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Gates details plans for deployment, dwell time

The Pentagon will be able to send two more brigade combat teams to Afghanistan by late spring, another by mid-summer and more troops once adequate infrastructure is in place, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

But Gates said he would be “deeply skeptical” of any proposals to increase troop strength in Afghanistan beyond 30,000 additional troops requested by Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. commander there, saying the Afghan security forces must take the lead in the nation’s security.

“There must be an Afghan face on this war,” Gates said.

Gates called Afghanistan, where 32,000 U.S. troops currently serve, America’s “greatest military challenge.” He also said that tough days could lie ahead for U.S. troops in Iraq, and that leaders will have to “have the courage to make hard choices” on major weapons systems spending, Gates said.

Gates also brought the committee good news for Army troops and families, providing for the first time a timeline for boosting rest and recuperation time back home. Soldiers now are deployed for 12 months and return home for 12 months; Gates said he expects to increase so-called “dwell time” at home for brigade combat teams to 15 months by October, to two years by October 2010 and 30 months by the end of fiscal 2011.

The changes continue a reversal of dwell time that began in 2007, when Gates increased Army Iraq deployment lengths to 15 months with 12 months back home — which often turned out to be less in reality. Last spring, the Bush administration, on the Pentagon’s recommendation, returned to a 1:1 ratio, shortening future deployments to 12 months with 12 months back home.

With his left arm wrapped following surgery for a torn ligament suffered in a holiday slip, Gates made his first appearance before Congress following his transition from serving under President Bush to the new administration of President Obama. Since he does not require Senate confirmation, Gates instead provided an overview of challenges the Pentagon faces and his priorities for the coming year.

He warned while that there is no purely military solution to the war in Afghanistan, there are still not enough U.S. and NATO troops to provide a “baseline level of security … a vacuum that has been increasingly filled by the Taliban.” America’s strategic objectives, he said, should be the removal of safe havens in Afghanistan for insurgent extremists, and an Afghan population that both rejects the Taliban and supports the elected government.

Americans also need to understand that there may not be a key turning point in Afghanistan, such as the 2006 decision of Sunni tribes in Iraq to join forces with the U.S. against the insurgency, said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

“The American people must understand this is a long, hard slog we’re in in Afghanistan,” said McCain, the committee’s ranking member. “I don’t see, frankly, an Anbar awakening, a game-changing event in Afghanistan. I think the American people need to understand what’s at stake … that this is going to take a long time.”

Gates said the recent strategic agreement with Iraq and imminent provincial elections are signs of progress, but he added that while the U.S. involvement in Iraq is “winding down … there may be hard days ahead for our troops.”

Gates also warned of tough spending choices ahead.

He called for restoring what he called the Pentagon’s depleted acquisition staff, for tailored spending cuts that “avoid across the board adjustments” and the procurement of less-costly systems.

“We will pursue greater quantities of systems that represent the 75 percent solution instead of smaller quantities of 99 percent exquisite systems,” Gates said.

One senator said the widespread U.S. economic crisis calls for more spending, not less. “If we truly want to stimulate the economy, there’s no better way to do it,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.

According to defense officials, the full 2010 defense budget request likely will be delayed, possibly until April, while the Obama administration fleshes out its proposal. The annual defense budget request usually goes to Congress in early February.

In addition to hearing from Gates, the committee also unanimously approved, by voice vote, the nominations of 654 military officers for promotion.