FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2010
KLMNO
EZ SU
The World A19
One-year review is mixed on Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy Military ismaking
progress, but Kabul is unable to capitalize on it
BY KAREN DEYOUNG AND SCOTTWILSON
The one-year review of the
administration’s Afghanistan- Pakistan strategy released Thurs- day offered a strikingly mixed assessment of the two-pronged war effort: significant military progress against the Taliban but lagging Afghan government ca- pacity to capitalize on those gains. President Obama said Thurs-
day that the war effort was “on track” to meet the goals he set a year ago — disrupting and ulti- mately defeating al-Qaeda, halt- ing Taliban momentum and strengthening Afghanistan’s abil- ity to fight the insurgents — and to “start reducing our forces next July.” The United States and its allies have said they would com- plete the combat withdrawal by 2014. “This continues to be a difficult
endeavor,” Obama said. In many places, “the gains we’ve made are fragile and reversible,” he said, making particular reference to an “urgent need for political and economic progress in Afghani- stan” tomatch security successes. As he determines the pace and
size of initial troop withdrawals this summer, Obama will have to decide how good Afghan gover- nance needs to be to allow for a U.S. pullout — an acceptable end state that some administration officials refer to as “Afghan good enough.” “I think the questions about
sustainability point to the next phase of the war—that is,howdo you consolidate the gains you’ve made,” said a senior administra- tion official involved in Afghani- stan policy who, like others inter- viewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal WhiteHouse thinking. In adopting a strategy late last
year that sent 30,000 additional U.S. troops and more than a thou- sand diplomats and aid experts to an unpopular war, Obama largely rejected a more focused counter- terrorism option, centered on Special Operations Forces mis-
Pakistan next year and that Zard- ari will visit Washington. The United States, Obama said, “is committed to an enduring part- nership” with Pakistan. Neither Obama nor a five-page
written summary of the review distributed by the White House presented specifics or data to back up its conclusions that al- Qaeda has been significantly damaged and Taliban momen- tum had been “arrested” in much of Afghanistan “and reversed in some key areas.” Nor did they indicate any specific policy changes to increase pressure on either the Afghan or Pakistani governments. The challenge, the summary
said, “remains to make our gains durable and sustainable.” The as- sessment document is classified and will not be made public, according to an administration official who said that interested members of Congress would be briefed on it in January. The review was compiled from
TOBY TALBOT/ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOMEFROMWAR: 1st Lt. Chris Stafford of Fairfax, Vt., is greeted by his wife, Jennifer, and daughter Ella in South Burlington, Vt., where about 300VermontNational Guard soldiers returned after a year-long mission in Afghanistan.
sions and drone attacks against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, put forward by Vice President Biden and others. Some of those offi- cials continue to question wheth- er the far broader counterinsur- gency strategy that was adopted is necessary or even viable. Obama appeared Thursday to
sanction the ongoing governance and economic efforts within un- specified limits. “Going forward,” he said, “there must be a contin- ued focus on the delivery of basic services, as well as transparency and accountability,” he said. “I think thekey here is identify-
ing our objectives carefully,” De- fense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters in response to questions about the scope of the effort. “What do we need to ac- complish?” Gates said his view was that the objective was “to provide some minimal capability at the local, district and provin-
cial level for security, for dispute resolution, for perhaps a clinic within an hour’s walk.” Although public opinion
against thewarhas focused large- ly on the expandedcombat opera- tions, which account for the bulk of the $100 billion in annual U.S. costs, many of the war’s most ardent supporters say they think that the full counterinsurgency strategy is the best way to win. Recalling a similar debate over
U.S. operations in Iraq, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that those arguing for limits “were wrong in Iraq and they are wrong here. . . . I’ve seen this movie before — an argument that you should just try to kill bad guys and use drones, then we can succeed. We can’t succeed that way.” Obama, McCain said, “is very
honest and forthright in the as- sessments he provides Congress and the American people. He has
never said this is going to be easy.” In a statement, Sen. John F.
Kerry (D-Mass.) described the re- view as “welcome evidence of progress in key parts of Afghani- stan.” But he added that “our strategy and resources must match our objectivesandour core mission, which is not building a perfect state, but defeating al- Qaeda and denying it and its partners a secure base from which to launch attacks on the United States and its allies.” Kerry said the Foreign Rela-
tions Committee he chairs would hold a “major series of oversight hearings” on progress in war ef- fort when the new Congress con- venes next year. The review concluded that sig-
nificant gains have been made against al-Qaeda, where missile attacks by U.S. drones on their sanctuaries in Pakistan have eliminated anumberof insurgent
leaders. But the Pakistani mili- tary, despite stepped up efforts in tribal regions near its border with Afghanistan, has continued to resistU.S. entreaties to take more aggressive action. “Progress has not come fast
enough,” Obama said, “so we will continue to insist to Pakistani leaders that terrorist safe havens within their borders must be dealt with.” Overall, Obama said, “none of
these challenges I’ve outlined will be easy. There are more difficult days ahead. . . . We are going to have to continue to stand up,” he said. “We will never waver from our goal of ultimately disrupting, dismantling and defeating al- Qaeda.” Obama said he had spoken to
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in advance of the report’s release.He noted that he will visit
reports submitted by military, diplomatic and intelligence offi- cials since mid-October. Flanking Obama at his appearance in the White House briefing room were Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Gates and Ma- rine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Even as the assessment was
being compiled in recent weeks, Obama and his top national secu- rity advisers began telegraphing its positive conclusions. Asked Thursday whether the adminis- tration was “sugarcoating” the difficulties in Afghanistan and Pakistan in response to public unhappiness, Clinton said she was “well aware of the popular concern and I understand it.” “But I don’t think that leaders,
and certainly this president, will make decisions that are matters of life and death and the future security of our nation based on polling,” Clinton said.
deyoungk@washpost.com wilsons@washpost.com
6 in Afghanistan.
wapo.st/obama-afghan
on
washingtonpost.com Video online
President Obama talks about progress in the war
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