Afghanistan poses daunting challenge, Defense officials say
Additional U.S. troops and cooperation with Pakistan's new leaders are needed, a House panel is told.
WASHINGTON — Warning that the U.S. is "running out of time" in Afghanistan, the military's top uniformed officer said Wednesday that officials have asked for a "new, more comprehensive strategy" that also encompasses militants' havens in neighboring Pakistan.
Appearing before a House committee, Adm. Michael G. Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said such a strategy was crucial to the ability of U.S.-led forces to counter a comeback by extremist groups in Afghanistan.
"I'm not convinced we're winning in Afghanistan," said Mullen, although he added, "I'm convinced we can."
The appearance by Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates before the House Armed Services Committee highlighted the problems facing military leaders in Afghanistan. They need more troops but must await U.S. force reductions in Iraq for extra units. And they need cooperation from Pakistan's new leaders to target extremist sites there.
Both Mullen and Gates emphasized that the military and the broader U.S. government must view the insurgency in Afghanistan and the threat from Pakistan's tribal regions as a single problem.
"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."
"The war on terror started in this region; it must end there," Gates said.
However, hashing out a strategy with the Pakistani government is not likely to be easy. Senior Defense officials noted that Pakistanis who favor a crackdown on terrorism have been pushing a long-term strategy, while American commanders worry more about short-term targets. That has created tension.
"They want to take long-term measures; they want to drain the swamp and then take care of the alligators," said a senior Defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity when discussing internal assessments of the situation. "But Americans are impatient people. We want immediate results, and historically we are less concerned about the swamp than about the alligators in it."
Mullen has spoken frequently about the need for more troops in Afghanistan. President Bush announced this week that he would cut the number of troops in Iraq by 8,000 during the final months of his administration and shift some units to Afghanistan.
