Afghan war primary focus: Mullen

NEW YORK: The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff said Monday the United States was still ‘not done’ in Iraq but that the military's primary focus was now the war in Afghanistan.
‘You have turned it around in Iraq,’ Admiral Mike Mullen told several hundred soldiers at the Fort Drum US Army base in New York state.
‘A year or two ago we were not in a situation where it looked like we could succeed. Now we are,’ Mullen said referring to the US surge of troops credited in part for improved security in Iraq.
But he added: ‘We're not done in Iraq. Al-Qaeda is still there, still a problem, although greatly diminished.’

Mullen said he was hopeful the number of US troops in Iraq could be reduced over the next few months but that more forces would be needed in Afghanistan to fight a spreading insurgency.
‘Our focus is shifting from Iraq to Afghanistan,’ he told enlisted men and women of the 10th Mountain Division, which has deployed large numbers of soldiers to Iraq.
‘It's gotten worse in Afghanistan. Violence is up. The Taliban is back. More than anything else there's governance issue which is not going well.’

The admiral said while he anticipated more troops would be sent to Afghanistan as requested by the commander of US forces there, it was unlikely the force would surpass a total of about 66,000 —nearly double the roughly 36,000 now deployed there.
‘From my perspective right now, I don't see us growing a force well beyond the 20,000 to 30,000 (additional troops) for Afghanistan,’ he said.
Officials have said the military has prepared for the possible deployment of three combat brigades, about 10,000 to 12,000 soldiers, to Afghanistan.

Mullen's comment indicated the US presence in Afghanistan would not expand to a level similar to the force in Iraq, where about 144,000 troops are deployed.
He said military means alone could not defeat the insurgents in Afghanistan, but that like Iraq ensuring security for the population was a vital precondition to other efforts by the State Department and other agencies.
‘The military side of this (is) a necessary condition without which success cannot be generated,’ he said.
Mullen said Afghanistan in some ways presented a ‘tougher fight than Iraq,’ citing complex tribal politics and al-Qaeda safe havens along the border with Pakistan