McChrystal gives full backing to Afghan plan - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

McChrystal gives full backing to Afghan plan

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he “fully supports” President Barack Obama’s new strategy and decision to deploy tens of thousands of troops to the war and that those decisions “reflect an effective and realistic approach.”

Questions had been raised about whether Gen. Stanley McChrystal had taken issue with the Obama decision, announced last week, to deploy 30,000 additional troops as part of a broad counterinsurgency campaign aimed at ending the eight-year-old conflict.

In the declassified version of his summertime assessment of conditions in Afghanistan, which was leaked to the media, McChrystal said “additional resources are required,” without elaboration. But the full version reportedly included options for 40,000 and even 80,000 additional troops.

McChrystal declined to comment in open session about the various options he had proposed in his assessment, saying the details were classified. Nor would he bite on questions about whether he would recommend deploying even more troops should future assessments convince him of the need to do so.

“I don’t believe that we are going to need more forces in 18 months,” he said. “But I’ll provide my best military advice.”

McChrystal said that as the result of three months of high-level administration meetings on the way forward in Afghanistan, the strategy was “effectively and appropriately refined” and that during the process, Obama “demanded” that McChrystal be “realistic and straightforward” in his analysis and recommendations.

At the same time, said McChrystal, there are no guarantees.

“I believe that nothing in this is without risk,” he said, but added: “I think it’s appropriate risk.”

“We’re concentrating on what is essential and what is attainable,” said Karl Eikenberry, U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, who testified alongside McChrystal. “Afghanistan is a daunting challenge. Success is not guaranteed, but it is possible.”

Eikenberry denied news reports of a rift with McChrystal over his summertime assessment that more troops were essential to success in Afghanistan. Two classified cables Eikenberry sent last summer, which also were leaked, indicated doubts over the prospect of U.S. success in Afghanistan and a disagreement with the concept of a troop deployment. Eikenberry didn’t refute their content but said they indicated his early concerns over implementation timelines being discussed.

“At no point in this review process did I oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan,” Eikenberry said. “As a result of this review, the mission was refined, the ways forward were clarified, and resources were committed. I am unequivocally in support of this mission.”

As they did during last week’s congressional hearings with senior Pentagon and State Department leaders, Republican committee members expressed concern that Obama’s desire to begin reducing the U.S. presence by July 2011 is at odds with promises of a long-term strategic partnership with the still-struggling Afghan government.

Or, as Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., termed it, that the Taliban and other insurgents might just “cool it” for two years.

“Why won’t they just wait us out?” Bartlett asked.

“The Taliban has a weakness,” McChrystal said. “They are not popular … they succeed largely on coercion. But if they go to ground … then the society becomes more durable. The people will have something to protect that they don’t want to lose. So they really can’t afford to wait.”

Echoing previously expressed concerns over adding more troops, several Democrats voiced doubts about the strategy. “It seems that we’re trying to kill fleas with a baseball bat,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine.

Others pointed to official U.S. acknowledgment of widespread corruption in the Karzai government, concerned that even the best U.S. and allied efforts will be for naught if corruption continues to be a problem.

Eikenberry acknowledged the problem. “Improving accountability is central to our success,” he said. “There has been progress … [but] this is going to be a very uphill fight the Karzai government is going to have to fight.”

“This is probably the most difficult task that we have,” McChrystal said.