thedrifter
09-22-08, 09:10 AM
Gates: A change of strategy in Afghanistan?
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Sep 19, 2008 12:23:50 EDT
LONDON — The Bush administration is considering changing its war strategy in Afghanistan in light of rising levels of violence and an increasingly complex insurgent threat, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
“You have an overall approach, an overall strategy, but you adjust it continually based on the circumstances that you find,” Gates said. “We did that in Iraq. We made a change in strategy in Iraq and we are going to continue to look at the situation in Afghanistan.”
Pressed for more details about the review of Afghan strategy, Gates would say only, “We’re looking at it.”
A senior defense official traveling with Gates said later that the U.S. administration was examining a range of strategic questions, including whether to reduce the combat role of NATO troops in Afghanistan in light of planned increases in U.S. combat troops. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it amounted to a broad review that included more than just military aspects of U.S. strategy.
Meanwhile, Gates said that when facing allegations of U.S. airstrikes killing or injuring civilians in Afghanistan, it is better to apologize first and investigate later.
Gates was in London on Thursday for a NATO meeting that was expected to include a discussion among allied defense ministers of the struggles to turn the tide of insurgent violence in Afghanistan and to train Afghan security forces.
He flew here Wednesday night after spending a day in Afghanistan to discuss with Afghan leaders and American commanders the issue of inadvertent civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes. At a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Gates said it was time to take a new approach to responding.
“I think the key for us is, in those rare occasions when we do make a mistake, when there is an error, to apologize quickly, to compensate the victims quickly and then carry out the investigation,” Gates told reporters later at Bagram airfield, where he received a briefing from an Air Force general on the rules and restrictions U.S. pilots must follow when providing aerial support to U.S. and allied troops engaged in ground fighting.
In Kabul, Gates offered the people of Afghanistan his “personal regrets” for U.S. airstrikes that have killed civilians and said he would try to improve the accuracy of air warfare.
“As I told them, I offer all Afghans my sincere condolences and personal regrets for the recent loss of innocent life as a result of coalition airstrikes,” Gates said after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. “While no military has ever done more to prevent civilian casualties, it is clear that we have to work even harder.”
Gates noted that violence has been on the rise in Afghanistan for the past two years, in part because of cross-border attacks from al-Qaida, Taliban and other extremist elements that find refuge in neighboring Pakistan. That has made it harder for U.S. and allied troops to improve security, which Gates said has restricted gains in other vital areas such as weeding out government corruption and developing the economy.
“We see some lessons to be learned from Iraq in terms of the need to establish security as a precondition or economic development and better governance. That means more forces,” he said. “But I think we are in complete accord with our European allies that the military side of this is only one piece of the solution.”
Ellie
By Robert Burns - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Sep 19, 2008 12:23:50 EDT
LONDON — The Bush administration is considering changing its war strategy in Afghanistan in light of rising levels of violence and an increasingly complex insurgent threat, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
“You have an overall approach, an overall strategy, but you adjust it continually based on the circumstances that you find,” Gates said. “We did that in Iraq. We made a change in strategy in Iraq and we are going to continue to look at the situation in Afghanistan.”
Pressed for more details about the review of Afghan strategy, Gates would say only, “We’re looking at it.”
A senior defense official traveling with Gates said later that the U.S. administration was examining a range of strategic questions, including whether to reduce the combat role of NATO troops in Afghanistan in light of planned increases in U.S. combat troops. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it amounted to a broad review that included more than just military aspects of U.S. strategy.
Meanwhile, Gates said that when facing allegations of U.S. airstrikes killing or injuring civilians in Afghanistan, it is better to apologize first and investigate later.
Gates was in London on Thursday for a NATO meeting that was expected to include a discussion among allied defense ministers of the struggles to turn the tide of insurgent violence in Afghanistan and to train Afghan security forces.
He flew here Wednesday night after spending a day in Afghanistan to discuss with Afghan leaders and American commanders the issue of inadvertent civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes. At a news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Gates said it was time to take a new approach to responding.
“I think the key for us is, in those rare occasions when we do make a mistake, when there is an error, to apologize quickly, to compensate the victims quickly and then carry out the investigation,” Gates told reporters later at Bagram airfield, where he received a briefing from an Air Force general on the rules and restrictions U.S. pilots must follow when providing aerial support to U.S. and allied troops engaged in ground fighting.
In Kabul, Gates offered the people of Afghanistan his “personal regrets” for U.S. airstrikes that have killed civilians and said he would try to improve the accuracy of air warfare.
“As I told them, I offer all Afghans my sincere condolences and personal regrets for the recent loss of innocent life as a result of coalition airstrikes,” Gates said after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. “While no military has ever done more to prevent civilian casualties, it is clear that we have to work even harder.”
Gates noted that violence has been on the rise in Afghanistan for the past two years, in part because of cross-border attacks from al-Qaida, Taliban and other extremist elements that find refuge in neighboring Pakistan. That has made it harder for U.S. and allied troops to improve security, which Gates said has restricted gains in other vital areas such as weeding out government corruption and developing the economy.
“We see some lessons to be learned from Iraq in terms of the need to establish security as a precondition or economic development and better governance. That means more forces,” he said. “But I think we are in complete accord with our European allies that the military side of this is only one piece of the solution.”
Ellie