[Peace-discuss] One lies & the others swear to it

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Gates, Clinton, and Mullen defend Afghanistan plan to Congress
	By Roxana Tiron - 12/02/09 10:59 AM ET

High-ranking administration officials Wednesday warned Congress there would be 
severe consequences if the Taliban and al Qaeda aren’t defeated in South Asia.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, 
and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen fired the opening 
salvos in what is expected to be an intense congressional debate over a war that 
has lost the support of the American public.

The trio faced the Senate Armed Services Committee the day after President 
Barack Obama’s speech outlining his Afghanistan strategy. They will testify 
before more congressional panels later Wednesday and again on Thursday.

Mullen told the committee that South Asia is “the epicenter of global Islamic 
extremism.”

“The challenges we face in Afghanistan and Pakistan are great, and our interests 
there are significant,” Mullen said in his testimony.

“If the United States should be hit again, I remain convinced that the planning, 
training and funding for such an attack will emanate there,” he added.

Obama announced on Tuesday he will send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to 
Afghanistan, some as early as the end of the year. The president also announced 
his goal of beginning a U.S. troop withdrawal by the summer of 2011.

Gates told senators that failure in Afghanistan would mean a Taliban takeover of 
much, if not most, of the country and “likely a renewed civil war.” He called 
the current security deterioration in Afghanistan and the growing influence of 
the Taliban “unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, Clinton sought to tone down the public perception of the situation in 
Afghanistan. While she called it “serious” she said that in her view it is not 
“as negative as frequently portrayed in the public.”

Gates was left to defend the withdrawal timeline set to begin in July 2011. 
Obama’s presidential rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), lamented the “arbitrary” 
deadline, which is not based on conditions on the ground in Afghanistan.

Gates, who is in front of Congress defending the second surge of his tenure, 
stressed that the United States will thin its forces in Afghanistan as it turns 
over more districts and more provinces to Afghans. The transition will first 
start in “uncontested areas” and will ensure that the Afghans are capable of 
taking care of their own security.

“We are not going to throw these guys in the swimming pool and walk away,” Gates 
said.

He said that the transfer of security responsibility to the Afghans in summer 
2011 is “critical,” and in his view “achievable.”

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, raised 
concern about the rapid deployment of a large number of troops without enough 
Afghan forces to partner with, because there is a shortage in Afghan troops.

Mullen stressed that by mid-2011 the military leaders will know whether forces 
in Afghanistan will succeed. He said the date is not arbitrary but reflects the 
two years the Marines would have operated in the Helmand province, a Taliban 
stronghold.

The 30,000 additional forces will be deployed and concentrated in the southern 
and eastern parts of Afghanistan. Mullen said that the top U.S. general in 
Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, will use the additional troops to conduct “more 
focused counterinsurgency operations that enhance population security against 
the Taliban in south and east Afghanistan.”

Clinton said the U.S. government is on track to triple the number of civilian 
positions in Afghanistan to 974 by early next year. The U.S. government will 
also support an Afghan-led effort to “open the door to those Taliban who abandon 
violence and want to reintegrate into Afghan society.”

“The essence of our civil-military plan is to clear, hold, build and transfer,” 
Gates said during his testimony.

Mullen said he expected to see headway in Afghanistan in the next 18-24 months.

“No commitment of additional force in the number we plan for Afghanistan is 
without risk,” Mullen said. “The Joint Chiefs and I assess the risks to our 
military forces and our military missions, at home and abroad, from this force 
deployment decision to be acceptable.”