DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY October 21, 2010 - McChrystal Sees Slower Pace For Kandahar Operation (DTN's Archive)

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY October 21, 2010 - McChrystal Sees Slower Pace For Kandahar Operation (DTN's Archive)

Source: By Adam Entous and David Brunnstrom June 10, 2010 - Reuters

(NSI News Source Info) BRUSSELS- October 21, 2010: A long-awaited military campaign in the Taliban's birthplace Kandahar, due to begin in earnest this month, will now unfold more slowly than planned, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan said on Thursday.

Citing shortcomings that set back the last big U.S.-led offensive in neighboring Helmand province, General Stanley McChrystal said he wanted more time to shore up Afghan support for the Kandahar campaign and to prepare local authorities to provide government services when security improves.

The decision to move more slowly on what has been billed as the biggest operation of the nearly nine-year-old war adds to doubt about what can be achieved by this year's end, when the White House is holding a review and demanding signs of progress.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said gains would need to be seen by then in order to maintain public support for the war in NATO countries, which has eroded as the death toll has soared. At least 17 foreign troops have been killed this week.

The massive military operation in Kandahar is the linchpin of McChrystal's strategy to turn the tide this year, using the bulk of 30,000 reinforcements sent by U.S. President Barack Obama in a final "surge" of extra troops announced in December.

U.S. commanders had initially seen the main thrust of military operations in Kandahar running from this month to the beginning of August, before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according to an internal schedule seen by Reuters in March.

"I do think that it will happen more slowly than we had originally intended," McChrystal told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels. "But I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I think it's more important we get it right than we get it fast."

He did not detail a revised Kandahar schedule, but said it would take a number of months "for this to play out," with "significant" operations now expected to continue after Ramadan.

Asked if the United States would know by the year-end whether the operation in Kandahar was successful, McChrystal said: "I think we'll know whether it's progressing ... I don't know whether we'll know whether it is decisive."

NOT FALTERING

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen brushed aside suggestions the campaign was faltering. The alliance was "making a lot of progress" although member-states should be ready for a "very tough time in the coming weeks and months" as extra troops pour into Taliban strongholds in the south, he said.

Obama has embraced a counterinsurgency strategy devised by McChrystal last year that aims to push the Taliban from key population centres. But in agreeing to send McChrystal extra troops, the White House also set a goal of starting a gradual drawdown in July 2011, making the next 12 months critical.

McChrystal said he wants to make sure local leaders are on board before launching the Kandahar operation.

"We really want the people to understand and literally pull the operation toward them as opposed to feel as though they are being forced with something they didn't want," he said.

The changes in Kandahar plans also reflect lessons learned by the U.S. military during the offensive earlier this year in Marjah, a rural area of Helmand, the biggest operation of the war so far, which proved more difficult than expected.

"More prep" would have helped in Marjah, particularly when it came to ensuring Afghans were ready to step in and provide government services, McChrystal said. "As we did it, we found that it's even more complex than we thought, and so we need to educate ourself from that and do it even better in Kandahar."

McChrystal said he still envisaged a gradual campaign in Kandahar aimed at delivering security and governance, as opposed to one big military assault.

"We are already in the process of doing political and military shaping but ... I think that the timing in which we can be decisive in the environs around the city will probably happen more deliberately than we had originally laid out."

The fragility of the security situation in Kandahar was underscored on Wednesday when at least 40 people were killed by a suicide bomb attack on a wedding party north of Kandahar city.

McChrystal said the growth of Afghan security forces has accelerated and the quality of recruits has improved, although some experts dispute that. Rasmussen called for NATO members to help fill a shortfall in trainers for Afghan forces, saying they were key to transferring authority to the Afghans.

