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Government

Obama rids America's military of yet another top general

2013-07-01

[NEWS.INVESTORS] Barack Obama I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go... cashiered yet another battle-seasoned American general Tuesday, even as the war in Afghanistan continues along with numerous other serious global threats to United States security. This is the fourth senior officer Obama has forced from the country's service. All four were tied somehow to the Afghanistan mess that Obama has long argued was the most important war. Each departure was staged as a resignation. They were usually tied to some personal indiscretions to save face for Obama, who would know of indiscretions as a product of the corrupt reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ... home of Al Capone, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel,... Democrat machine. There was Gen. David McKiernan, the four-star who lead U.S. ground forces during the successful lightning Iraq invasion. He was asked to resign command of allied forces in Afghanistan just four months into Obama's presidency in 2009. Never fully explained, but the implication was administration dissatisfaction with the war's progress. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a special ops veteran who was McKiernan's successor. He resigned when his staff was quoted making derogatory comments to an embedded journalist about the administration in general and VP Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... in particular. If mocking Megamind Biden is worthy of resignation, then most of America needs to step down by lunch today. Gen. David Petraeus, the archictect of the surge and successful counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq, was demoted from Central Command to return to lead the Afghan war. After that successful tour Obama named him director of the Central Intelligence Agency, which required his military resignation after nearly four decades of service. Obama and Biden were too busy to attend the traditional farewell ceremonies for such a general officer across town. But they were willing to let Petraeus take a large part of the fall for their unexplained absences during the 9/11 terror attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi and denied the consulate's repeated pleas for rescue. Then somehow word got out that Petraeus, regularly rumored as a Republican presidential candidate someday, had an affair with his biographer. He "offered" to resign and, by golly, Obama felt he had to accept. Now, comes Marine Gen. John Allen, the latest Afghan war commander. He did such a good job in that military quagmire that Obama named him to lead all U.S. and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... forces in Europe. But then somehow word leaked that Allen had engaged in flirtatious e-mail exchanges with a married socialite in Tampa. A Pentagon investigation declined any misconduct charges.

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Home Front: WoT

McChrystal to retire

2010-06-29

General Stanley McChrystal, who was forced to resign in dramatic circumstances last week as commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, has told the army that he will cut his ties with the institution he has spent his adult life serving. An army spokesman said McChrystal, 55, has told notified the army of his plan to retire, but he has not yet submitted formal retirement papers. McChrystal's decision was not unexpected. One of his predecessors, General David McKiernan, was fired as the top commander in Afghanistan in 2009 and left the Army shortly after. Because he didn't serve long enough as a four-star general, his pension will be based on his previous three-star rank. McChrystal graduated from the West Point military academy in 1976, and has spent his entire career in the army.

