Gates warns against sending too many US forces to Afghanistan

WASHINGTON - Amid preparations for a major US troop build up in Afghanistan, Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned that the United States cannot become bogged down in the unrealistic goal of turning the country into an economically prosperous nation.
Instead, the US must limit its focus to what it can achieve within five years, he said. The focus should be trying to ensure terrorists don't regain control of the region and use it to coordinate attacks, Gates told the House and Senate armed services committees.He also indicated that military strikes against terrorist targets in Pakistan are likely to continue, despite Islamabad's view that they are unhelpful.
"If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhallah over there, we will lose because nobody in the world has that kind of time, patience or money to be honest," said Gates, referring to the mythic haven of purity.Gates testified as President Barack Obama considers options for drawing down operations in Iraq and doubling the force size in Afghanistan. Obama planned to meet today with the service chiefs.Gates told lawmakers that the Pentagon could send two more brigades to Afghanistan by late spring and a third by mid-summer in an effort to try to salvage a country besieged by corruption and increasing violence.More troops could be sent after that but a decision would hinge on the Defence Department's ability to build a larger infrastructure, he added. Gates cautioned against sending too many forces because he said it could send the wrong message and Afghan citizens must see their own security forces take control.When asked by Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican and a frequent visitor to the region, whether he expects casualties to rise with the increase in military operations, Gates responded that it was "likely.""Bottom line is this is going to be tough," Graham said."This is going to be difficult and in many ways harder than Iraq. Do you agree with that?"
"Yes," Gates responded.
Gates indicated that going after terrorists in Pakistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan, would remain part of the equation to improving security in the region.
"Let me just say both President Bush and President Obama have made clear that we will go after al-Qaida wherever al-Qaida is and we will continue to pursue them," Gates said.On Guantanamo Bay, Gates played down suggestions that Obama's order to close the military prison within one year would risk the release of terrorists.He said Congress must remember that the vast majority of detainees can be tried by the United State or sent to other countries for prosecution.There are a relatively small number of detainees that will be difficult to prosecute, and the administration will have to address that problem, he said."I can't imagine a situation in which detainees in Guantanamo considered a danger to the people of the United States would simply be released," he told the House Armed Services Committee.Further, Gates said, the deadline was necessary because otherwise "we would kick that can down the road endlessly".His remarks undercut efforts by some Republicans to cast Obama's decision as misstep in the war on terror.On Iraq, the defence chief said the Pentagon is preparing for Obama various scenarios for winding down the war, including a plan that would cease US involvement in combat within 16 months. Gates said military planners are looking at later dates as well and are prepared to brief Obama on all his options and the their associated risks."I believe the president will have had every opportunity to hear quite directly from his commanders about what they can accomplish and what the attendant risks are under different options," Gates said.Gates said he does not expect the military build-up in Afghanistan to put an additional strain on troops. By the end of September, soldiers deployed for 12 months should be allowed 15 months at home. In the 2010 budget year, that ratio will stretch further, giving troops two years at home for every one year deployed. By 2011, they should see 30 months at home, he said.It was his first hearing since Obama took office and lawmakers were eager to hear details about how the administration plans to turn around the war in Afghanistan."This is a long, hard slog we're in in Afghanistan," said Senator John McCain, borrowing the phrase used frequently by former Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to describe the war in Iraq."It is complex," added McCain, the top Republican on the Armed Services panel."It is challenging. And I don't see frankly an Anbar wakening - a game changing event - in Afghanistan, such as we were able to see in Iraq."Security gains made in Iraq's Anbar province are often seen as a turning point in the Iraq war.Having recently undergone an operation to repair a damaged tendon in his left arm, Gates spoke with his arm in a sling, his coat half on.Obama has vowed to shift military resources away from Iraq and move them toward Afghanistan and Pakistan, which he says is the central front in the struggle against terrorism and extremism.In a plan initiated during the Bush administration and endorsed by Obama, the Pentagon is planning to double the 34,000 contingent of US forces in Afghanistan.