*THIS ARTICLE IS BEING POSTED FROM TORONTO, CANADA BY DTN NEWS ~ DEFENSE-TECHNOLOGY NEWS, CONTACT:DTNNEWS@YMAIL.COM

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DTN News: US Afghan Commander Stanley McChrystal Fired By Obama

DTN News: US Afghan Commander Stanley McChrystal Fired By Obama

Source: DTN News / BBC News

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - June 23, 2010: The top US military commander in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley McChrystal, has been dismissed by President Barack Obama over comments made in a magazine. He will be replaced by Gen David Petraeus, who led the "surge" in Iraq. Mr Obama insisted it was "a change in personnel but not a change in policy". In a statement, Gen McChrystal said he was leaving because of a "desire to see the mission succeed". He agreed that his statements in Rolling Stone showed "poor judgement". The announcement that Gen McChrystal was standing down came after he had met Mr Obama at the White House on Wednesday. Mr Obama said he had made the decision as Gen McChrystal had failed to "meet the standard that should be set by a commanding general". He insisted: "I don't make this decision based on any difference in policy with General McChrystal, nor on any personal insult."'Poor judgement' Afghan President Hamid Karzai had indicated he did not want Gen McChrystal replaced, with a spokesman describing him as the best commander in nine years of US military operations in Afghanistan. Gen McChrystal quickly apologised for the magazine article, The Runaway General, written by Michael Hastings and due out on Friday, extending his "sincerest apology" and saying it showed a lack of integrity. The wide-ranging article quoted Gen McChrystal and his aides openly criticising senior members of the Obama administration. "It was a mistake reflecting poor judgement and should never have happened," he said. At the White House on Wednesday, Gen McChrystal was due to face those he and his aides had criticised at the administration's monthly meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday. The officials included: **Joe Biden. Gen McChrystal had mocked the vice-president when asked a question about him. "Are you asking about Vice-President Biden? Who's that?" **Karl Eikenberry. Gen McChrystal said he felt "betrayed" by the US ambassador to Kabul during the long 2009 White House debate on troop requests for Afghanistan **James Jones. One of Gen McChrystal's aides says the national security adviser is a "clown... stuck in 1985" **Richard Holbrooke. Gen McChrystal says of an e-mail from the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan: "Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke... I don't even want to open it"

DTN News: 'Angry' Obama Summons McChrystal Over Scathing Interview

DTN News: 'Angry' Obama Summons McChrystal Over Scathing Interview

Source: DTN News / AFP

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - June 22, 2010: The future of the US military commander in Afghanistan hung in the balance Tuesday over a damaging interview in which he and top aides mocked and criticized the Obama administration. General Stanley McChrystal was summoned to the White House on Wednesday to explain himself as President Barack Obama weighed two difficult options, firing a general at a critical moment or tolerating defiance from a top commander. The unflattering article in Rolling Stone magazine brought to the surface lingering tensions between McChrystal and the White House just as the US deploys 30,000 more troops to the war now in its ninth year. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama was "angry" when he read the article late Monday, and refused to rule out that the commander-in-chief would sack McChrystal for what amounted to insubordination. "General McChrystal has fought bravely on behalf of this country for a long time. Nobody could or should take that away from him, and nobody will," Gibbs said. "But there has clearly been an enormous mistake in judgment to which he's going to have to answer to." After issuing a groveling apology, McChrystal planned to rush back from Kabul to attend in person Wednesday's monthly war briefing -- normally a video-conference that he hooks up to from his Kabul headquarters. "I have recalled General McChrystal to Washington to discuss this in person," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates in a terse statement. "I believe that General McChrystal made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment in this case." In the profile entitled "The Runaway General," McChrystal aides mock Vice President Jose Biden, call the president's national security adviser "a clown," and say the general was "disappointed" by his first meeting with Obama. McChrystal himself is quoted as saying he felt "betrayed" by US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, a former commander in Afghanistan who raised pointed objections to his onetime subordinate's war strategy. An unnamed McChrystal adviser says in the article that the general came away unimpressed after meeting with Obama in the Oval Office a year ago. "It was a 10-minute photo op," the general's adviser says. "Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was... he didn't seem very engaged." Leaving McChrystal with yet more explaining to do when he meets Obama face-to-face on Wednesday, the article quotes unnamed sources saying he thought the president looked "uncomfortable and intimidated" at an initial meeting with top brass. McChrystal issued a statement late Monday apologizing for his remarks and one of his media officers, a civilian, has already resigned over the episode, but the fallout is unlikely to stop there. "The magnitude and graveness of this mistake are profound," said Gibbs. Three leading hawks in Congress condemned the general's remarks, with Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, along with independent Joe Lieberman, saying McChrystal's comments were "inconsistent with the traditional relationship between commander-in-chief and the military." But the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, said the article pointed to personality differences and "do not reflect differences in policy on prosecuting the war." Prompting concerns about strains in civilian-military relations, McChrystal already received a dressing down from Obama last year over his remarks at a London conference in which he appeared to reject Biden's argument in favor of fewer troops in Afghanistan. In the article McChrystal pretended to rehearse an answer to questions referring to the vice president. "'Are you asking about Vice President Biden?' McChrystal says with a laugh. 'Who's that?'" the article quotes him as saying. "'Biden?' suggests a top adviser. 'Did you say: Bite Me?'" In Kabul, Eikenberry said through a spokeswoman that he remains "fully committed" to working with McChrystal, despite the scathing criticism. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen also backed McChrystal, with his spokesman saying: "The Rolling Stone article is rather unfortunate, but it is just an article. "We are in the middle of a very real conflict, and the Secretary General has full confidence in General McChrystal as the NATO commander, and in his strategy."

