's the economic plan? Where is the government?" Jones said.

There are about 4,000 Marines involved in the current offensive, along with about 650 Afghan soldiers.

Despite concerns that too large a U.S. military presence would undermine efforts to put the Afghans eventually in charge of their own security, Jones said McChrystal is "perfectly within his mandate as a new commander to make the recommendation on the military posture as he sees it. We have to wait until he does that. There was never any intention on my visit [to Afghanistan] to say don't ever come in with a request or to put a cap on troops."

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen told reporters Wednesday that the White House and the Pentagon are "committed to properly resourcing this endeavor."

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell declined to comment on any discussions Gates has had with McChrystal. "The secretary is waiting for General McChrystal to present his overall evaluation of the situation on the ground," Morrell said. Gates, he said, "will review it thoroughly and consult a number of people before he goes to the president."

The exact size of any request for additional money and troops in 2010 will depend on how quickly U.S. commanders and Afghan government officials determine they can expand the Afghan forces and how much of the financial and personnel burden U.S. allies are willing to shoulder. The relatively high illiteracy rates in Afghanistan and the need for new training facilities and living quarters could also constrain efforts to accelerate the growth of the force. Another factor is the Afghan government's limited ability to pay for the larger force over the long term.

"It would not surprise me if the ceiling for the Afghan army request was raised," Jones said. "But what the new ceiling might be, and where the money comes from -- there's an international responsibility here, too. There are 47 countries" working in Afghanistan, he said, "and if there are additional expenses, it doesn't mean all of it has to come from the United States."
If Obama approves a request for more training resources, he probably will have to contend with sharp questions from Congress about whether his new strategy is working as intended. Many of his constituents on the left would like to see the Afghan war ended rather than expanded.

But McChrystal's "argument, and ultimately the argument of the Defense Department" will be that "if you only have one or two years to change the opinion of the people" of Afghanistan then "let's get on with it," one Defense official said. McChrystal now has what the official called a "halo effect," similar to that of Gen. David H. Petraeus when he arrived in Iraq in early 2007 to preside over a major troop expansion and change in strategy that ultimately succeeded in turning the tide of that war.

Petraeus is now the commander of the U.S. Central Command, which includes Afghanistan. "If you've got Stan's word . . . and Petraeus standing behind him" in requesting more resources, the official said, Obama can stress the need for a "marginal adjustment" based on advice from commanders on the ground.

The 21,000 deployments already approved for this year will not be completed until the fall. If new deployments are approved, "generating that force, identifying it, training and organizing it will take time," the official said. That would likely extend their arrival into early 2010 and might mitigate any political problems the White House might foresee in authorizing additional troops.

Several officials said that McChrystal's assessment of shortfalls in Afghanistan will be outlined in broad terms, citing the need to expand and train the Afghan force along with proposed solutions to make that happen. In addition to trainers and advisers, he is also expected to outline organizational changes for U.S. troops and the need for enhanced language, intelligence and other skills.

McChrystal, who has spent most of his career in special operations units, is backing a proposal by Adm. Eric Olsen, head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, to replace the current Navy and Air Force commanders of at least half of the 12 U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan with Special Operations officers who served previous tours in Afghanistan and have training in at least one of its two languages, Dari and Pashto.

Olsen and McChrystal believe that the Navy and Air Force officers, who typically have backgrounds as pilots, navigators or ship commanders, lack the necessary experience. "We want to have the smartest and most culturally aware officers in charge of the reconstruction teams," said the senior military official in Kabul.

But the other services have been reluctant to give up the PRT mission, and Mullen and the four service chiefs are scheduled to meet next week to discuss the issue.

[johndevinejr]

Obama was very clear in his intention to prosecute the war in Afghanastan. He has repeatedly stated that the war in Iraq was a mistake because it did not target our enemies.

There were no Taliban or Al Qaida in Iraq until we arrived. Had the incompetent Bush Administration had a plan for the war in Iraq things never would have gotten to this point.

And still the perpetrators of 9/11 are at large in Afghanastan and Pakistan. I believe that Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is right. We will need more troops there.
Unfortunately our resources are not what they should be, due to the incompetent republicans prosecuting a war in the wrong place for no reason. And the repetition of the previously failed "trickle up" repub economic theory.

This is another mess left behing by the repubs, that they would love to blame on Obama. It is just another republican failure, and a failure to accept responsibility for their never ending blunders.

[hungry1968-16]

by jgg00000008 July 11, 2009 8:33 AM PDT
you better buy a helmet because the first people we're coming after when we're drafted are morons like you! And the first place we'll look is under your bed!






Check with the VA. That's where you're more than likely to find me.

