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War in Afghanistan Is Winnable, General Says
The Obama administration's nominee to run the war in Afghanistan said the conflict was winnable, but acknowledged that American casualties will rise in coming months as the U.S. pushes deeper into Taliban-held parts of the country.Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal told the Senate's Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the 21,000 American reinforcements currently streaming into Afghanistan faced a hard fight and might need two years to achieve measurable progress. "Success will not be quick or easy," he said. "Casualties will likely increase." If confirmed, Gen. McChrystal will need to find ways of avoiding incidents like the U.S. air strikes in Farah Province that killed dozens of Afghan civilians. U.S. officials have rejected Afghan claims that at least 140 Afghans died in the strikes and pegged the civilian death toll at less than 30. But a senior defense official said Tuesday that the continuing investigation into the incident had identified "several potential violations" of the military guidelines designed to minimize civilian casualties. The official said at least two of the strikes should probably have been called off because they didn't involve situations posing imminent risks to American personnel. Gen. McChrystal said U.S. forces would only use airstrikes if the lives of U.S., North Atlantic Treaty Organization or Afghan personnel were at risk. Gen. McChrystal, a veteran of the military's secretive special-operations community, was picked for the job last month after Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed Gen. David McKiernan as the top commander in Afghanistan. At the hearing, Gen. McChrystal said the U.S. needed to shift its focus from killing Taliban fighters to better protecting the Afghan population. The goal would be to make the armed Islamist group "irrelevant," rather than defeating it militarily. Gen. McChrystal is expected to win confirmation, but several lawmakers pressed him about the use of harsh interrogation tactics by special-operations forces under his command. The commander said he was uncomfortable with such techniques and worked to minimize their use. Posted by: Beavis 2009-06-03 |
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