LATEST HEADLINES **'Angry' Obama summons McChrystal over scathing interview AFP **Obama vows no backtracking on health care, unveils new rules AFP **Obama, Karzai agree on need for 'tough decisions' on corruption AFP **McChrystal told to explain himself to Obama The Canadian Press **Obama to warn U.S. health insurers against rate jumps Reuters

DTN News: U.S. Releases Uruzgan Investigation Findings ~ Afghanistan

DTN News: U.S. Releases Uruzgan Investigation Findings ~ Afghanistan

Source: DTN News / Military World

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 30, 2010: US Forces-Afghanistan released its findings today from the investigation into the Feb. 21 civilian casualty incident that killed up to 23 Afghans and injured 12 others in Uruzgan Province. The extensive investigation report submitted to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Commander NATO ISAF/U.S. Forces-Afghanistan cites several shortcomings in training, communication and decision-making, and offered numerous recommendations. Gen. McChrystal has directed that certain actions be pursued immediately. "Our most important mission here is to protect the Afghan people; inadvertently killing or injuring civilians is heartbreaking and undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will do all we can to regain that trust," he said. The investigation, led by U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Timothy McHale, Deputy Commander for Support, U.S. Forces Afghanistan, reviewed the actions of a U.S. Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) unit and its higher headquarters, coalition aircraft, and support provided by U.S. Air Force Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) personnel. The report concluded that three vehicles carrying more than 30 civilians were mistaken for an insurgent convoy and engaged by coalition aircraft. The ODA ground force commander believed the vehicles contained a group of insurgents attempting to execute a flanking maneuver to reinforce insurgents in his area. Gen. McChrystal, who offered a personal apology to the Afghan people and met with President Hamid Karzai immediately following the Feb. 21 incident, briefed President Karzai on the findings of the investigation earlier this week. "This was a deeply regrettable incident and I share the sadness felt by the people of Afghanistan over this loss of innocent life," said President Karzai. "General McChrystal pledged to me that the most exhaustive investigation would be conducted to determine what happened and why, and I believe this has been done. I am also confident that appropriate actions are being taken with regard to those involved in the incident, and most importantly, to ensure measures are taken to prevent such accidents from happening again." Investigation recommendations approved by Gen. McChrystal entail actions to be taken in pre-deployment training, as well as the conduct of operations in Afghanistan. * U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM), which is responsible for pre-deployment training at individuals' and units' home stations, will review and implement several changes in training. These include a rigorous series of challenging Counterinsurgency (COIN) training scenarios, use of case studies and vignettes to better educate and train for leading COIN operations, and standardization of terminology for use in the highly-stressed operational environment, which will be reinforced in pre-deployment training. * ISAF Joint Command (IJC) and the U.S. Forces-Afghanistan J7 Training Directorate will develop a Mobile Training Team to evaluate and train unit command posts in the field on COIN operations, and develop an ongoing program to better educate and train for leading COIN operations. This will include intensive training on the process of identifying and engaging combatants in accordance with Rules of Engagement and Tactical Directives that govern operational conduct. * All units identified in the report are also directed to incorporate or retrain on the appropriate procedures for Civilian Casualty reporting. "As partners with the Afghan people in our mission, we must always be honest with ourselves about what we do well and what we can do better," said Gen. McChrystal. "When we make a mistake, we must be forthright and we must do everything in our power to correct that mistake. I know our actions following this thorough investigation will help us to prevent mishaps that result in harm to the people we are sworn to protect." The recommendations of the investigation report are responsive to findings of deficiencies that contributed to the accident. These included: Although the ground force commander displayed tactical patience in letting the situation develop for several hours before the engagement, the UAV crew provided inaccurate reporting and in-country command posts failed to properly analyze the situation. The ground force commander lacked a clear understanding of who was in the vehicles, the location, direction of travel and likely course of action of those vehicles. Poorly functioning higher headquarters command posts failed to provide the ground force commander with the evidence and analysis that the vehicles were not a hostile threat. Information that the convoy was anything other than an attacking force was ignored or downplayed by UAV personnel. Following a review of Maj. Gen. McHale's investigation, Gen. McChrystal issued General Officer Memoranda of Reprimand (GOMOR) to four officers, including senior leaders at the Battalion and Brigade level. The GOMORs, while administrative in nature, may be placed in the official record of each of these officers once they have had a chance to respond. Gen. McChrystal also issued Memoranda of Admonishment to two junior officers involved, which will remain in their local file. Also included among recommendations adopted by Gen. McChrystal is a request to Headquarters, U.S. Air Force to develop command level guidance on tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) regarding employment of Remote Pilot Vehicles. He also requested an Air Force investigation of the assessments made and actions taken by the specific UAV crew involved.

