THE top military commander in Afghanistan warns in a classified document that more forces are needed within the next year or the mission "will likely result in failure".General Stanley McChrystal, the top US and NATO commander in the country, writes in a grim assessment of the eight-year conflict:
“Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) - while Afghan security capacity matures - risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.”
The document, first reported in the Washington Post, was presented to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on August 30 and is currently being reviewed by the White House.
In the most alarming passage of the report, General McChrystal writes: “Inadequate resources will likely result in failure.”
Failure to provide adequate resources, he writes, “also risks a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs, and ultimately, a critical loss of political support. Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure.”
The 66-page document - a declassified version of which is published at washingtonpost.com - describes a strengthening, intelligent enemy in the Taliban insurgency.
General McChrystal also slams the corruption-riddled Afghan government and a strategy by international forces in the country that has failed to win over the civilian population.
“The weakness of state institutions, malign actions of power-brokers, widespread corruption and abuse of power by various officials, and (the International Security Assistance Force's) own errors, have given Afghans little reason to support their government,” writes General McChrystal.
“Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) - while Afghan security capacity matures - risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.”
The document, first reported in the Washington Post, was presented to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on August 30 and is currently being reviewed by the White House.
In the most alarming passage of the report, General McChrystal writes: “Inadequate resources will likely result in failure.”
Failure to provide adequate resources, he writes, “also risks a longer conflict, greater casualties, higher overall costs, and ultimately, a critical loss of political support. Any of these risks, in turn, are likely to result in mission failure.”
The 66-page document - a declassified version of which is published at washingtonpost.com - describes a strengthening, intelligent enemy in the Taliban insurgency.
General McChrystal also slams the corruption-riddled Afghan government and a strategy by international forces in the country that has failed to win over the civilian population.
“The weakness of state institutions, malign actions of power-brokers, widespread corruption and abuse of power by various officials, and (the International Security Assistance Force's) own errors, have given Afghans little reason to support their government,” writes General McChrystal.
Source: The Australian
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