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Afghanistan

Gates: More US troops could head to Afghanistan

2009-07-17

CHICAGO — The Pentagon's chief said Thursday he could send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year than he'd initially expected and is considering increasing the number of soldiers in the Army. Both issues reflect demands on increasingly stressed American forces tasked with fighting two wars. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' comments came during a short visit to Fort Drum in upstate New York — an Army post that that he said has deployed more soldiers to battle zones over the last 20 years than any other unit. Two Fort Drum brigades are headed to Iraq in coming months, and a third is currently in Afghanistan. Asked about Afghanistan by one soldier, Gates said, "I think there will not be a significant increase in troop levels in Afghanistan beyond the 68,000, at least probably through the end of the year. Maybe some increase, but not a lot." So far, the Obama administration has approved sending 68,000 troops to Afghanistan by the end of 2009, including 21,000 that were added this spring. The White House has wanted to wait until the end of the year before deciding whether to deploy more, but Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said that Gates does not want to discourage his new commander in Kabul, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, from taking a frank look at how many troops he needs. McChrystal, who took over as commander for all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan last month, is expected to advise Washington in the next few weeks on his views of how to win the 8-year war. McChrystal is nearing the end of a 60-day review of troop requirements in Afghanistan, and will soon provide that report to Gates. The former U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, had told Obama that he needed an additional 10,000 troops, beyond the 68,000. The White House had put off that decision until the end of this year. Gates and other military leaders have said they are reluctant to send many more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, because of concerns that a large American footprint there could appear to Afghans as an occupying force. During a question-and-answer session with soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division, Gates also said he is looking at beefing up the Army with more troops. He did not say by how many, or what the plan would cost, but predicted that he'll decide as early as next week. "We are very mindful of stress on the force," he said. Earlier this week, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., filed legislation to authorize the hiring of 30,000 new active-duty Army soldiers for the 2010 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. In a statement, Lieberman called it a "critical first step toward making sure that our military leaders can execute their strategy while also reducing the heavy strain on our soldiers and their families." Most of the 200 soldiers in Thursday's short town hall-style meeting are headed to Iraq later this fall. Their commander, Maj. Gen. Mike Oates, returned from his third tour in Iraq only 50 days ago and said he is working to easing stress on soldiers and their family members who have faced a seemingly revolving door of deployments since 2001. "What we're trying to do is help everybody receive this stress and deal with it better," Oates told reporters. "And there's a lot of room for growth there." Gates stopped at Fort Drum on his way to Chicago, where he gave a feisty speech Thursday evening hammering Congress for trying to tack on billions of dollars for additional F-22 fighter jets to the Pentagon's 2010 spending plan. Troop safety remained on Gates' mind, however, as he told a friendly audience of the Economic Club of Chicago that high Army suicide rates "are a reflection of the stress on the force." Fifty-one soldiers have killed themselves since March 1, the Army reported Thursday. Still, that indicates a tapering of the extremely high numbers of suicides in January and February, when 41 soldiers killed themselves amid intense Army efforts to stem the deaths. "My guess is, ultimately the solution to this problem is where our soldiers have more time at home, where there's less stress and where we are not putting people through four and five rotations in incredibly stressful situations, where it's in Iraq or Afghanistan," Gates said. He also took about 15 minutes of questions from the friendly audience, during which he repeated his belief that the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be closed as President Barack Obama has promised. He also said anew that Pentagon lawyers are looking at whether gay troops who are outed by hostile colleagues can be protected from military discharge until Congress changes the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" law. Isn't that Special.

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Afghanistan

Afghanistan 'surge' will test Obama's military muscle

2009-07-03

It's the moment we've all been waiting for: the launch of the "surge" against the Taliban in Afghanistan. And to judge by the enormous firepower Nato commanders have deployed for Operation Khanjar, or "sword strike", this time the Americans mean business. Four thousand US marines, supported by a further 650 Afghan troops and supplied with the best equipment the American military can provide, have moved into the lower Helmand river valley with the intention of eradicating, once and for all, the threat posed by the Taliban. This is, of course, precisely what the British have been trying to achieve for three years. But a lack of sufficient troops and suitable equipment, such as helicopters, or vehicles that offer effective protection against roadside bombs, has severely hampered the mission. Despite engaging in some of the fiercest hand-to-hand combat since the Second World War, and taking heavy casualties in the process, the Taliban remain as much a threat to the future stability of Afghanistan as they did when the British first deployed in force in the summer of 2006. If British commanders had got their way, an extra 2,500 of our troops would have been sent to Afghanistan this summer to do precisely what the Americans are now doing – taking the fight into the heartland of the insurgency. But Gordon Brown, who has consistently failed to provide effective leadership on this issue, refused the request on grounds of cost. As a consequence, British forces find themselves in the humiliating position of having to watch as the Americans do their job for them. From now on, then, we should regard Afghanistan as Mr Obama's war, for the US offensive represents the American President's first military initiative since entering the White House. Its outcome will have a significant impact on how his presidency is perceived by friends and foes alike. During last year's election campaign, Mr Obama made much of the fact that Afghanistan, not Iraq, should be the main focus of Washington's campaign against Islamist-inspired terrorism – or the War on Terror, as it was known to the Bush administration. He promised to reallocate resources from Iraq, and committed himself "to finishing the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban". And, since coming to power, Mr Obama has been as good as his word. An extra 17,000 US troops have been deployed to support a "mini-surge" similar to the one that finally subdued the Iraq insurgency in the summer of 2007. The President has also taken the drastic step of replacing General David McKiernan, the commander of Nato forces, with Lt Gen Stanley McChrystal, a counter-insurgency specialist who commanded the special forces unit responsible for tracking down Saddam Hussein. Having made military success against the Taliban and al-Qaeda one of his foreign policy priorities, Mr Obama is well aware that he will be judged by the American military's ability to deliver tangible results. The offensive certainly comes at an important moment for him: after nearly six months in office, some of the gloss is starting to wear off the President's image as a man who can revolutionise American politics. Even some of his most dedicated supporters have been disappointed by the concessions he has made to the Democrat-controlled Congress on domestic issues such as climate change and health care, not to mention the mess he made of the economic stimulus bill. Mr Obama has also managed to alienate America's powerful Jewish lobby, which traditionally supports Democrat presidents, after the hard time he gave Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, over the continued construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. More recently, Mr Obama has faced fierce criticism for failing to support the pro-reform protests in Iran following last month's disputed presidential election, and for not putting more pressure on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government over Iran's illicit nuclear programme. His credibility as a successful commander-in-chief of America's armed forces therefore depends to a large extent on the success of his strategy for dealing with the Islamist militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. By appointing the combative Richard Holbrooke as his personal envoy to cover both countries, Mr Obama has initiated a dramatic shift in the West's approach to the conflict. Previously, the main focus of the coalition's effort was the Taliban, and the threat it posed to Afghanistan. Now the military campaign has been extended to include Pakistan, where most of the key commanders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda are based. One of the more welcome features of the new American offensive in Helmand has been the active co-ordination with the Pakistani military to prevent the Taliban relying on their traditional tactic: to disappear across the border when confronted by a superior military force. But this is just one small step in a conflict that many coalition commanders believe could last for a decade or more – which would hardly provide Mr Obama with the boost to his fortunes that he requires.

