# McChrystal discusses progress in Afghanistan

/ Published March 17, 2010

WASHINGTON (March 17, 2010) –  The commander of NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan said today he is  pleased with the progress in the country so far while acknowledging that  much more needs to be done.

                         Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said military operations in Helmand  province have been promising, and that efforts to build the Afghan  government in the province are the key to long-term success. McChrystal  and Ambassador Mark Sedwill, the senior NATO civilian representative in  Afghanistan, spoke to Pentagon reporters from Kabul. The  “clearing” portion of the battle against insurgents in Helmand  continues, even as the “hold” and “build” portions of the  counterinsurgency strategy are instituted. The general said the  coalition will work in partnership with the Afghan government to deliver  essential services to these areas. “But this will be a long  process, and there will be military challenges in the months ahead as  the insurgents try to prove that we can’t maintain enough security to do  that,” McChrystal added. The coalition will bring more security  to Kandahar next, the general said. The second-largest city in  Afghanistan and the philosophical home of the Taliban is incredibly  important to success in the country, he told reporters. The  Kandahar area is far more complex than Helmand, he said, and the  coalition and Afghan government have begun shaping operations in and  around the metropolis and the surrounding area in preparation for an  offensive. More coalition and Afghan troops will be fed into the area as  time goes on, he said. Sedwill said military operations have  regained the initiative, and operations now must move to more  civilian-oriented ones to resolve political tensions and grievances that  fuel the insurgency and to rebuild and reinforce institutions in which  the Afghan people have lost confidence. “We haven't made enough  progress in the past eight years in rebuilding them,” he said, “but we  need to really strengthen them – and strengthen them now – to win over  the people’s allegiance ... to their own government.” Turning to  other areas of Afghanistan, McChrystal said he had traveled to Mazar-e  Sharif in Regional Command North. “Although security there is relatively  better than it would be, for example, in the south,” he said, “there  are still effective and focused operations to partner to make that  work.” He also said he’d visited a Norwegian provincial  reconstruction team working to repair the Ring Road around the country.  “There are going to be ongoing operations in the weeks and months ahead  there to maintain or to make progress there,” he said, “but also to  increase security along the existing parts of the Ring Road, and then  also the push for completion of that last section.” The general  added that he observed a Turkish medical capabilities operation in  Kabul, and he praised the way the Turks bonded with the people. He also  traveled to Ghazni, where he said the scope of the task remaining shows  itself. “While the people are not negative to our forces or the  Afghan national security forces, we also, to this point, have not been  able to offer the kind of security that allows the people to make a full  decision,” McChrystal said. “One man spoke to us for a little while,  and then said, ‘I’m going to get a night letter [from the Taliban]  tonight, because I’m talking to you.’” Taliban insurgents in  Afghanistan have delivered such intimidating “night letters” or leaflets  to citizens they suspect of collaborating with coalition troops or  Afghan security forces and government officials. Though the Taliban  aren’t plentiful in Ghazni, the general said, they have enough of a  presence to cause problems. Overall, McChrystal and Sedwill  said, they are pleased with the progress that has been achieved in  Afghanistan so far, but there is tough work to come. Kandahar will  remain a focus, they said, but so will other areas in the eastern and  southern regional commands. Training the Afghan security forces  is key to beginning a coalition withdrawal from Afghanistan, McChrystal  said, acknowledging that the coalition has yet to provide enough  trainers. Calls have gone through NATO and international channels to  obtain more, he said. Overall, the civilian efforts and the  Afghans themselves ultimately will ensure progress in Afghanistan,  Sedwill said. “Remember the complexity of this campaign,” the  ambassador said. “We’ve tended to focus ... on the military elements of  it, but the military elements of it are not going to deliver success  here unless we get the political elements right,” he said.