[Peace-discuss] War will go on, regardless

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Plans for the continuing Mideast war go on, without reference to the election, 
because it has been arranged that both candidates support the war (one somewhat 
more disingenuously than the other).  Since policy is insulated from politics, 
the planning for the continuation of the war goes on, as below.  --CGE]


	U.S.'s Top Military Officer Calls for Better Strategy in Afghanistan
	Mullen Says Victory Is Possible but Will Require
	More U.S. Troops and Involvement
	By Ann Scott Tyson
	Washington Post Staff Writer
	Wednesday, September 10, 2008; 12:37 PM

The nation's top military officer today offered a blunt assessment of the war in 
Afghanistan, saying that although victory is possible, the current strategy is 
not necessarily leading in that direction.

"I am not convinced that we're winning it in Afghanistan," said Adm. Michael 
Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but added, "I'm convinced we can."

Mullen called for a "more comprehensive" strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, 
warning that an intensifying insurgency there urgently requires more U.S. troops 
and greater U.S. military involvement in cross-border tribal areas. As 
insurgents grow more sophisticated, coordinated and brazen, launching 
"infantry-like attacks," the risk of not sending more troops is "too great a 
risk to ignore," he said.

"Frankly, we are running out of time," Mullen said in testimony before the House 
Armed Services Committee this morning. He said the new influx of U.S. forces 
into Afghanistan announced yesterday by President Bush -- an Army brigade and 
Marine battalion with a total of about 4,500 troops -- remained inadequate to 
meet the demands of commanders there, but was "a good start."

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates also warned in testimony of the "greater 
ambition" of insurgents in Afghanistan and said that attacks there had increased 
steadily since the spring of 2006, resulting partly from insurgent safe havens 
in Pakistan. He noted that the total number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has 
grown from 21,000 in 2006 to nearly 31,000 today.

The strategy Mullen said he intends to commission would broaden the current 
approach by addressing both sides of the rugged border between Afghanistan and 
Pakistan, and by stressing not only the U.S. military role but also civilian 
efforts that he said are critical to success.

Afghanistan and Pakistan "are inextricably linked in a common insurgency that 
crosses the border between them," Mullen said.

On Pakistan, Mullen said in extensive meetings this year he has "pressed hard" 
on Pakistani military leaders to do more against insurgents in tribal areas and 
to allow the U.S. military to become more involved in helping them.

"Until we work more closely with the Pakistani government to eliminate the safe 
havens from which they operate, they enemy will only keep coming," he said. The 
U.S. military in recent months has intensified its unilateral attacks on 
insurgent safe havens in Pakistan, using artillery and other munitions fired 
from unmanned drones as well as, recently, according to Pakistani officials, 
U.S. military air assault by helicopter into Pakistan's South Waziristan.

Yet even with a better coordinated regional military strategy, Mullen stressed 
that U.S. forces can only do so much in pacifying the area. "No amount of troops 
in no amount of time can ever achieve all the objectives we seek," he said, 
adding later: "We can't kill our way to victory."

Greater efforts by U.S. civilian agencies of government and the international 
community are essential, Mullen said. For example, he criticized the shortage of 
civilian personnel in Provincial Reconstruction Teams in Afghanistan, saying 
that without more experts in agriculture, education, commerce and jurisprudence, 
the PRTs "will remain but empty shells."

Gates also underscored that civilian efforts "must be on the same page" as those 
of the military. "I am still not satisfied with the level of coordination and 
collaboration" on reconstruction and building capacity of the Afghan government, 
he said.

Although the hearing focused on Afghanistan, both Gates and Mullen said that the 
situation in Iraq remains uncertain and could require more forces in the future. 
"I worry that the great progress" by U.S. and Iraqi forces could override 
caution and lead to a too-rapid drawdown, said Gates, noting that U.S. 
commanders in Iraq remain concerned about "many challenges and potential for 
reversals in the future."

In sum, Gates said, "we should expect to be involved in Iraq for years to come."

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