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Afghanistan

McChrystal Urges Greater Protection of Afghan Civilians

2009-06-25

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan -- U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said that U.S. and other NATO troops must make a "cultural shift" away from being a force designed for high intensity combat and instead make protecting Afghan civilians their first priority. The newly arrived four-star commander said Wednesday he hopes to install a new military mindset by drilling into troops the need to reduce the number of Afghan civilians killed in combat. Gen. McChrystal is expected to formally announce new combat rules within days that will order troops to break away from fights -- if they can do so safely -- if militants are firing from civilian homes. One effect of the new order will be that troops may have to wait out insurgents instead of using force to oust them, he said. "Traditionally American forces are designed for conventional, high-intensity combat," Gen. McChrystal said during a visit to Camp Leatherneck, a new U.S. Marine base housing thousands of newly deployed Marines in southern Helmand province. "In my mind what we've really got to do is make a cultural shift." Because the military is such a big organization, the new message will take "constant repetition," he said. President Hamid Karzai has pleaded with U.S. and NATO forces for years to reduce the number of Afghan villagers killed in combat. Mr. Karzai has long said that such deaths turn civilians away from the government and international forces and toward the Taliban, a point Gen. McChrystal underscored. "When you do anything that harms the people you just have a huge chance of alienating the population," he said. "And so even with the best of intentions, if our operation causes them to lose property or loved ones, there is almost no way somebody cannot be impacted in how they view the government and us, the coalition forces." Thousands of Marines this spring have poured into Helmand, which is the country's most violent province and the world's largest producer of opium poppies. Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency, which has made a violent comeback in the last three years. Gen. McChrystal, who took command of all U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan last week, is making his first visits to regional commanders to outline the new combat rules. He said later that U.S. troops may have been overconfident in the early years of the Afghan conflict after the Taliban regime fell so easily. He said the U.S. may have "oversimplified" the Afghan challenge as a result. Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, the Marine commander at Camp Leatherneck, said his forces were already following Gen. McChrystal's new commands. "Our focus from the very beginning has not been Taliban. It's been civilians," he said. "We've paid a lot of attention to avoiding civilian casualties. ... We have a lot of combat vets, a lot of Iraq vets. And I think we learned early on the importance of trust and support of the locals." He added: "There will be plenty of opportunities to kill Taliban, and we're pretty good at that. Bur the focus here, the reason we're here, is the people, not the Taliban." The Pentagon has asked Gen. McChrystal for a 60-day review of the Afghan war, a review that could result in a recommendation to shift troops to new locations in Afghanistan. Gen. McChrystal said he didn't yet know if he would request more troops. The Pentagon abruptly pulled Gen. McChrystal's predecessor -- Gen. David McKiernan -- out of Afghanistan one year into a two-year assignment. Gen. McChrystal said his deployment did not have a timetable to it, and that he would stay in Afghanistan as long as the Pentagon wanted him there. He refused to give even an estimate of how long that might be, saying: "My wife would kill me if she read something too long. I do think continuity is key, though."

