01 October 2009: Times
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor
The US commander in Afghanistan today gave his full backing to attempts to reintegrate Taleban members into the rest of the population.
General Stanley McChrystal said that 50 to 80 per cent of the Taleban would probably stop fighting if they were given jobs and called for “patience, resolve and time”.
The general is known to have asked for up to 40,000 more troops as part of his recent strategic assessment of the mission.
He said the campaign had been under-resourced in the past to meet the objectives set by the international community.
He also said the coalition of 42 nations serving in Afghanistan had “under-performed” in some areas.
“The situation is serious and I choose that word very, very carefully,” he said, speaking at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“Neither success nor failure in our endeavour in support of the Afghan people and government can be taken for granted,” he warned.
He made it clear that only the Afghans themselves would be able to say if and when the coalition had succeeded in its mission. But to reach that stage Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), which he commands, had to demonstrate that it would support and protect the Afghan people.
“We must respect the people, because ultimately the Afghans must defeat the insurgency,” he said.
“In the end we don’t win by defeating the Taleban or by a body count but when the Afghans have decided that we have won,” he said.
General McChrystal flew to London after taking part in a tele-conference with President Obama in the White House. Mr Obama and his closest advisers are currently reviewing the general’s assessment of what is needed to overcome the Taleban and bring stability to Afghanistan.
He declined to give any details of the discussion but he said he welcomed the debate going on in Washington and elsewhere. He said it was important to get the strategy right before investing more resources.
“I think that if we align our goals and resources, we will not have a significant problem. The problem will be if we don’t,” he said.
Despite a relatively gloomy portrayal of achievements so far, he gave reassurance that success was still possible. But he acknowledged that one of the reasons why the coalition had not yet succeeded after eight years was that the insurgency had grown, despite the influx of troops into Afghanistan. “It took us longer than I wish it had to recognise this is a serious insurgency,” he said.
His determination to turn the campaign round won over one particular person in the audience. Flight Lieutenant Victoria Anderton stood up during questions after his speech and said: “I’m actually going out to Kandahar to serve with the Tornado GR4s next year and can I say how much more confidence I have now in my chain of command than I had after Prime Minister Gordon Brown was here a couple of weeks ago.” Gordon Brown addressed the IISS on Afghanistan on September 4 when he defended the war.
General McChrystal said the coalition did not have an indefinite amount of time to defeat the Taleban insurgency. “These efforts will not remain winnable indefinitely. Public support will not last indefinitely,” he said.
He also admitted that the coalition’s approach had to change dramatically, and warned against giving the impression to the Afghan people that the coalition forces were only interested in protecting themselves behind barriers.
“Our operational coalition culture distances us physically and psychologically from the people we need to protect. At the end of the day your security comes from the people. You cannot build enough walls to protect yourself if the people don’t... We have to change the mind-set,” he
said.
The correct approach to adopt with the Afghan people, he said, was “humility” and not to show any arrogance.
He emphasised the complexity of the operation in Afghanistan and warned against seeing solutions through Western eyes. Even the presidential election in August which the West has criticised for being undermined by corruption and false votes, should not be condemned,
General McChrystal said. Some Afghans he had spoken to, he said, thought the election which looks set to give President Karzai another term in office, had gone satisfactorily.
While his perspective on the election was clearly an adroit attempt to avoid getting immersed in the international row over the Afghan leader, General McChrystal was making a special plea for the international community to understand that no single solution was going to turn Afghanistan into a thriving, stable nation.
One of the main problems was that in 2001, after the overthrow of the Taleban rulers, the Afghan people had had “sky rocket” expectations and had been frustrated by the lack of change to their lives in the eight years since then.
Even the simplest question, such as where to dig a water well in a particular village, could alter the balance of power in that area if the wrong place was chosen or the wrong person was put in charge. “Corporals and sergeants have to make these decisions,” he said.
In another example, he said that if there were ten insurgents in an area and two of them were killed by the coalition, theoretically there would be eight left. But he said there could be only two left because the rest might think it was too dangerous to carry on fighting, or there could be 20 because the two insurgents killed had brothers and sons and fathers who would join the fight. “These are the sort of calculations that have to be made,” he said.
