Former top general in Afghanistan urges shift in U.S. effort

U.S. troops in Afghanistan should shift from their current positions astride the mountainous northeastern border with Pakistan to the southern part of the country, around Kandahar, where the security situation has sharply deteriorated in recent years, the former top American commander in the country told lawmakers on Wednesday.

Retired Army Gen. David Barno, who commanded all military forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to early 2005, urged a redrawing of U.S. and NATO military boundaries in Afghanistan that would play to each force's strengths. He also said a higher ranking American general should be sent to Afghanistan, and argued that a closer connection is needed between U.S. military commanders and the U.S. ambassador to the country.

Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee, Barno said NATO forces, with their expertise in peacekeeping and stability operations, are more suited to the relatively quiet northern half of Afghanistan. U.S. troops, he said, are better able to conduct "robust counterinsurgency operations," and should be deployed to the southern half of the country, where Taliban insurgents are most active.

Recent comments by Defense Secretary Robert Gates that NATO forces were not well trained for counterinsurgency operations caused a stir in European capitals and underscored the tensions that exist over the NATO-led effort in Afghanistan. Gates later said his comments were taken out of context.

Gates had urged NATO members to send more troops to Afghanistan, but was rebuffed. The Pentagon subsequently announced that an additional 3,200 U.S. Marines would be sent to Afghanistan this spring to bolster the 25,000 U.S. troops already in the country.

Some 25,000 NATO troops also currently serve in Afghanistan, but many of these, including French, German, Italian and Spanish forces deployed in the north, are subject to home country regulations limiting their involvement in combat operations. The heaviest burden is shouldered by British, Dutch and Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan, which have suffered heavy casualties fighting Taliban insurgents.

Barno said that when NATO took over operations in Afghanistan in 2005, many of its member countries believed their troops were being sent there on a peacekeeping mission. Since then, violence has escalated dramatically. In 2004, there were 900 attacks in Afghanistan, Barno said. Last year, there were 8,950. Roadside bomb attacks in 2004 totaled 325, compared to 1,469 in 2007. Only three suicide bombings occurred in 2004, compared to 130 in 2007.

Barno said that as the top military commander in Afghanistan he had close ties with the U.S. ambassador, and together they functioned as the "engine" of an international military and political effort. "We had an integrated political, military, economic, social [and] security strategy for Afghanistan," he said. "That doesn't exist today."

Barno said beneath the overall NATO command, there should be a tightly connected American layer made up of the top U.S. military commander, at least a three-star general located in Kabul, and the U.S. ambassador, to coordinate nationwide counterinsurgency efforts. Army Gen. Dan McNeil currently serves as NATO's top commander in Afghanistan.