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Afghanistan

US Brings Back Vietnam Era No Fire Zones

2009-06-22

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan will soon formally order U.S. and NATO forces to break away from fights with militants hiding in Afghan houses so the battles do not kill civilians, a U.S. official said Monday. The order would be one of the strongest measures taken by a U.S. commander to protect Afghan civilians in battle. American commanders say such deaths hurt their mission because they turn average Afghans against the government and U.S. and NATO forces. Civilian casualties are a major source of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the U.S. The U.N. says U.S., NATO and Afghan forces killed 829 civilians in the Afghan war last year. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who took command of international forces in Afghanistan this month, has said his measure of effectiveness will be the "number of Afghans shielded from violence," and not the number of militants killed. McChrystal will issue orders within days saying troops may attack insurgents hiding in Afghan houses if the U.S. or NATO forces are in imminent danger and must return fire, said U.S. military spokesman Rear Adm. Greg Smith. "But if there is a compound they're taking fire from and they can remove themselves from the area safely, without any undue danger to the forces, then that's the option they should take," Smith said. "Because in these compounds we know there are often civilians kept captive by the Taliban." McChrystal's predecessor, Gen. David McKiernan, issued rules last fall that told commanders to set conditions "to minimize the need to resort to deadly force." But McChrystal's orders will be more precise and have stronger language ordering forces to break off from battles, Smith said.

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Afghanistan

War in Afghanistan Is Winnable, General Says

2009-06-03

The Obama administration's nominee to run the war in Afghanistan said the conflict was winnable, but acknowledged that American casualties will rise in coming months as the U.S. pushes deeper into Taliban-held parts of the country. Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal told the Senate's Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the 21,000 American reinforcements currently streaming into Afghanistan faced a hard fight and might need two years to achieve measurable progress. "Success will not be quick or easy," he said. "Casualties will likely increase." If confirmed, Gen. McChrystal will need to find ways of avoiding incidents like the U.S. air strikes in Farah Province that killed dozens of Afghan civilians. U.S. officials have rejected Afghan claims that at least 140 Afghans died in the strikes and pegged the civilian death toll at less than 30. But a senior defense official said Tuesday that the continuing investigation into the incident had identified "several potential violations" of the military guidelines designed to minimize civilian casualties. The official said at least two of the strikes should probably have been called off because they didn't involve situations posing imminent risks to American personnel. Gen. McChrystal said U.S. forces would only use airstrikes if the lives of U.S., North Atlantic Treaty Organization or Afghan personnel were at risk. Gen. McChrystal, a veteran of the military's secretive special-operations community, was picked for the job last month after Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed Gen. David McKiernan as the top commander in Afghanistan. At the hearing, Gen. McChrystal said the U.S. needed to shift its focus from killing Taliban fighters to better protecting the Afghan population. The goal would be to make the armed Islamist group "irrelevant," rather than defeating it militarily. Gen. McChrystal is expected to win confirmation, but several lawmakers pressed him about the use of harsh interrogation tactics by special-operations forces under his command. The commander said he was uncomfortable with such techniques and worked to minimize their use.

