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McChrystal Preparing New Afghan War Strategy

sam_w

sam_w

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McChrystal Preparing New Afghan War Strategy
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. general put in charge of turning around the war in Afghanistan is likely to recommend significant changes in the campaign and may include a request for more U.S. forces that the White House is expected to resist.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal's long-awaited reassessment of the war against Taliban insurgents aims for a transformation of the shaky relationship between U.S. forces and Afghan civilians as troops press a counterinsurgency strategy of clearing and holding populated areas, said officials apprised of the report's contents.

The biggest change urged in McChrystal's report is a "cultural shift" in how U.S. and foreign troops operate - ranging from how they live and travel among the Afghan population to where and how they fight, a senior military official in Kabul said Friday.

The latest draft of the assessment also urges speeding up the training of Afghan soldiers and police and nearly doubling their numbers to roughly 400,000, said a senior defense official in Washington, one of several uniformed and civilian officials who spoke on condition anonymity because the report has not been made public..

As McChrystal readies the assessment of the war, due in two weeks, numerous U.S. officials and outsiders aware of his thinking suggest that he will request in a companion report that more American troops, probably including marines, be added next year.

Several people familiar with the work being done cautioned that McChrystal could opt not to ask for an increase at all - a recognition that President Barack Obama and other White House advisers would not look favorably on adding new numbers to U.S. forces after already agreeing to boost their ranks by 21,000 troops earlier this year.

The main recommendations for change stem from the military's new counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, which is now designed to focus less on going after Taliban strongholds and more on protecting the local population. .................
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Rajiv Chandrasekaran also wrote this article today as well:
In Afghanistan, U.S. May Shift Strategy

Question is how long can this be sustained? Will the public support increasing troop levels? How long until most NATO allies find this politically unsustainable and withdraw completely?

p.s. Please let us have a civil discussion and not a idiotic back and forth partisan b**ch fest. This is an issue that affects ALL Americans, and has support from all Americans.
 
sam_w said:
McChrystal Preparing New Afghan War Strategy


Rajiv Chandrasekaran also wrote this article today as well:
In Afghanistan, U.S. May Shift Strategy

Question is how long can this be sustained? Will the public support increasing troop levels? How long until most NATO allies find this politically unsustainable and withdraw completely?

p.s. Please let us have a civil discussion and not a idiotic back and forth partisan b**ch fest. This is an issue that affects ALL Americans, and has support from all Americans.
Click to expand...

Well I disagree on one note, and that is your last remark that "this is an issue... has support from all Americans." No... unfortunately, it's not.

As for the new strategy, I don't really know what can be said about it except that Obama's stated strategy in Afghanistan and actual strategy seem to be different. The White House's stated strategy is that we are in Afghanistan to prevent its use as a safe haven and to destroy Al Qaida in the region. This implies that we do not care about Afghanistan's governance... but the center of actual strategy in Afghanistan is to imrprove governance by expanding the Kabul government's influence and ensuring security in hostile regions.
 
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