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

DTN News: Afghan Commission Says 30 Civilians Killed In NATO Strike

DTN News: Afghan Commission Says 30 Civilians Killed In NATO Strike

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) BRUSSELS, Belgium - September 14, 2009: An Afghan government-appointed commission says 30 Afghan civilians were killed and nine wounded in a NATO air strike earlier this month in the northern province of Kunduz.

German ISAF soldiers gather after returning back to their base in Feyzabad, east of Kunduz, Afghanistan, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009.

One investigator in the commission, Mohammadullah Baktash, says 69 Taliban also were killed when a German commander ordered the strike on Taliban militants who had seized two fuel trucks.

Initial NATO investigations had already indicated that civilians were among the victims. The commander of the NATO mission, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, has appointed a board to conduct a thorough investigation into the events that led to the strike.

In related news, Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says his goal during the next four years is to lay the foundations to withdraw foreign forces from Afghanistan.

German media Sunday quoted Steinmeier as saying he is developing an exit strategy. He did not provide details or dates for withdrawal. Germans go to the polls to select a new government September 27.

DTN News: British Commandos Rescue New York Times Reporter In Afghanistan, Afghan Translator Dies

DTN News: British Commandos Rescue New York Times Reporter In Afghanistan, Afghan Translator Dies *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - September 10, 2009: During the first two days of captivity, The New York Times reporter and his Afghan translator were optimistic about being released. Then more Taliban came to the hide-out and taunted the captives about an Italian journalist who was freed while his Afghan interpreter was beheaded. The menace grew - until British commandos launched a rescue raid. The reporter survived; his Afghan colleague died in a volley of gunfire as he shouted "Journalist! Journalist!" Four others, including a British soldier, also were killed. (Image: Stephen Farrell, a reporter for The New York Times, is shown in Iraq on July 16, 2007.) Stephen Farrell, who was not injured in the rescue Wednesday, is one of a half-dozen foreign journalists to be kidnapped in Afghanistan over the last several years. His Times colleague, David Rohde, was abducted by militants south of Kabul last November and eventually escaped his captors while being held in Pakistan. The kidnappings illustrate some of the obstacles for reporters in covering an increasingly lethal war. August saw a record number of U.S. troops die in combat, and bombings wounded three journalists embedded with them: two from The Associated Press and one from CBS Radio News. Farrell, 46, exposed himself to a different danger. He and his 34-year-old translator, Sultan Munadi, ventured without military escort to the site of a NATO airstrike on two hijacked fuel tankers in a Taliban-controlled area of northern Afghanistan to interview villagers about civilian casualties from the attack. It was an important story. The top NATO commander, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, had made protecting Afghan civilians a top priority, and there were conflicting claims of how many civilians had died in the bombing Friday. Police had warned reporters of the dangers of travelling to the village in Kunduz province, and other Western journalists, including some from the AP, went there in the company of NATO forces. New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said reporters in the field are allowed a great deal of leeway, and that they are the best ones to judge the level of risk. He added that the newspaper would carry out a security review after the latest abduction. The Times reported that while Farrell and Munadi were interviewing Afghans on Saturday near the site of the airstrike, an old man approached and warned them to leave. Soon after, gunshots rang out and people shouted that Taliban fighters were approaching. Across the Kunduz river, a group of about 10 militants with Kalashnikovs and machine-guns were running toward them. The Taliban captured the journalists. Their driver fled and notified Farrell's colleagues in Kabul. The Times kept the kidnappings quiet out of concern for the men's safety, and other media organizations, including the AP, did not report the abductions. According to Farrell's account in the Times, the captors moved the two men several times and eventually put them in a tiny room. On the third day, some new fighters, apparently more senior Taliban figures from elsewhere in Afghanistan, arrived and discussed moving their hostages out of the Kunduz area. Afghan officials believed the two Times journalists were originally held by a Mullah Qadir, but were handed off to a commander Mullah Salaam and held in the village of Ghor Tepa, said Lt. Gen. Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, an Afghan army investigator sent to Kunduz by President Hamid Karzai to look into the case. The Times reported that the militants taunted Munadi, reminding him of the case in 2007 when kidnappers released Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo but beheaded his translator and another Afghan colleague. Farrell, an experienced reporter who was once held captive in Iraq, thought the atmosphere turned menacing. Before dawn on Wednesday, they could hear helicopters approaching. "We were all in a room, the Talibs all ran, it was obviously a raid," the Times quoted Farrell as saying. The militants scattered, though one returned and tipped his gun toward them and then left again without firing. After a while, Farrell and Munadi went out into a courtyard. With Munadi in front, they ran in the dark along the compound's high mud-brick wall. They heard British and Afghan voices - and a flurry of bullets. After moving along the wall for about 60 feet (18 metres), Munadi raised his hands, walked into the open and shouted, "Journalist! Journalist!" "He was three seconds away from safety," Farrell was quoted as saying. "I thought we were safe. He just walked into a hail of bullets." Farrell, a dual Irish-British citizen, said he then dived into a ditch. For the next couple of minutes, he focused on the British voices. Then he shouted: "British hostage! British hostage!" The British voices told him to come near, and that's when he said he saw Munadi. "He was lying in the same position as he fell," Farrell told the Times. "That's all I know. I saw him go down in front of me. He did not move. He's dead. He was so close; he was just two feet in front of me when he dropped." A British commando also died in the firefight. Also killed were a Taliban commander, the owner of the house in which the captives were held, and an unidentified woman, said Mohammad Sami Yowar, a spokesman for the Kunduz governor. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the operation was carried out after "extensive planning and consideration," and that those involved knew the high risks. Brown called the mission "breathtaking heroism." Keller said he had understood from the military officials that they did not intend to conduct a raid unless the situation turned "particularly menacing and they had actionable intelligence and a high probability of success." Keller said he did not know what triggered the decision to carry out the raid, but that Farrell told him the situation had turned "menacing." Keller said it was possible the militants may have planned to move the hostages, and said he would not second-guess the military's decision to take action. Late Wednesday, Afghan journalists who work for international news outlets gathered at Munadi's house in Kabul for an Islamic prayer. The family buried Munadi without having the body examined to help determine if British bullets or Taliban gunfire killed him. A British defence official said he couldn't rule out the possibility he was killed by British gunfire. Munadi, a married father of two, was first employed by the Times in 2002, according to his colleagues. He left the company a few years later to work for a radio station. Last year he travelled to Germany to study for a master's degree. He returned to Kabul last month to see his family and agreed to accompany Farrell to Kunduz on a freelance basis. In a Times Web blog this month, Munadi wrote that he would never leave Afghanistan permanently and that "being a journalist is not enough; it will not solve the problems of Afghanistan. I want to work for the education of the country, because the majority of people are illiterate." "And if I leave this country, if other people like me leave this country, who will come to Afghanistan?" he wrote. "Will it be the Taliban who come to govern this country? That is why I want to come back, even if it means cleaning the streets of Kabul." Farrell joined the Times in 2007 in Baghdad, and has covered both the Afghan and Iraq conflicts for the newspaper. He was briefly held hostage in Iraq in 2004, when he was working for The Times of London. Militants questioned him and freelance U.S. journalist Orly Halpern for about seven hours before letting them go, he was quoted as saying afterward. At least 16 Afghan and foreign journalists have been kidnapped in Afghanistan since January 2002, according to Reporters Without Borders.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY September 5, 2009 ~ NATO Raid Kills 90 In Afghanistan, World Urges Probe Into Incident