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Afghanistan

Why the Pentagon Axed Its Afghan Warlord

2009-05-12

Warlord? Well, it is Time. I suppose they could've called him Fuhrer... Public beheadings in Afghanistan are usually associated with the Taliban, but on Monday it was Defense Secretary Robert Gates metaphorically wielding the axe from the Pentagon platform. Gates announced that he had asked for and requested the resignation of his top commander in Afghanistan, Army General David McKiernan, after only 11 months in that theater. The 37-year veteran will be replaced by Army Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal. Army Lieutenant General David Rodriguez, the Defense Secretary's own top military aide, is to serve in a newly created post as McChrystal's deputy. The move was yet another dose of accountability from Gates, who has previously cashiered officers for failing to tend to hospitalized troops or to secure nuclear weapons. But Monday's action was more momentous: It marked the first time a civilian has fired a wartime commander since President Harry Truman ousted General Douglas MacArthur in 1951 for questioning Truman's Korean War strategy. The Obama Administration has made Afghanistan the central front in the war on terror over the past month, it had concluded that McKiernan's tenure there had involved too much wheel-spinning even as the Taliban extended its reach. There was not enough of the "new thinking" demanded by Gates. "It's time for new leadership and fresh eyes," Gates said, refusing to elaborate. He noted that Joints Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, and General David Petraeus, who as chief of U.S. Central Command oversees the Afghan war, had endorsed the move. Officers have typically served about 24 months in the slot, meaning McKiernan had served less than half his expected tour. Military experts anticipate that U.S. policy in Afghanistan more militarily pointed as well as politically deft, once McChrystal and Rodrigues, his 1976 West Point classmate and fellow Afghan vet, are confirmed by the Senate. "McKiernan did his best - he was just the wrong guy," says retired Army officer and military analyst Ralph Peters. "McChrystal will ask for more authority, not more troops." By the end of this year, the U.S. expects to have close to 70,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 21,000 ordered there by Obama. While that's just half the 130,000 troops the U.S. maintains in Iraq, Gates has been leery of sending further reinforcements. McChrystal proved adept at using intelligence to multiply the impact of the troops at his disposal when he commanded U.S. Special Forces in Iraq as they hunted down and killed al-Qaeda leaders such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And unlike what some call McKiernan's "shy" demeanor and his desire - in Army parlance - to "stay inside his lane," McChrystal is eager to take the spotlight. He's also expected to challenge behavior of the Afghan government that undermines the war effort: One official on the Joint Chiefs of Staff expects McChrystal to warn President Hamid Karzai to shut down drug running operations that fund the Taliban, even when their networks run uncomfortably close to his government. "[McChrystal] will tell him: 'If you don't clean this up, I will.' " Not everyone welcomed the change, however. Some viewed McKiernan's firing as unfair, noting that he had inherited command of an under-resourced Afghan theater that had been a secondary priority to Iraq. "In Afghanistan, we do what we can," Mullen himself had said in December 2007. "In Iraq, we do what we must." And while McKiernan was given his Afghan command during the Bush Administration, it had been Gates who had appointed him - at Mullen's recommendation. Gates took pains on Monday to avoid criticizing McKiernan. He told the four-star general that his Army career was effectively over during a face-to-face meeting in Afghanistan last week. "This was a kick in the teeth, but McKiernan took it extraordinarily well," a senior Pentagon official said. Other military officials were less courteous. "I still can't figure out why they put an armored guy with no Afghan experience in charge" one said. A second senior official said "Dave McKiernan is clearly part of the Army's old guard - he led troops in [1991's] Desert Storm, for pete's sake. But if things were going better over there, he'd be staying." Gates has long demonstrated an impatience with war-time commanders who passively wait for the military hierarchy to give them what they need. He was stunned at the military's foot-dragging when he ordered additional armored vehicles and drone aircraft to the Afghan and Iraq wars.Even though McKiernan's dismissal had been in the works prior to Gates' trip to Afghanistan last week (Mullen had warned McKiernan two weeks ago that it was coming), Gates was incensed by some of what he witnessed during that visit. Several troops complained that they lacked basic gear after arriving in Afghanistan. "It is a considerable concern to me," he said last Thursday, brushing off a suggestion that the Taliban or the priority given to Iraq had been to blame for the Afghan shortfalls. "It's more, really, a logistical challenge than it is anything else," Gates said. That, one of the defense chief's top aides said, is an unacceptable failure in a theater of war. "McKiernan never quite figured out how to ensure that he would succeed - he was still too dependent on the organization coming to his rescue," he said. "Sadly, this institution doesn't always do that."

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Afghanistan

US fires top general in Afghanistan as 'war worsens'

