politics

WASHINGTON - The U.S. general in charge of the Afghan war assured lawmakers on Tuesday that an additional 30,000 troops, combined with changes in strategy, would trigger a change on the ground before U.S. forces start to come home in 18 months. "By the summer of 2011, it will be clear to the Afghan people that the insurgency will not win, giving them the chance to side with their government," said Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Despite such assurances, members of the House and Senate armed services committees used an appearance by McChrystal -- as well as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry -- to press for answers on what would happen in July 2011 when the 30,000 forces that President Obama recently committed to sending to Afghanistan began their gradual withdrawal.

Republicans, in particular, maintained that by setting a firm date to begin withdrawal the administration could send the wrong signal to the Afghan people, who are wary of throwing their support behind a teetering Afghan government and a U.S. security force that they feared would eventually leave the country.

"What would you say to Afghans, Pakistanis and others in the region who may not feel like hedging their bets or sitting on the fence because they doubt American's commitment and resolve?" Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., asked.

Republicans and Democrats also probed for signs of rancor between McChrystal, who sent out urgent calls for additional troops, and Eikenberry, who expressed reservations about the timing and size of the escalation in two classified cables to Washington in November.

Even before he was asked by lawmakers, Eikenberry sought to knock down rumors of tension in the U.S. command team in Kabul. "I want to say from the outset that General McChrystal and I are united in a joint effort where civilian and military personnel work together every day," he said. He also gave his full backing to the president's decision to send in more soldiers and Marines to reverse the deteriorating security situation in the country.

Meanwhile, some Democrats, including Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., leaned on McChrystal and Eikenberry to speed the development of the Afghan army and police forces so that U.S. forces might be able to reduce their numbers even faster in areas of the country that are more stable.

Current plans call for an Afghan army of about 170,000 troops by July 2011, up from the current 95,000. Military officials say that because of poor pay and absenteeism as few as 52,000 soldiers regularly show up for work.

In Kabul, questions about when the Afghan army and police forces would be able to take over primary security responsibilities also dominated a press conference between Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Karzai cautioned that the Afghan government would not be able to bankroll its security forces for at least 15 to 20 years. As a visibly uncomfortable Gates stood next to him, Karzai added that with "maximum effort" Afghanistan "hopefully" could take responsibility for security in the entire country within five years.