McChrystal: Taliban Defy Expectations

The American commander in Afghanistan says that U.S. Marines have faced less resistance than expected in their operation to clear Taliban havens in the south but that British troops just to the north are running into fiercer fighting than anticipated.

The commander, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, said Wednesday that he had been surprised by the resilience of pockets of Pashtun militants in western and northern Afghanistan, areas that he expected to be relatively calm but that now needed more troops and stronger local governance.

McChrystal's assessment one month into his command reflects more than the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the fight in Afghanistan. It also underscores the challenges facing U.S. commanders and diplomats as they work with allied and Afghan officials to carry out the Obama administration's new war strategy in Afghanistan.

In the pivotal southern province of Helmand, for instance, where 4,000 Marines and 650 Afghan soldiers faced only sporadic fighting in the first two weeks of their operation, McChrystal said Taliban fighters were starting to fight back with small-scale attacks and improvised explosives. "They're coming back and nipping at the edges," he said. "They're waiting to see what happens."

U.S. commanders had predicted a sharp rise in casualties as troop levels rose toward the 68,000 planned at the end of this year. McChrystal warned against expecting a quick end to the combat in the south, the Taliban heartland.

"I think we're talking months for this to play out, and it'll play out at a little different speed everywhere," he said. "Until we hit the point where the insurgent fighters decide they cannot force us out or cannot discourage us, I think they're likely to stay significantly."

The general said the next stage in the operation would be to expand to other important towns in the southern Helmand River Valley, to clear out militants there, and hold the reclaimed ground until the Afghan civilian authorities and officials could take charge.

But moving into these new areas will require more Afghan police officers and soldiers than are now expected to be available, he said. As part of a 60-day mission review, he said he would recommend expanding the Afghan Army, which is supposed to increase to 134,000 troops. He said he would also seek to complete the process before the scheduled date of 2011. "The key to this is Afghan responsibility to the fight," he said. "As a team, we are better."

The new U.S. command team is facing a number of other problems. Pockets of Pashtun insurgents are stirring up trouble near Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan, where German troops patrol, and in Farah Province, in the western part of the country, where Italian soldiers are assigned.

One senior U.S. military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that Kandahar, the country's second largest city, was "under stress" from Taliban fighters.

Aides said that McChrystal was seeking to bring to his new position the same high-speed tempo and precise synchronization that were hallmarks of his days as head of the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command.

But problems still need ironing out. "We lack coordination as an organization," the senior military official said. "We've been fighting five regional fights. We haven't been fighting one war."

Asked whether he was getting the cooperation he wanted from Pakistani forces in combating the main Taliban network based in Quetta, Pakistan, which controls much of the Taliban activity in southern Afghanistan, McChrystal paused several seconds before answering. U.S. officials have long expressed frustration at what they see as Pakistani inaction against a major threat to American forces in Afghanistan.

"It's my intended desire to work with the Pakistani military and government to try to reduce that" inaction, he said.

McChrystal said his ultimate task was to win over a majority of the Afghan people, many of whom are angry and distrustful of the Americans after nearly eight years of war and errant airstrikes that have killed civilians.