Spectre of Afghan failure
The top US military commander in Afghanistan has warned that more forces are needed within the next year or the war against the Taliban will be lost, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
General Stanley McChrystal wrote in a classified report: “Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term while Afghan security capacity matures - risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible.” The grim assessment of the eight-year conflict was presented to US defense secretary Robert Gates on August 30 and is being reviewed by the White House. McChrystal, who is widely expected to make a formal request to increase the 62,000-strong US force, noted the campaign in Afghanistan “has been historically under-resourced and remains so today.”
As such, he wrote “inadequate resources will likely result in failure.” The weak resources “also risk a longer conflict, greater casualities, 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 describes a strengthening, intelligent Taliban insurgency. McChrystal also slams the corruption-riddled Afghan government and a strategy by international forces that have failed to win over ordinary Afghans.
“The weakness of state institutions, malign actions of power-brokers, widespread corruption and abuse of power ( by various officials and (The International Security Assistance Forces) own errors, have given Afghans little reason to support their government,” wrote McChrystal.
