Gates sees Afghanistan progress despite challenges
 By Gerry Gilmore , American Forces Press Service
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 WASHINGTON (June 20, 2010) –     Though  U.S. operations in Afghanistan are proving to be a “tough pull,” as was  predicted, progress is being made nonetheless, Defense Secretary Robert  M. Gates told “Fox News Sunday” host  Chris Wallace. And, Gates emphasized, it’s much too early in the process to  evaluate whether or not the Afghanistan mission is succeeding. Besides Afghanistan, Gates and Wallace also discussed oil spill mitigation efforts in the Gulf, UN sanctions against Iran, the repeal of  the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, and the defense budget. Gates  said Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, noted at the NATO defense ministerial meetings held June  10-11 in Brussels, Belgium, that headway was being made in Afghanistan. “Gen. McChrystal briefed in detail on the Marja operation as well as on  Kandahar,” Gates said. “And, the  bottom line was: progress is being made. It’s [just] somewhat slower  than anticipated.” The operation in Kandahar, the spiritual home  of the Taliban, has been underway for a  number of weeks, Gates said. Meanwhile, not all of the 30,000  additional U.S. troops tabbed to participate in the Afghan “surge” have  arrived in country. “And, so what is taking more time is the  shaping of the environment before we actually engage with troops and so  on,” Gates explained. “And so I think that it is a ‘tough pull,’ and we  are suffering significant casualties. “We expected that,” he  continued, “We’d warned everybody that would be the case last winter;  that as we went into areas that the Taliban had controlled for two or  three years that our casualties would grow - especially this summer.” Nonetheless, Gates said, McChrystal’s message to the NATO defense  ministers was that the general “will be able to demonstrate by December  that we not only have the right strategy, but that we are making  progress” in Afghanistan. July 2011 is the transition date when  coalition forces start to turn over responsibility for security to the  Afghan National Security Forces. Gates said he believes the Afghan army and police “will be ready to  assume primarily responsibility for security in certain areas of  Afghanistan, certainly by a year from this coming July.” Meanwhile, he said, the Afghan army is meeting its recruiting quotas and  is building toward fielding 134,000 soldiers by this fall. The Afghan army’s attrition and retention  rates, he added, are both above expectations. And, though there  may be instances of corruption among some in the Afghan army’s ranks,  Gates said, the majority of Afghan troops are performing well in  operations alongside U.S. and allied forces. “We clearly understand that in July of 2011 we begin to drawdown our  forces” in Afghanistan, Gates said. And, both the pace at which that  drawdown is conducted and the numbers of troops involved, he added, will  be based on conditions on the ground. McChrystal and senior Afghan  government and NATO officials, he said, will work together in assessing  those conditions as they make their recommendations. Gates said  he perceives “a rush to judgment” by some of the effectiveness of the  new Afghanistan strategy, noting the strategy has only been in place for  four or five months. About 10,000 troops, he said, have yet to deploy  to Afghanistan to participate in “surge” operations, while President Barack Obama has said that he’ll  evaluate the effectiveness of the mission in December. “We are  still in the middle of getting all of the right components into place  [in Afghanistan],” Gates said, adding it’ll take “a little time to have  this work.” Changing topics, Wallace asked Gates if there was  anything more the Defense Department could do to assist in efforts to  mitigate the effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Gates said the Pentagon has authorized the mobilization  of up to 17,500 National Guard troops  in the four states most-impacted by the spill. However, Gates  acknowledged, the U.S. military doesn’t possess the kinds of equipment  or specific expertise needed to become more involved in oil mitigation  efforts. Nonetheless, he said, the Pentagon stands ready to do whatever  else it can. Turning to Iran,  Gates observed that imposing additional UN economic  sanctions against the Iranian government “has real potential” to  deter it from developing nuclear weapons. “I think you have a reasonable chance of getting the Iranian regime,  finally, to come to their senses and realize their security is probably  more in danger by going forward [toward developing nuclear weapons],”  Gates said. The United States and its allies “do not accept the  idea of Iran having nuclear weapons,”  he continued, “and our policies and our efforts are all aimed at  preventing that from happening.” Gates acknowledged that all  options remain on the table to dissuade Iran from developing nuclear arms. Meanwhile, he added, there  still is “some time to continue working this problem” through diplomacy. The secretary also discussed the Pentagon’s review to understand the  implications of a possible repeal of the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t  Tell” law that bans gays and lesbians from openly serving in the U.S.  military. President Obama has called on Congress to repeal the law. “The president has made his decision,” Gates said, noting the  department’s review aims to formulate how to implement the change and to  discern any obstacles, problems, challenges and other issues involved  in changing the law and how to mitigate any negative consequences.  Meanwhile, military members and their families are being asked about  their feelings about changing the DADT law. “And I feel it is  very important for the military to have the opportunity to weigh in, to  register their views on these issues and to give us help on how to do  this ‘smart,’ should the legislation pass,” Gates said. Turning  to the fiscal 2011 defense budget request being crafted on Capitol Hill,  Gates said it “would be a very serious mistake” for people to believe  that Obama would not veto budget legislation that would make the  Pentagon buy a second engine for the F-35  Joint Strike Fighter or continue production of the C-17 cargo  plane, both of which the defense secretary asserts the military doesn’t  need. On a related topic, Gates urged U.S. legislators to pass  the department’s supplemental budget request by the Fourth of July Congressional recess. The  $159 billion supplemental request contained within the fiscal 2011  defense budget funds overseas contingency operations, including the wars  in Afghanistan and Iraq, while  another $33 billion is required in fiscal 2010 to fund President Obama’s  new Afghanistan strategy. If the supplemental isn’t passed  before the Fourth of July recess, the secretary said, the Pentagon will  need to plan to make decisions that would negatively impact  servicemembers and department civilians by early- to mid-August, in  order to contend with major financial disruptions caused by the lack of  supplemental monies. And, regarding Wallace’s question to Gates  whether he’ll stay on as defense secretary after the first of next year,  the defense secretary replied, “We’ll just see.”