Afghan, U.S. Leaders: War Progress Steady but 'Slow'

2 years ago

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David Wood

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Afghanistan's President Karzai and U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal arrived in Washington Monday with sobering news: progress in the war is steady – but slow.

In a White House briefing, neither McChrystal nor retired Gen. Karl Eikenberry, now the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, would say whether they believe enough military progress and political reform will take place by next summer to enable U.S. troops to "begin to transfer'' back home from Afghanistan, as President Obama has promised.

"Much work lies ahead'' before that can happen, said McChrystal, who commands all U.S. and allied troops fighting the Taliban and other extremists in Afghanistan. The months ahead "will demand courage and resilience,'' he said, adding that violence against Americans will continue to increase.

Karzai's visit comes at a time of increasing pessimism about the war in Afghanistan, now in its eighth year. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll this week showed that a majority of Americans, 52 percent of those surveyed, believe the war is not worth the costs.

The poll came on the heels of a new Pentagon assessment that held little good news. It reported that violence in Afghanistan is up 87 percent over a year ago, and that there are still too few U.S. and allied advisers to accelerate the training of Afghan soldiers and police – the heart of Obama's strategy.

Currently there are 87,000 American troops in Afghanistan, with roughly 13,000 more slated to arrive over the next few months. Since 2001, when U.S. forces struck back in retaliation for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 1,044 Americans have been killed in action in Afghanistan, and 5,730 wounded, according to the Pentagon.

Karzai and a dozen of his top cabinet ministers flew into Washington Monday morning, dodging clouds of new volcanic ash from Iceland, to begin four days of intense consultations with the White House and senior officials at State, Defense, Justice, Agriculture and other agencies engaged in Afghanistan.

High on the agenda, according to White House officials, is reaching agreement on the conditions under which Taliban fighters and other Islamist extremists would be encouraged to take part in Afghanistan's government.

U.S. officials have been skeptical of Karzai's intention of pursuing negotiations with senior Taliban leaders. Eikenberry said any insurgent "coming back into the fold'' would have to renounce the use of violence, sever any ties with al Qaeda and demonstrate respect for the Afghan constitution

"The most important thing is that we get a solution crafted by Afghans that is fair to everyone, that everybody has the opportunity to rejoin the political process,'' McChrystal told reporters at the White House.

But neither would comment on the status of the president's half- brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, the corrupt strongman who runs Kandahar. According to some U.S. officials and outside analysts, Wali Karzai opposes U.S. efforts to cut down on corruption and build good government as a threat to his lucrative way of life.

"There's a whole host of things that the (White House) team is working on with President Karzai, and I'm not going to go into specifics,'' presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said when asked how the administration had decided to deal with Wali Karzai.

Although friction between McChrystal and Eikenberry is well known, the two men went out of their way to make nice at Monday's White House briefing ("my colleague and friend,'' McChrystal said of Eikenberry, while Eikenberry referred to McChrystal as "my friend, and partner ...'')

And Eikenberry, who previously had questioned whether Karzai was a fit "strategic partner'' in Afghanistan, where he is widely viewed as weak and corrupt, ducked the question of whether he still holds that opinion.

"President Karzai is the elected president of Afghanistan, Afghanistan is a close friend and ally and of course I highly respect President Karzai in that capacity,'' he said, not quite through clenched teeth.

Gibbs, asked Monday about the lack of visible progress in the Afghan war, said there is "steady'' progress on improving security and bolstering the Afghan government.

"We didn't think this was going to happen overnight,'' he said.

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