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| US Presence: American soldiers wait at a school in Logar Province, Afghanistan. Andy Nelson – Staff |
U.S. to heighten Afghan role?
Pentagon weighs lead role in NATO's combat mission in the south to better fight Taliban.
from the April 25, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 3
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Reporter Gordon Lubold discusses the possibility the US military could take over more of the responsibility of fighting insurgents in Afghanistan.
"You get American soldiers and their leaders who establish, maintain, and exploit relationships with the terrain, the indigenous people, and their leadership and their enemy to a fare-thee-well," says Gen. Dan McNeill, senior NATO commander based in Kabul.
"Each time you get a change in nationality in one of these commands, the Afghans as well as the international force have to make adjustments," says General McNeill, who believes the overall strategy in Afghanistan is working and that the larger command structure is succeeding. But he acknowledges that the frequency of rotations in the south is "probably not the most helpful."
Many others believe the overall command needs overhaul. "I have to believe that all my instincts and experience tells me that it ain't working well," says one senior American officer with intimate knowledge of the mission.
But requesting that the coalition forces in the south essentially expand on their commitment by extending their forces is not seen as a simple change.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, typically quick to address issues as they arise, has so far been reluctant to make changes, following the advice of the Pentagon's Joint Staff earlier this year. On Wednesday, Gates said there are always efforts under way to make sure the mission is as effective as possible, but didn't hint at a new approach anytime soon.
"There's been a lot of discussion in this building about whether we have the best possible command arrangements in Afghanistan," he said. "I've made no decisions."
Meanwhile, Afghanistan is as much a political mission as it is a combat and reconstruction one, say military commanders and analysts.
The coalition there is in many ways as important as the mission itself, and is a test of the overall NATO alliance, military commanders and analysts say
"The fact that we have problems with some allies is in no way an indication that we have problems with all the allies," says Anthony Cordesman, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington. "We couldn't have done what we could without them."
Many coalition forces are watching the US closely to gauge the extent of its commitment to the Afghanistan mission. The nomination of Gen. David Petraeus, an expert in counterinsurgency and now the top commander in Iraq, to lead US Central Command could mean a new emphasis on what Afghanistan needs.
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