2009-05-12

Follow-up. Scare quotes mine. WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama fired the top U.S. general in Afghanistan on Monday, replacing him with a former special forces commander in a quest for a more agile, unconventional approach in a war that has gone quickly downhill. With the Taliban resurgent, Obama's switch from Gen. David McKiernan to Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal suggests the new commander in chief wants major changes in addition to the additional troops he's ordering into Afghanistan to shore up the war effort. McKiernan, on the job for less than a year, has repeatedly pressed for more forces. Although Obama has approved more than 21,000 additional troops this year, he has warned that the war will not be won by military means. Thus laying the groundwork for a grand skadaddle ... Defense Secretary Robert Gates echoed that view at a grim Pentagon news conference announcing the leadership overhaul. "As I have said many times before, very few of these problems can be solved by military means alone," he said. "And yet, from the military perspective, we can and must do better." "It's time for new leadership and fresh eyes." A new team of commanders will now be charged with applying Obama's revamped strategy for challenging an increasingly brutal and resourceful insurgency. The strategy, still a work in progress, relies on the kind of special forces and counterinsurgency tactics McChrystal knows well, as well as nonmilitary approaches to confronting the Taliban. It would hinge success in the seven-year-old war to political and other conditions across the border in Pakistan. Which is just about lost to the Taliban/ISI/military schemers ... McKiernan, named to his post by former President George W. Bush, had expected to serve into next year but was told he was out during Gates' visit to Afghanistan last week. Gates said he asked for McKiernan's resignation "with the approval of the president." The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and McKiernan's military boss, Gen. David Petraeus, both said they supported the switch. The White House said the recommended change came from the Pentagon. "The president agreed with the recommendation of the secretary of defense and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the implementation of a new strategy in Afghanistan called for new military leadership," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement. McChrystal is a former special forces chief credited with nabbing one of the most-wanted fugitives in Iraq. Taking a newly created No. 2 slot under his command will be Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, a veteran of the Afghanistan fight who has been Gates' military shadow, the top uniformed aide who travels with him everywhere. By year's end, the United States will have more than 68,000 troops in the sprawling country -- about double the total at the end of Bush's presidency but still far fewer than the 130,000 still in Iraq. McKiernan and other U.S. commanders have said resources they need in Afghanistan are tied up in Iraq. Although Obama had pledged to add forces in Afghanistan while shutting down the Iraq war, his new administration has sought firmer control over the pace and scope of any new deployments. Gates and Mullen have both warned Obama that a very large influx of U.S. troops would be self-defeating. Asked if McKiernan's resignation would end his military career, Gates said, "Probably." But he praised the general's long service, and when pressed to name anything McKiernan had failed to do, Gates demurred. "Nothing went wrong, and there was nothing specific," he said. Gates, too, was appointed to his position by former President George W. Bush. He noted that the Afghan campaign has long lacked people and money in favor of the Bush administration's focus since 2003 on the Iraq war. "But I believe, resources or no, that our mission there requires new thinking and new approaches from our military leaders," he said. "Today we have a new policy set by our new president. We have a new strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador. I believe that new military leadership also is needed." McKiernan issued a short statement in Kabul. "All of us, in any future capacity, must remain committed to the great people of Afghanistan," McKiernan said. "They deserve security, government that meets their expectations, and a better future than the last 30 years of conflict have witnessed." In June 2006 Bush congratulated McChrystal for his role in the operation that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. As head of the special operations command, McChrystal's forces included the Army's clandestine counterterrorism unit, Delta Force. He drew criticism for his role in the military's handling of the friendly fire shooting of Army Ranger Pat Tillman -- a former NFL star -- in Afghanistan. An investigation at the time found that McChrystal was "accountable for the inaccurate and misleading assertions" contained in papers recommending that Tillman get a Silver Star award. McChrystal acknowledged he had suspected several days before approving the Silver Star citation that Tillman might have died by fratricide, rather than enemy fire. He sent a memo to military leaders warning them of that, even as they were approving Tillman's Silver Star. Still, he told investigators he believed Tillman deserved the award.

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Afghanistan

Top Commander in Afghanistan to be Replaced

2009-05-11

Anyone know if something is behind this, or is it just a normal rotation? Gen. David McKiernan is out as the Defense Department implements a new strategy for Afghanistan, a senior defense official told FOX News on Monday. The announcement is expected to be made by Defense Secretary Robert Gates at an afternoon Pentagon briefing. McKiernan has been the top general for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The official who spoke on condition of anonymity as the announcement had not yet been made characterized the decision as one that was not McKiernan's and said McKiernan is not stepping down, but is being replaced. "We have a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and with that it is appropriate to have a fresh set of eyes, new leadership to execute that strategy," the official said. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, current head of Special Operations Command, is said to be the replacement, according to this official. Some role may also be offered to Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, Gates' top military adviser.