I've been a member since 1989, little girl.

[johndevinejr]

Looks like jgg0000..... is another brave repub, issuing electronic threats that they would never say face to face.

It is now as it always has been, the sons and daughters of Democrats are routinely sent off to war. The wealth republicans eschew to participate. This is what we Democrats call "elitest".

[YuSoWrong]

Was Eisenhower a Democrat?

[hankvreeland]

I heard much of this same talk in 1937 and 1938. We pulled back into our shell and woke astonished on December 7, 1941. In our hearts we knew what Hitler's and Tojo's intentions were. We know now that the Islamic extremists intend to destroy us. What goes around comes around.

[nextgenman09]

We know now that the Islamic extremists intend to destroy us.
-------
Yeah, all 10,000 of them. America is surely doomed.

[hankvreeland]

nextgenman09
I also heard comments similar to that years ago. I'm old enough and I have had a good enough life that I don't care what happens to me....or to you but I am concerned about my grandchildren.

[sdemaggie]

Just say NO!

[sean58z]

Barack Obama should protect the Farmers of Helmand. Their medicinal crops of poppies and cannabis are vital. The Felons infesting Afghanistan are deranged and perverse from extreme narcotics like isomized hashish, PCP ("T"), and psychosis-inducing mushrooms. They consider street heroin and methamphetamine to be "mild, party drugs". Technology and methodology are the real answers. Kabul needs every advantage to win this fight.

[WayAround]

From Fox News: "U.S. Moves Away From Afghanistan Drug Eradication"

Let's see, in Iraq, the American public was supposed to believe that U.S. troops were protecting the world from weapons of mass destruction. (What was the name of the British weapons inspector in Iraq who was suicided? Oh, yeah, Dr. David Kelly.)

Now, U.S. troops are *NOT* in Afghanistan to protect the world from heroin trafficking.

A recent survey of hotels worldwide concluded that French people, not Islamic fundamentalists, are the worst tourists.

SO WHY ARE COALITION FORCES IN IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, AND SOON-TO-BE POLAND AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC?

[billpl-2009]

"...AND SOON-TO-BE POLAND AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC?"

you forgot Utah.

[WayAround]

billpl-2009 wrote: "you forgot Utah"

[tongue-in-cheek] The U.S. is building the BS missile defense system in Utah, too?

[zeitmin77]

The Obama Administration is actually clueless in Afghanistan.It is only playing for time to benefit from some stroke of luck.The policy of reliance on Afghan forces looks wonderful on paper.Otherwise, it is an invitation to disaster because such forces will not stand up and fight the Taliban.

[mljohns00]

Afghan had better start growing more poppies to pay for all those troops.

[tautomer]

Does anyone think that training Muslim Armies is a good policy? Obama LOVES strengthening any Muslim country he can find, Somalia, Iraq, Afghansitan, Pakistan, the Palestinians. We really have to question his motives here.

[tautomer]

Obama and his cronies must have "misunderestimated" the task. Obama's cronies at Halliburton will be glad for the extra revenues.

Obama spends about 80 Billion/mo on his Military Machine. About $375 Billion so far. Total non-civilian casualties inflicted have been about 75! He's spending $5 Billion for every rag we grease!!! We've lost damned near as many of our guys, to boot!

The above costs don't even include Pakistan!

[nofoolling]

Of course you're exactly right. Obama is following the same "prolong the war" strategy of garnering profits for the same criminals that helped the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate start this entirely invented "War of Terror" we are conducting on the rest of the world.

Stop the war, start the war crime trials.

[vuenbelvue]

How much is it costing for each Taliban killed? $10 million? More? Less?
$3 billion to the African Muslins and then the U S State Department gives $700,000 to a study on how to save Babylon, 2,600 years of vandalism and we appropriate $700,000. How many Iraqi's are being given visa's by the patriotic employees of the Bagdag US Embasy to the YS monthly now?

[Questionews]

You have to wonder if the strategy planning taking place in the Pentagon are similar to the strategy planning that took place in the Kremlin 20 something years ago??

[nofoolling]

Our strategy is still the same strategy Darth the Cheney, God of Invented War cooked up with Haliburton; endless war for endless profits.

Stop the war, start the war crime trials.

[speakinup22]

"Our strategy is still the same strategy Darth the Cheney, God of Invented War cooked up with Haliburton; endless war for endless profits. Stop the war, start the war crime trials. nofoolling


More words from our desperate terrorist. Getting your butt kicked are you ?

[johndevinejr]

I have to wonder how anyone could be so stupid.

[Questionews]

The last group called it a surge!

[speakinup22]

Yeah - kinda makes you wonder if barry will vote present, or do the correct thing.