Mullen: Afghan training mission top priority - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Mullen: Afghan training mission top priority

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Marines tapped to go to Afghanistan as part of President Obama’s 30,000-troop surge must develop Afghan National Security Forces as “fast as we can” and begin transferring security operations to those forces within two years, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Monday.

“There’s a lot of time between now and then,” Adm. Mike Mullen told an audience of about 1,000 Lejeune-based Marines and sailors heading to Afghanistan in the coming months.

Obama has said that U.S. troops would begin leaving Afghanistan in July 2011, a plan that’s been criticized by some politicians, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who worries that setting a timeline for withdrawal will weaken support from Afghanistan’s neighbor, Pakistan.

Mullen told Marines that he supports the president’s decision because it will force the Afghan government to hold up its end of the bargain in providing a secure state.

“It places a sense of urgency on that,” he said.

Mullen spent most of his time at Lejeune answering Marines’ questions about Afghanistan, the timeline set by Obama and concerns about help from neighboring Pakistan and Iran’s plans to generate nuclear power.

“Honestly, do you think 30,000 is going to be enough?” asked one private first class.

“Yes, I do,” Mullen said. “We shouldn’t forget that there are 42 other countries in Afghanistan with us. This is going to be solved from the regional perspective. I think it’s the best shot we have. Now it’s up to us, to you and me, to execute it.”

One way Marines can prepare to do that is by spending extra time learning about Afghan culture, he said.

“We need, no kidding, a lot of people to understand that culture,” Mullen said. “Put in the extra time because your job is absolutely vital.”

Related reading

• Numerous Lejeune units to deploy in surge