As US President Barack Obama prepares to send troops to war for the first time as commander-in-chief, a new report says a “game-changing” strategy is urgently needed in Afghanistan to save the faltering international campaign.
“All is not lost in Afghanistan,” RAND Corp experts said in a paper scheduled to be released yesterday by the congressionally funded United States Institute of Peace.
“But urgent measures — what might be called ‘game-changing steps’ — are now needed to stem an increasingly violent insurgency,” said authors Seth Jones and C. Christine Fair.
Taliban insurgents have regained ground in Afghanistan and the Obama administration is contemplating doubling troop levels as part of a strategy to reclaim control. Addressing the ongoing war there is one of the administration’s top priorities.
Obama has been reviewing several options for a troop build up that he and commanders want in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is to sign troop deployment orders after he gets a nod from Obama.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on Monday that Obama would make the decision shortly about how many additional troops to send to Afghanistan.
“Without getting into broad timelines, I don’t think this is anything that involves weeks,” Gibbs said, underscoring that Obama’s move would come shortly.
Gibbs noted that US envoy Richard Holbrooke is in the region talking with leaders about how best to address the situation. Obama also has met with military leaders and his foreign policy advisers, both at the Defense and State departments.
An opponent of the “surge” of US forces that is now credited with turning around the Iraq War, Obama has taken a cautious approach to the addition of forces in Afghanistan. He is expected to initially approve only part of a military request for as many as 30,000 forces this year, while military and civilian advisers revamp US war goals.
The RAND report adds to the growing consensus among officials and private analysts that sending more troops to the now seven-year-old war will mean little without a new strategy.
RAND REPORT
It faults international donors for not delivering all the aid promised. It says strategies are splintered and some efforts have been counterproductive because nations working there don’t even agree on whether the biggest threat is al-Qaeda, the skyrocketing drug trade, or other issues.
The report says efforts to build a police force have been disappointing, and that work to disarm former combatants and militias is “all but moribund.” It notes that US intelligence indicates Afghan officials are involved in the drug trade; traffickers have bought off hundreds of police chiefs, judges and officials. It suggests the immediate firing of corrupt officials.
“The United States and its international allies must re-examine their core objectives in Afghanistan,” it said, adding that the first priority must be stopping the use of Afghanistan and Pakistan as a base for terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Officials also must stop hoping they can build a central Afghan government strong enough to keep order across Afghanistan, the report said.
It asserted that such a goal goes against the country’s history, and it recommended that tribes and local organizations must be fostered as well.
“It is unlikely the United States and NATO will defeat the Taliban and other insurgent groups in Afghanistan,” the report also said. So any additional troops sent should be used to mentor Afghan security forces on how to control the country themselves, it said.
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