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY September 5, 2009 ~ NATO Raid Kills 90 In Afghanistan, World Urges Probe Into Incident

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) BRUSSELS, Belgium - September 5, 2009: World leaders call for a NATO probe into an air strike in Afghanistan, which resulted in 90 civilian causalities, as the incident could trigger a backlash against foreign troops.

A German KZO drone, or unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicle, takes off from the German base outside Kunduz, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 4, 2009. NATO jets blasted two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban outside Kunduz, setting off a huge fireball Friday that killed up to 90 people, Afghan officials said.

"I am very concerned by the reports we have seen this morning of casualties among civilians from an air strike against stolen trucks in Aliabad district of Kunduz Province," deputy UN envoy in Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith, remarked.

The United Nation official went on to add, "As an immediate priority, everything possible must be done to ensure that people wounded by this attack are being properly cared for and that families of the deceased are getting all the help they need."

This is while the Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday described the loss of civilian lives in any form as 'unacceptable'.

He underscored that representatives from the Interior Ministry and National Directorate of Security are commissioned to investigate how the incident took place. Moreover, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen also pledged to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the lethal attack.

"The Afghan people should know that we are clearly committed to protecting them and that we will fully and immediately investigate this incident," Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for an 'urgent investigation' into the NATO air strike that killed as many as 90 people in Kunduz.

Afghan security forces stand guard near a burnt fuel tanker in Kunduz, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 4, 2009. NATO jet blasted two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, setting off a huge fireball Friday that killed up to 90 people, Afghan officials said.

"It's important that we are very open and clear about what happened and make sure that it doesn't happen again," Miliband told reporters in Stockholm.

If the civilian deaths are confirmed, the incident could reignite outrage against foreign troops in war-battered Afghanistan. Under new orders issued in July by the ISAF commander,

US Army General Stanley McChrystal, aircraft can only open fire if they can confirm no civilians are in danger or that the lives of coalition forces are not at stake.

DTN News: Gen. Stanley McChrystal Prepares New Afghan War Strategy

DTN News: Gen. Stanley McChrystal Prepares New Afghan War Strategy

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, USA - August 1, 2009: The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is preparing a new strategy that calls for major changes in the way U.S. and other NATO troops there operate, a vast increase in the size of Afghan security forces and an intensified military effort to root out corruption among local government officials, according to several people familiar with the contents of an assessment report that outlines his approach to the war. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who took charge of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan last month, appears inclined to request an increase in American troops to implement the new strategy, which aims to use more unconventional methods to combat the growing Taliban insurgency, according to members of an advisory group he convened to work on the assessment. Such a request could receive a chilly reception at the White House, where some members of President Barack Obama's national security team have expressed reluctance about authorizing any more deployments. Senior military officials said McChrystal is waiting for a recommendation from a team of military planners in Kabul before reaching a final decision on a troop request. Several members of the advisory group, who spoke about the issue of force levels on the condition of anonymity, said they think more U.S. troops are needed but that it was not clear how large an increase McChrystal would seek.

DTN News: U.S. General Sees Afghan Army, Police Insufficient

DTN News: U.S. General Sees Afghan Army, Police Insufficient *Obama Strategy May Need More Funds, U.S. Troops