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Afghanistan

Afghan Officials: Civilians Killed in U.S.-Led Airstrike

2009-05-05

KABUL — Bombing runs by U.S.-led coalition jets killed dozens of civilians taking shelter from a fierce ground battle between Taliban militants and Afghan and international forces, two Afghan officials said Tuesday. The U.S. confirmed fighting Monday in western Afghanistan and said reports of civilian deaths were under investigation. One Afghan official said angry and mournful villagers transported an estimated 30 bodies to a provincial capital to show officials. Other officials estimated the civilian toll to be between 70 and 100. Civilian deaths have caused increasing friction between the Afghan government and the U.S., and President Hamid Karzai has long pleaded with U.S. officials to reduce the number of civilian casualties in their operations. Karzai meets with President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday. Taliban fighters massed in Farah province in western Afghanistan on Monday, and fighting broke out soon after, said Belqis Roshan, a member of Farah's provincial council. Villagers told Afghan officials that they put children, women, and elderly men in several housing compounds away from the fighting to keep them safe. But the villagers said fighter aircraft later targeted those compounds in the village of Gerani, killing a majority of those inside, Roshan and other officials said. Abdul Basir Khan, a member of Farah's provincial council, said villagers brought bodies, including women and children, to Farah city to show the province's governor. Khan said it was difficult to count the bodies because they had had been badly mutilated, but he estimated that villagers brought around 30. Estimates of the total number of dead varied widely, and no officials were able to travel to Bala Baluk on Tuesday because the region is so dangerous. Afghan officials, citing villager accounts, were told that the death toll ranged between 70 and well over 100. Roshan said she told villagers to take photos and video of the destruction and bodies. The top U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan, Col. Greg Julian, confirmed U.S. coalition forces participated in the battle. Julian said several wounded Afghans sought medical treatment at a military base in Farah, but officials were still investigating the reports of civilian deaths. The issue of civilian deaths is complicated. Journalists and human rights workers can rarely visit remote battle sites to verify claims of civilian casualties. U.S. officials say Taliban militants sometimes force villagers to falsely claims that civilians have died to support its information warfare campaign. But the villagers' claims on Tuesday were bolstered by wounded villagers who traveled to Farah's hospital for care, some of whom told stories of multiple family members being killed. And the several truckloads of bodies taken to Farah city added more weight to the villagers' claims. Mohammad Nieem Qadderdan, the former top official in the district of Bala Baluk, said he saw dozens of bodies when he visited the village of Gerani. "These houses that were full of children and women and elders were bombed by planes. It is very difficult to say how many were killed because nobody can count the number, it is too early," Qadderdan, who no longer holds a government position, told The Associated Press by telephone. "People are digging through rubble with shovels and hands." Farah's provincial police chief said 25 Taliban fighters and three Afghan policemen died in the fighting. "Afghan and foreign forces conducted an operation between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. (Monday). They have killed more than 25 Taliban. Most of the dead bodies are there," Abdul Ghafar said. He could not confirm reports of civilian casualties. Qadderdan said there "are more than 100 civilians dead" and about 10 houses were destroyed. He said the wounded Afghans had been severely burned. Qadderdan's numbers were not immediately confirmed by any other official. Qadderdan said the civilian casualties were "worse than Azizabad," a reference to an August 2008 strike in a district immediately to the north of Bala Baluk. An Afghan government commission found that an operation by U.S. forces killed 90 civilians in Azizabad, a finding backed by the U.N. The U.S. originally said no civilians died; a high-level investigation later concluded 33 civilians were killed. After the Azizabad killings, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, announced a directive last September meant to reduce such deaths. He ordered commanders to consider breaking away from a firefight in populated areas rather than pursue militants into villages.

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Afghanistan

McKiernan meets tribes ahead of Afghan surge

2009-04-11

KANDAHAR: The top US general in Afghanistan, Gen David McKiernan, is reaching out to influential Afghan tribesmen in regions where US troops will soon deploy, apologising for past mistakes and saying he is now studying the holy Quran. As the battle manual for the opposition ... McKiernan met villagers in Helmand and Kandahar - two of Afghanistan’s most violent provinces - in an attempt to foster good will ahead of the US troop surge that will send 21,000 more forces here this summer to stem an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency. He said he wanted to explain to the tribal elders some of the mistakes US forces have made in the past.

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