McChrystal's Frank Talk on Afghanistan

General Tells 60 Minutes U.S. Needs to "Deprogram" Bad Habits And Change How The War Is Fought

(CBS)  President Obama is rethinking his entire strategy in Afghanistan after the new commander there stunned the White House with a warning the war could be lost if he doesn't get more troops in the next 12 months. General Stanley McChrystal is up against an enemy that holds the initiative, and he's working with an Afghan government shot through with corruption.

Even with more troops, he warns, there has to be "a dramatic change in how we operate." That stark assessment comes from a man who is perhaps this country's most battle-hardened general and, according to those who have served with him, a one-of-a-kind commander.

60 Minutes and correspondent David Martin went to Afghanistan to spend a week with McChrystal as he races against the calendar. We found him to be blunt, hard charging and fed up with the way the U.S. has been fighting the war for the past eight years. His assessments are as close to an unvarnished war briefing as you're likely to get.

More from 60Minutes.com:
Impressions from Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Country Fast Facts
General McChrystal
McChrystal: Tough Guy
McChrystal: Bulletproof?
McChrystal And The President

Asked if things are better or worse than he expected, General McChrystal told Martin, "They are probably a little worse."

"What's worse than you thought?" Martin asked.

"Well, I think that in some areas that the breadth of violence, the geographic spread of violence, places to the north and to the west, are a little more than I would have gathered," McChrystal replied.

That violence is catalogued in the briefing books he scans every morning at his headquarters in Kabul. But he doesn't trust them to give him a real sense of what's happening out there amid all the ambushes and firefights. Two or three times each week he gets on a helicopter to see for himself.

"You can listen to every radio transmission, down to squad level, and you can watch from the Predator, you can see what's going on. But you can't kid yourself that you know what's going on. But there's a danger that you do, because you hear and you see it and you think 'Okay, I know.' But you're not on the ground with that guy. You don't feel it. You don't hear the bullets. You just can't make an assessment," McChrystal told Martin while they flew above the Afghan countryside.

Flying over terrain that has defeated invaders from the British to the Soviets, McChrystal knows he has to do more than just fine tune a strategy that after eight years of war appears on the brink of failure.

So he has issued a new directive on counterinsurgency operations, telling his troops in writing: "We must change the way we think, act and operate."

Protecting the Afghan people - many of them living in impoverished villages - is now more important than killing the enemy, even if that means taking more risks.

"The parents of kids over here can't be too happy to hear that the commander is telling them to accept more risk," Martin noted.

"This is something that takes a tremendous amount of understanding. What I'm really telling people is the greatest risk we can accept is to lose the support of the people here," McChrystal explained. "If the people are against us, we cannot be successful. If the people view us as occupiers and the enemy, we can't be successful and our casualties will go up dramatically."

[nflowers55]

I am trying to send a letter to General Stanley McChrystal. It will lift his moral and the moral of the troops, I hope.

Please send me his mailing address in Afghanistan or where ever I must send something to him, and also his email address. My address is: [e-mail], my name is Noreen E. Flowers. thanks.

[mary_henry]

Although I respect and agree with most of what General McChrystal had to say in this report one point he made has not left me all week:
"We had gotten to the point where the flags were at half mast all the time, and I believe that a force that's fighting a war can't spend all it's time looking back at what the costs have been. They've got to look ahead and they've got to have their confidence. And I thought it was important that the flags be up where they belong,"

First of all the soldiers in the battlefield do not forget for one second when they loose a commrade. We are not fooling them by "putting the flags where they belong" When a soldier is killed the flags belong at half staff. It is to honor the dead. If it gets to hard to look at flags that are not fully raised then maybe its time we go home. Its bad enough that most of our nation has forgotten that we are at war, the General and his staff should not forget for a moment of the ultimate sacrifice that these men and women have made.

[TxCharlie]

I can't BELIEVE Obama hasn't even talked to the General in MONTHS!!! What kind of idiot have we elected as President?

That is CRIMINAL - And may be costing lives.

Obama seems to have PLENTY of time to go overseas with Oprah to market Chicago for the Olympics, but he can't talk to his own Generals? Give me a friggin' break.

[actornaught]

by Alipaz September 29, 2009 11:29 AM EDT

Bless you, sir.

Thank you for expressing this. I hope you're getting any help you might need.

[kaylag04]

Like Bush 1 and the "100-hour war"; Like Clinton and Somalia; Like Bush/Rumsfeld and Afghanistan; Ignore the troops 'till you've checked the polling data - This is "Similarity You Can Believe In"

[Alipaz]

Finally, Finally, Finally,
Where was Gen. McCrystal when I needed him?
I deployed 2003-2005 to Iraq as a Truck Driver. I feel so compelled to write as the General's feelings mirror my own. My opinion and views were not very popular while I was there.
Where were you when I kept trying to prevent idiots from shooting puppies, just cause they could or driving down the freeways and purposely running families off the road with their huge trucks. Where were you when I was made fun of for caring about these people?
God Bless you Sir...What you are doing in Afganistan will not only re-write the ROE for the American Soldiers, but also gain you a place in History and most importantly in the afterlife. I still look at my own dogs, and my own family when they don't know that I am looking and my eyes water up and I have to find a place to hide this because I just can't explain it to them. I wake in the middle of the night and stare into the darkness and pray for someone do something. Thank You Sir!
Sincerely, SSG Alipaz, US Army National Guard.

[ramos1129]

I found the below on cnn.com:


"Why are we in Afghanistan? Why does it matter? What is the mission? What are the costs? Are we willing to bear them and for how long? And are any allies with us, and how long are they going to be with us?