*Source: DTN News / The Washington Post By Greg Jaffe and Karen DeYoung (NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - July 12, 2009: Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the newly arrived top commander in Afghanistan, has concluded that the Afghan security forces will have to be far larger than currently planned if President Obama's strategy for winning the war is to succeed, according to senior military officials. Marines with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, RCT 2nd Battalion 8th Marines Echo Co. aim their weapons during a patrol on July 11, 2009 in Mian Poshteh, Afghanistan. The Marines are part of Operation Khanjari which was launched to take areas in the Southern Helmand Province that Taliban fighters are using as a resupply route and to help the local Afghan population prepare for the upcoming presidential elections. Such an expansion would require spending billions more than 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. Obama has voiced strong commitment to the ongoing Afghan conflict but has been cautious about making any additional military resources available beyond the 17,000 combat troops and 4,000 military trainers he agreed to in February. That will bring the total U.S. force to 68,000 by fall. Instead, Obama has emphasized the need to pay equal attention to other aspects of the U.S. effort, including bolstering Afghanistan's economy and governance. Announcement of any additional military resources this year would raise questions from Congress and the American public about whether his overall strategy is working as intended. McChrystal has not yet completed a 60-day assessment of the war due next month. But Defense Department officials here and in Kabul, the Afghan capital, said he has informed Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in weekly updates, of the need to increase the Afghan force substantially, as was first reported yesterday on washingtonpost.com. 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 may 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 Obama. U.S. commanders in southern Afghanistan told National Security Adviser James L. Jones late last month that additional Afghan forces are needed. But Jones made clear to them that Obama wants to give the nonmilitary elements of his strategy the time and resources to progress before considering new troop requests. In a telephone interview Thursday from Italy, where he was traveling with Obama, Jones said, "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 and others agreed, however, 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. About 4,000 Marines are 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 eventually put the Afghans 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.' " The 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 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 will probably 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. An Afghan man cycles past U.S. soldiers securing the area near the site of a roadside bomb explosion in the mountains of Wardak Province in Afghanistan July 11, 2009. An improvised explosive device (IED) placed in a culvert exploded without causing hurt during the U.S. army's patrol. Petraeus now heads 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 fall. If new deployments are approved, "generating that force, identifying it, training and organizing it will take time," the official said. That would probably extend their arrival into early 2010 and could mitigate any political problems the White House might foresee in authorizing additional troops. Several officials said 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 T. Olson, 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 (PRTs) 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. Olson 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.

DTN News: NATO Agrees To Restructuring Of Military Command In Afghanistan

DTN News: NATO Agrees To Restructuring Of Military Command In Afghanistan

*Sources: Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) BRUSSELS - June 16, 2009: NATO ministers meeting in the Belgian capital have thrown their weight behind a U.S. plan to reorganize the military command in Afghanistan, to better handle an influx of new troops.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, right, shares a word with U.S. Secretary for Defense Robert Gates, center, and the new top commander for Afghanistan American General Stanley McCrystal during a round table meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday June 12, 2009. NATO defense ministers say they have decided to continue the alliance's anti-piracy patrols off the Horn of Africa when the current mission ends later this month.

Over the past year, NATO has nearly doubled its force in Afghanistan to about 60,000 troops. That force will increase still more during the coming months as some 21,000 more American soldiers arrive. NATO officials also said the alliance will send up to 10,000 extra troops for security during the presidential elections in Afghanistan on August 20. NATO plans to increase the training of Afghanistan security forces so they can work with the alliance in stemming a rising Taliban insurgency that is aided by the al-Qaida terrorist group.

The new commander for the international troops in Afghanistan, U.S. general Stanley McChrystal, speaks during a ceremony in Kabul June 15, 2009. McChrystal, a veteran commander of top-secret special operations, takes charge of the nearly 90,000 U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan on Monday, promising to limit the civilian deaths that have cost Western troops Afghan support.

Separately, NATO ministers also agreed to maintain the anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa - one of the world's busiest shipping routes. The mission includes international patrols to try and stop pirate attacks in one of the world's busiest sea lanes. Overall, British Defense Minister Bob Ainsworth described the NATO talks as a productive follow-up to the April NATO summit in Strasbourg, France. Military personnel of different countries that make up part of the International Security Assistance Force, ISAF, salute during the assumption of command ceremony of U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, in Kabul, Monday June 15, 2009. "We've moved quickly to put some flesh on the decisions taken at Strasbourg to establish a NATO training mission in Afghanistan, serving both the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police," he said. "And we've also decided to make the NATO maritime standing group available for counter-piracy work to complement the many other assets that are doing this job off the Horn of Africa. So, some decisions, good meetings and I'm enormously pleased to be here," he said.

Earlier, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Afghanistan faced major challenges, including the insurgency, reconstruction and development and the presidential elections, in August.