U.S. 'running out of time' on Afghanistan, Joint Chiefs leader says
Adm. Michael Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates say the U.S. needs a more comprehensive war strategy. They emphasize coordination with Pakistan and shifting troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today the U.S. "running out of time" to get the war in Afghanistan right and announced that he was developing a "new, more comprehensive strategy" to cover the entire region.
Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman, and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates both emphasized in congressional testimony that the military and broader U.S. government needed to look at the threat from Pakistan's tribal regions and the insurgency in Afghanistan as a single problem.
In recent months, military leaders have looked at the movement of extremists across the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan with growing alarm. And today Gates and Mullen echoed regional commanders' concerns that havens in Pakistan were fueling the insurgency in Afghanistan.
"Until we work more closely with the Pakistani government to eliminate the safe havens from which they operate," Mullen said, "the enemy will only keep coming."
Gates said that the Pakistan military and government were focused on the instability in the border region and it was critical to continue to work with the new Pakistan government.
"The war on terror started in this region; it must end there," Gates said.
In recent months, Mullen has spoken frequently about the need to send more troops to Afghanistan. This week President Bush announced that he would cut the number of troops in Iraq by 8,000 during the final months of his administration and send an additional Army brigade and Marine battalion to Afghanistan.
The final recommendation, Mullen said, was a compromise among key military leaders.
He added that he did not know when additional troops could be sent to Afghanistan. And until more troops can be sent, Mullen said, forces in Afghanistan will have to conduct both training and combat missions.
Mullen said the new strategy for Afghanistan must focus on more than just increasing troop strength. He noted that existing provincial reconstruction teams did not have enough agricultural, educational and judicial experts. The U.S. must focus on boosting foreign investment and improving governance in Afghanistan, he said.
"We can't kill our way to victory," Mullen said.
Mullen said he was not convinced the U.S. and its allies were winning in Afghanistan but said he believed victory was possible.