"These are all questions he has to address, persuade the American people it's in our national security interests to do this, and then commit the resources necessary to carry it out," he said."

Former SecDef Cohen makes excellent sense. We have already paid a terrible price in Iraq, a war of choice, and are repeating the experience in Afgan. Either we are briefed on the true costs, lives and suffering by both US and Afgan people, loss of international prestige, all of these things or we are not. The question is, Are we willing to pay the price and what for?
Obama must answer these questions and not use facts that prove to be false later on.

[nocatnowaco]

to fight and win war over terrorism is like to fight and win war over communism. americans lost the vietnam war and millions of cambodians and vietnameses and laosians lost their lives afterward; the world still has not learned that munch from it and we, especially the afgan government with corruptions problems, do not want to see another killing field in the 21st century. the new strategy to win the hearts and souls of the people will take more man power and time; we need to win convincing the people, not just afgan people, that americans and the west are their friends, not the enemies as have been portrayed by the enemies' propaganda. thanks to all who serve to keep us safe. long live peace, prosperity, freedom and democracy; we the people can not live without them.

[SunDog8259]

I think we are trying to "make a silk purse out of a sows ear" in that country. Afghans are traders, illiterate nomads and farmers loyal only to their clan and their religion, not to us. We don't think at all like they do, and we can't make them into US Marines in 6 months. Anyway the terrorists can come from other countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, the UK or even Canada or Mexico -- they don't "need bases in Afghanistan to train." Like someone on this board said "winning their [Afghan] hearts and minds is more important", but that's a tall order. Then there is the issue of growing opium. I say let's save face and get out while the getting is good or we risk get bogged down like the Soviets did!

[RuthCalabria]

THE POLITICS OF MONEY

With the nonsense about it spouted on TV clarified

With the concepts of entropy and information

And with a personal story of judicial conspiracy and contradiction

That makes clear that we live, not in a just democracy,

But in a kingdom of clever liars and thieves

By The Calabria Family, ©, Ruth Calabria, Sept. 27, 2009, Lubbock, Texas, Contact: [e-mail].

[NewYork-Joey]

Your poem is atrocious.....why would you attach your name to this ?

[dstaszak]

Is it may imagination or are the questions on 60 Minutes getting softer and softer.

Regarding your interview last night with General McChrystal, rather than talking to him about his jogging habits and his affinity for high tech conferencing there were a whole list of cogent questions that you failed to ask.

Why didn?t you ask him to explain the mission in Afghanistan vis-a-vie the Al-Qaida threat?
Relative to Al-Qaida where is the threat more direct, in Afghanistan of or in Pakistan?
What exactly does the US have to fear from the Taliban?
Why didn?t you ask him to comment on the opinions of Rory Stewart who famously walked across Afghanistan and thinks that we defining our mission too broadly?
How about asking him if the 20,000 troops that he is asking for is what he needs to get the job done or is it the most he thinks he can get?

Please stop being the People Magazine of the Air and get back to the 60 Minutes that had the ability to shake up the political environment.

[pigsinlipstick]

WAR IS THE EVIL OFFSHOOT OF CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICAL OUT

OF CONTROL REPUBLI'CON' EXTREMISM ,


TIME TO END THIS IDIOTS WAR TO NOWHERE

[piercetheval]

...I'll tell you w3hat AMERICA needs to do about Foungoulastan...get the **** out NOW!

[edgy44]

Move the troops from Korea there. They are on R&R anyway. Get all the troops out of Japan and Germany and move them to Afghanistan. We have plenty of troops, but they are all shacked-up at R&R bases in the rear.

[AOCGUY]

How many of you posting on this site have actually read Gen McChrystal's report to the Chairman? It is fairly long and not the easist read but he and his staff have done a good analysis of the reality on the ground and provided reasonable arguments for his reccommendations. There are some portions that have been redacted (probably for security reasons) but I reccomend reading the report before trying to arm-chair quarterback the guy resposnible for running this operation.

[edgy44]

I've read the report. Nowhere in it does the word warlord appear. In savage populations, you have chiefs, or warlords who peasants depend on for all their requirements. We need to empower the warlords, and they will go with the flow. You fight with the warlords, then you fight with the savages who will protect them.

[blatzrox]

I don't know what Obama's plan is for Afghanistan, but he needs to give the generals what they need! They know how to fight the war, not the stupid politicians! The politicians need to stay out of the war! They aren't the ones putting their lives on the line everyday! What is wrong with you people in Washington You're all wimpy!The USA can't quit! There are nukes in Pakistan, dummy! Get a grip in Washington. The World is a dangerous place! Act like a leader, Obama!

[pcevet4]

Is this war so vital to our nation interests as to draft the gamers, the slackers and the texters so that these soldiers and Marines are not sent back for multiple combat tours when they still have PTSD from the first one?

[nestofkin]

The main reason for the existence of the taiban is to resist the occupation.As long as we are there.the taliban will always be alive.Let the boys come back as soon as possible.Let the afghans sort themselves out.we can monitor the taliban activities through sophisticated means of espionage.

[G-I_Jesus]

Traffic Cops

Who are you fighting General? The Taliban terrorists or those who don't support the war?

[govtguy]

Here's a career officer who has his heart, mind, and soul wrapped into his job; sadly he will be disregarded by his "superiors", ignored by the American public, and then removed from his job as he was either too aggressive, or not politically aggressive enough. The media was promoting political correctness and trying to ignite a popularity confrontation, neither of which worked. If Pres Obama's handlers would allow it, he and McChrystal need to be talking at least once a week, not when it is convenient for the presidential staffers. Give the guy and the troops a break, give them the equipment and manpower to get the job done NOW then get home. Good job General, keep up the heat!