Afghan advance on track, insists top general

By Larry Shaughnessy, with advertisement from Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon

The top administrator of U.S. troops in Afghanistan insisted Tuesday that the war action charcoal “on track” even with contempo setbacks that accept sparked abandon and Afghan acrimony against the United States, such as the afire of Qurans and the killing of 16 Afghans, allegedly by a U.S. soldier.

“I ambition I could acquaint you that this war was simple, and that advance could be calmly measured. But that’s not the way of counterinsurgencies. They are abounding with success and setbacks, which can abide in the aforementioned amplitude and time, but anniversary accept to be apparent in the beyond ambience of the all-embracing campaign,” Gen. John Allen told the House Armed Services committee. “I accept that the advance is on track. We are authoritative a difference. I apperceive this, and our troops apperceive this.”

But conceivably the a lot of affective allotment of the audition came aboriginal on as Allen apprehend a letter to the House Armed Service Board from a Marine who died afresh in Afghanistan.

“There will be a adolescent who will reside because men larboard the aegis they enjoyed in their home country to appear to his,” Sgt. William Stacey wrote to his ancestors in a letter to be apprehend in the accident of his death. He was active one anniversary ago at Arlington National Cemetery.

That child, Stacy wrote, “will accept the allowance of freedom, which I accept enjoyed for so long.”

He concluded, “If my activity buys the assurance of a adolescent who will one day change this world, again I apperceive that it was all annual it.”

Allen insisted that the United States and NATO charge to ensure that the Afghan government and aggressive can sustain assets becoming over the accomplished 10 years of war afore the abandonment of a lot of of the all-embracing troops by the end of 2014.

“In the continued run, our goals can alone be accomplished and again anchored by Afghan forces. Transition, then, is the linchpin of our strategy, not alone the ‘way out,'” Allen told the committee.

But board administrator Rep. Buck McKeon, a California Republican, said he doesn’t accede with the White House’s plan for withdrawal.

“I abide actual anxious about the president’s accommodation endure summer to acceleration up abandonment of the billow troops from Afghanistan, as able-bodied as his aboriginal announcement, in his accent at West Point, for a date assertive in 2014 to abjure all U.S. action forces,” McKeon said.

Allen said there is no bound plan yet on how troops will be aloof through 2014 and insisted the White House has not dictated a abandonment plan.

“There has been no amount mentioned. There has been no amount that has been accurately implied,” Allen said. He said there is a “strategic conversation” that will yield into annual his and added commanders’ recommendations.

“I am actual pleased, frankly, with breadth we are in that chat now,” Allen told McKeon. He said as administrator in Afghanistan the White House has consistently followed his best aggressive judgment.

The top Democrat on the board accurate his altercation with those who criticize the 2014 borderline for U.S. withdrawal.

“We artlessly cannot say, well, we’re never traveling to leave, we’re traveling to break because we’re aflutter that if humans anticipate we’re traveling to leave that, therefore, gives them advantage,” said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Washington. “Truth is, it aswell gives them an advantage if we leave in the minds of the Afghan humans that we’re never traveling to leave.

“The aftereffect of that is … it undermines the aplomb in the Karzai government, the aplomb in the commune and bigoted governments, because they do not attending like governments that can angle on their own.”

Allen said Afghan National Aegis Armament accept added to 330,000 from 276,000 in the accomplished year, and will ability abounding backbone of 352,000 advanced of deadline. He testified that he believes that’s an able size. “I’m annoyed with the 352 number.”

But the amount of acknowledging those troops could be an issue. The Apple Bank estimates that it would amount $8 billion but the United States is able to armamentarium alone $3 billion afterwards 2014. Added NATO countries accept apprenticed an added $1 billion, abrogation bisected the bare account unfunded.

James Miller, arch Defense Department agent undersecretary for policy, who was testifying with Allen, said the 352,000 amount is acceptable temporary, but he couldn’t say how abundant abate the Afghan armament will get. “We apprehend that at some point in time, and that time has not been bent … it will accomplish faculty to abate that akin to a abiding acceptable level. But the point of time that makes faculty will depend fundamentally on altitude on the ground.”

Tuesday’s audition came in the bosom of a boundless budget-cutting accomplishment in Washington. But Allen assure the board such problems accept not afflicted his mission.

“I accept to acknowledge the Congress of the United States, and through you, the adopted assembly of the American humans for accepting so resourced this campaign. We absolutely charge nothing. We wish for nothing,” he said.

Allen and several of the board associates mentioned but afford little ablaze on two contempo contest that accept artificial the U.S.-Afghan relationship: the afire of religious materials, including some Qurans, and the annihilation of 16 Afghan civilians in their homes, allegedly by a U.S. Army agents sergeant.

“Each of these contest is affection wrenching, and my thoughts and prayers go out to all those afflicted by the abandon – affiliation and Afghan alike,” Allen said.

The aggressive will conduct a abstracted analysis into the affairs surrounding the appointment of the doubtable in the cutting rampage, Agents Sgt. Robert Bales, to the action beginning in southern Afghanistan, Allen told the committee.

The authoritative review, which is in accession to a bent investigation, will be conducted by U.S. Armament Afghanistan. The analysis will accede how and why Bales was assigned, Allen said.

“It will attending at the command relationships associated with his captivation in that action outpost,” he added.

Another advancing affair amid President Hamid Karzai’s government and the United States is night raids.

U.S. aggressive admiral accede Special Armament raids at night one of the a lot of able means to advance Taliban administration with beneath accident to civilians. But Karzai told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria four months ago, “We wish Afghanistan’s homes, Afghanistan’s villages to be protected, to be safe from such attacks. What we are allurement for, in actual specific and bright terms, (is that) no adopted armament should access Afghan homes.”

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said just endure anniversary afterwards affair Karzai, “Make no aberration about it: It is important that we abide these operations.” But Panetta explained the United States is authoritative changes. Allen echoed that at Tuesday’s hearing.

“In just the endure three months, we accept appear a actual continued way in creating greater accommodation amidst the Afghans to conduct night operations in a actual aboveboard way,” the accepted said. “Now, we’re still heavily partnered with them, and we will be for some aeon of time, but … all of our night operations are partnered with Afghan accomplice assemblage forces.”

But Allen banned to animadversion on a Wall Street Journal address that the United States may anon accept to seek a accreditation from an Afghan cloister afore staging a night raid. He said he didn’t wish to altercate data because “we are in actual acute negotiations on night operations.”

And, as is generally the case in hearings about Afghanistan, Iran came up. Allen said that the United States continues to watch for Iranian arrest in Afghanistan.

“My affair is with, primarily, in the breadth of security, and what we accept to be Iranian abetment to assertive elements of the Taliban,” he said. “It has not been dramatic, it has not been pervasive, but we seek to accept it and we accept banned that abetment on a amount of occasions, and we’ll abide to watch it actual closely.”