Military News, News From Iraq & Afghanistan - Military Times

Afghanistan mission is long term, Gates says

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that while the continued drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq is inevitable, that will not result in a “one-for-one” increase of troop strength in neighboring Afghanistan — even though more troops than previously announced will likely be sent there to combat insurgents, train security forces and help develop the rugged, impoverished nation.

The Bush administration has already announced that two new brigades will arrive in Afghanistan by February and three more will be ready, at the next president’s option, by the spring and summer.

In a speech Monday to students at the National Defense University in Washington, Gates said the U.S. presence in Afghanistan is long term.

“Given its terrain, poverty, neighborhood, and tragic history, Afghanistan, in many ways, poses an even more complex and difficult long-term challenge than Iraq, one that despite a large international effort will require a significant American military and economic commitment for some time,” Gates said.

The continued reduction of troop strength in Iraq is such a sure thing, Gates said, that “about the only argument you hear now is about the pacing of the drawdown.”

Even so, he added, regardless of who is elected president in November, “there will continue to be some kind of American advisory and counterterrorism effort in Iraq for years to come,” Gates said.

Gates also said international economic and diplomatic pressure is probably the best course to continue pursuing with Iran, that Russia’s invasion of Georgia does not mean it wants to dominate the world and that China “is a competitor, not an adversary.”

Iran, which U.S. officials say continues to develop uranium enrichment capability in a quest for nuclear weapons — charges that Iranian leaders deny — poses a particularly difficult foreign relations challenge because its leadership refuses to deal with the U.S.

“The Iranian leadership has been consistently unyielding, over a very long period of time, in response to repeated overtures from the United States about having a different and better kind of relations,” Gates said. “And it seems to me that the effort that we are now engaged in, with our allies, with Russia and China, in terms of trying to bring pressure to bear on the Iranians and change their approach to the rest of the world, is probably the best way to go about this.”

Gates, a former CIA chief with a doctorate in Russian studies, noted the images of Russian tanks and artillery barreling into neighboring Georgia that played on televisions around the world.

But, he said, “Before we can begin re-arming for another Cold War, remember that what’s driving Russia is a desire to exorcise past humiliation and dominate their ‘near-abroad’ — not an ideologically driven campaign to dominate the globe.”

He also said that while some paint China’s military and economic growth as a growing threat to the U.S., it is not.

“China is a great power,” Gates said. “I don’t think China is an enemy. I think if we pursue the wrong policy, we could make them one. And I think that would be a serious mistake.”

China’s military, Gates said, is not growing inordinately.

“I think we have to be realistic about the military modernization programs that are going on in China,” Gates said. “And we have to be in a position to develop countermeasures to maintain both our technological and our strategic edge. But the reality is, the Chinese, as best I can tell from everything I’ve read, have learned well the lessons of the Soviet Union” — that “excessive military spending has significant economic consequences.”

“The Chinese seem to be relatively content with a relatively modest number of intercontinental ballistic missiles, as an example. China is building up other military capabilities as well, such as its submarine fleet. But in the context of their economy, it is not a disproportionate amount of effort that they are promoting.”

Despite the other challenges facing the U.S., Gates said success in Iraq and Afghanistan remain paramount.

“To fail or to be seen to fail in either Iraq or Afghanistan would be a disastrous blow to our credibility both among our friends and allies and among potential adversaries,” he said.

Gates wouldn’t bite, however, when the final questioner he called upon following his speech, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, asked about the Middle East wars with the election campaign in mind.

Noting the differing positions of the two presidential candidates, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, on Iraq and Afghanistan, the officer asked: “Given the resource limitations and the risks involved, do you ultimately see much of a difference in their approach, regardless of which one takes office?”

The crowd laughed at the politically loaded question. Gates paused, looked out over the filled-to-capacity auditorium, and replied, “Thank you very much.”