29 September 2009

Obama, Rasmussen Consult on Afghanistan Strategy

President Obama, right, meets with NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen September 29 at the White House.

By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — President Obama and new NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen agreed at a White House meeting that the important thing to do in Afghanistan is first determine the best strategic approach, and then develop the resources to support it.

“The first thing is not numbers. It is to find and fine-tune the right approach to implement the strategy already laid down, and all NATO allies are right now looking at [Army General Stanley] McChrystal’s review,” Rasmussen said at a brief press conference September 29.

Obama, his national security advisers and NATO and European leaders are all reviewing a just-completed assessment by McChrystal of military strategy in Afghanistan. The president began his review of the assessment September 2 during a brief break from official duties at Camp David. McChrystal was selected by Obama to lead operations in Afghanistan as commander of U.S. forces and also as commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

“The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort,” McChrystal said in a statement that accompanied the assessment. He did not include in the latest assessment a request for more combat troops.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said this assessment is the “beginning of a process” and that any answer on the number of additional forces is a number of weeks away.

Obama is expected to meet with his national security team September 30 at the White House, including representatives from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss the assessment, Gibbs said.

“We talked about, obviously, the most important NATO mission right now, and that is Afghanistan,” Obama said alongside Rasmussen in the White House. “And we both agree that it is absolutely critical that we are successful in dismantling, disrupting, destroying the al-Qaida network, and that we are effectively working with the Afghan government to provide the security necessary for that country.”

“I agree with President Obama in his approach: strategy first, then resources,” Rasmussen said.

Obama and Rasmussen also discussed a newly proposed anti–ballistic missile defense system for Europe, enhanced NATO-Russian relations, and a soon-to-be-completed strategic reassessment of NATO for the early 21st century.

McChrystal commands about 103,000 troops in Afghanistan, including about 63,000 U.S. forces. By the end of 2009, the number of U.S. forces is expected to reach 68,000. About 30,000 U.S. troops are attached to NATO’s ISAF force, which has participants from 42 nations.

At a meeting in Germany on September 25, McChrystal delivered his troop request, based on his recent assessment, to the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, the U.S. Central Command commander, General David Petraeus, and the NATO supreme allied commander, Admiral James Stavridis. Mullen has delivered the request to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

U.S. and NATO-led forces are struggling to suppress a Taliban insurgency that is seeking to retake control of the country after being routed by a U.S.-led force in late 2001. That campaign followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. The Taliban regime had provided a safe haven and base of operations for the transnational terrorist group al-Qaida, which appears to have settled into the remote and rugged Hindu Kush mountain range that separates Afghanistan from Pakistan.

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