McChrystal: Winning Over Afghans a Must

The debate over how best to prosecute the faltering Afghan war effort moved from the White House Situation Room to London on Thursday as U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal warned Britain that success is not guaranteed.

McChrystal, whose frank warning to President Barack Obama has raised grave doubts about whether the Taliban insurgency can be repelled, told British academics and reporters that the current coalition strategy is not winning over the Afghan people.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan said conventional tactics, including the focus on force protection, has prevented Western troops from convincing Afghans that the U.S.-led coalition forces are on their side and are committed for the long haul. He said the military must change the way it operates or face defeat.

"At the end of the day we don't win by destroying the Taliban," he said at the prestigious International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank. "We don't win by body count. We don't win by the number of successful military raids or attacks. We win when the people decide we win."

CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan

The blunt four-star general has made waves in Washington and London with his downbeat assessment of the eight-year effort to keep Afghanistan from becoming - again - a safe haven for Taliban extremists and their al Qaeda allies, who used it as a base while planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

With the support of top Pentagon officials, McChrystal is seeking a substantial number of additional troops for the war effort. He said Thursday that more troops would "buy time" as Afghan military and police forces are improved with an eye toward taking control of security by 2013.

But it is not clear if Mr. Obama backs this plan. He has begun a series of at least five top-level meetings to review all policy options, including those recommended by McChrystal. There are signs of a split among Obama's top advisers, with some concerned about plummeting public support for a prolonged conflict.

McChrystal said the war is vital because there is a "huge risk" that the Taliban insurgency could again make the country safe for al Qaeda's leadership.

"We went there to destroy al Qaeda, and to a great degree that has happened," he said. "Now we are preventing its return."

But military and political leaders had been slow to react in recent years because they failed to recognize the strength of the resurgent Taliban and did not understand the real threat posed by the insurgent movement, he said.

"Why isn't the situation better after eight years?" he said. "Afghans' expectations have not been met. It took longer to see the insurgency as serious. We've been under-resourced and we've underperformed. And we are physically and psychologically distanced from the people we went to protect. We must think in a fundamentally new way."

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Read McChrystal's report