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Clinton rebuffs general's warning on Afghanistan
 
 
  
 
 AFP - Wednesday, September 23
 
 
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NEW YORK (AFP) - – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed back against the US military's blunt warning that the battle against insurgents in Afghanistan would likely be lost within a year without more US troops.
 
Clinton's comments in an interview with PBS television late Monday came amid reports that the Pentagon has asked General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, to delay a request for more troops.
 
Clinton expressed "respect" for McChrystal's assessment that the United States would likely lose the war in Afghanistan within a year without more US forces.
 
"But I can only tell you there are other assessments from very expert military analysts who have worked in counter-insurgencies that are the exact opposite," she said.
 
Her remarks were the latest sign of stiffening resistance within President Barack Obama's administration to a major escalation in the US commitment in Afghanistan, and a growing rift over the issue between civilian leaders and the military.
 
The Wall Street Journal, citing defense officials, reported that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked McChrystal to delay submitting his request for more troops until the completion of a review of the US war effort.
 
McChrystal's assessment was leaked to the Washington Post a day after Obama, who faces sliding support for the war both within the Congress and among the US public, defended the delay in making a decision about additional troops.
 
"We're going to test whatever resources we have against our strategy," Obama said Sunday. "We will do what's required to keep the American people safe." McChrystal said a new strategy was needed, and warned that "inadequate resources will likely result in failure.
 
"Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible," he wrote.
 
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General David Petraeus, the head of the US Central Command, had endorsed McChrystal's assessment.
 
The report was presented to Gates on August 30 and is being reviewed by the White House, with McChrystal widely expected to make a formal request to increase the 62,000-strong US force.
 
"We hope to have some resolution to this matter very soon," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
 
"But it is important to remember that regardless of when General McChrystal sends forth his request, the president first wants to fully discuss his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan and the strategy we are pursuing there before considering any additional resources for that effort."
 
Clinton said the administration's goal was "to take all of this incoming data and sort it out. And I dont think anybody is going to push to a conclusion for the sake of a conclusion."
 
She added: "So we have to be really clear-eyed about this. And what Im very grateful for is that were not coming in with any ideological presuppositions."
 
McChrystal, who assumed command of international troops in Afghanistan in June, said the campaign in Afghanistan "has been historically under-resourced and remains so today."
 
This fact risks "a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs, and ultimately, a critical loss of political support. Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure," he wrote.
 
The 66-page document -- a declassified version of which is published at www.washingtonpost.com -- describes a strengthening, intelligent Taliban insurgency.
 
McChrystal was highly critical of a corrupt Afghan government and an ineffective strategy pursued by international forces that so far has failed to win over ordinary Afghans.
 
He also said Afghanistan's own forces must be boosted over the next 12-18 months to maintain international support.
 
Despite his call for a radical rethink, McChrystal maintained a cautious optimism for the long-term outcome of the conflict, insisting: "While the situation is serious, success is still achievable."
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
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