Rahm Emanuel: No Troop Escalation Until "Careful Assessment" Of Afghan Government (VIDEO)

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By ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama does not intend to decide about sending additional troops to Afghanistan until he is satisfied that the Kabul government can work effectively with the U.S., a top White House aide said Sunday.

"It would be reckless to make a decision on U.S. troop levels if in fact you haven't done a thorough analysis of whether in fact there's an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that U.S. troops would create and become a true partner in governing," said the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

Emanuel gave no timetable for a presidential decision in Afghanistan. He said the White House plans to have additional strategy sessions this week and next, extending a review process that began after the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, reported that more U.S. troops are required.

The central question, Emanuel said, "is not how much troops you have but whether in fact there's an Afghan partner."

Sen. John Kerry, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, made a similar point during a visit to Kabul.

"It would be entirely irresponsible for the president of the United States to commit more troops to this country when we don't even have an election finished and know who the president is and what kind of government we're working with," said Kerry, D-Mass.

The outcome of Afghanistan's Aug. 20 presidential election is in doubt because of ballot fraud that puts in question whether the current president, Hamid Karzai, will remain in office. A runoff election with his closest challenger is a possibility.

Kerry said there also should be a clear commitment in Afghanistan to eliminating government corruption before Obama agrees to send more U.S. troops.

"I believe it is critical for us to be satisfied that the reform efforts that are absolutely mandatory within the government here are in fact going to take place and be fully implemented," he said.

There are now nearly 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was beginning a trip Sunday with a delicate mission: trying to persuade allies to remain committed to the war as the U.S. decides whether to send in more troops.

Gates, who is undecided, at least publicly, on that question, was departing Washington on Sunday on a weeklong trip to Japan, Korea and Slovakia – in part to ask NATO partners and Asian allies for continued contributions to a war now in its ninth year.

Japan is withdrawing two naval ships out of the Indian Ocean that have been used as refueling stops for allies en route to Afghanistan. Britain said this past week it will deploy a small but symbolic force of 500 additional troops – but only if NATO and the Afghanistan government do more to fight the Taliban.

Emanuel appeared on CNN's "State of the Union." Kerry was on CNN and CBS' "Face the Nation."

Comments

[lazercat2008]

10:57 AM on 10/19/2009

Don't you hate when your imposed dictators refuse to do what you tell them too?

[ReedYoung]

10:05 AM on 10/19/2009

>
The central question, Emanuel said, "is not how much troops you have but whether in fact there's an Afghan partner."
<

And whether there is an Afghan partner depends on getting the economic development aid that Bush promised. Let's not try to forget that the CIA created al Qaeda by arming, then ignoring, the mujahideen. This is our mess, boys. All of it. Every last blood spatter.

[lazercat2008]

10:59 AM on 10/19/2009

It was a mess before we ever showed up.

[ReedYoung]

12:22 PM on 10/19/2009

Fine, but it was a different mess. The bottom line to me, and to many living there I'm sure, is that we bear responsibility for our nation's policies, past and present. Our noble struggle against communism and eventual victory over it is worthless to every nation where our proxy war took place if we just leave chaos in our path. I'm just saying we should build up roads, hospitals, electricity, plumbing and sewage infrastructure to western European standards around the capital. Until we have done that I find it disingenuous of Emanuel, Kerry and any other politicians or analysts to complain about Afghans' commitment to our agenda for their country and region.

[johnsonc20]

10:00 AM on 10/19/2009

Bravo, Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama! This is level headed and very clear. We have been looking for that for a while.

[care4mypeeps]

09:54 AM on 10/19/2009

Thank God President Obama is not rushing into making a decission about troop levels.
We need to just slow our roll and pay attention to whats happening all around us.

[thenakedlens]

09:53 AM on 10/19/2009

If the Admin is unwilling (or doesn't want to) to give the commanders on the ground what they need, then the Admin needs to have the fortitude to pull our troops out! Leaving our warriors to be slowly picked off is a waste of lives and a disgrace. Bring them home!

[dogwatch]

08:11 AM on 10/19/2009

A war ill founded cannot be rehabilitated. As to Afghanistan, Rummy said that there would be no glory in a war there because they had only 90 miles of paved highway. So, that led to Iraq, a country with enough paved highways to please his highway needs for war. All of which led to two ill founded wars. With no roads, Afghanistan was only a "bombing war". As long as the highways in the atmosphere were used, we won, as the Taliban was bombed until they left for Pakistan. The war was then over. But, we mistakenly tried to continue it anyway with a ground war, whose goal was to establish a democracy there. A war to establish democracy. What kind of war goal is that? That is the time that the war became ill founded. Alongside that, we then opened another war front in the country with all of the Rummy highways to find that which was not there. WMD's.
Then, we made the Adolph Hitler mistake, that being opening up two big wars with two big fronts. It sunk him and he lost WWII because of it. It has not sunk us, but instead operates continually as a cancer on our national body. The only thing half good about the ill founded wars is that they sunk the erroneous administration that started these monumental historical follies.

[ringo3khan]

07:59 AM on 10/19/2009

I love the way Rahm thinks; introduce fail and blame the Afghans! Woo Hoo, I love it. Go Rahm; get the U.S. outa there. It's critically important to the Progressive movement that the U.S. fail in Afghanistan becuase it's the ultimate repudiation of the Neo-Con philosophy.

[WorldofTomorrow420]

09:37 AM on 10/19/2009

The ultimate repudiation of the neocon philosophy is thought.

[cluesearch]

10:17 AM on 10/19/2009

What? The fact is that the war in Afguhanistan was ill advised to begin with. We should have used that opportunity to unseat the Taliban, anhilate Al Qaeda, and institute a Marshall Plan style humanitarian Aid effort. This, of course, didn't happen. So now, nine years on, we have lost this war by atrician. That the Obama Administration is coming to terms with that fact is not an an introduction to fail but rather an acknowledgement that the previous administrations policies failed both the American people and the Afghanistan people. I don't pretend to know what the right answer is but I can say that whatever decision we make the choices are between bad and horrible.

Either decision (stay or go) will cause further harm to the Afghani people and staying in will likely bog us down for decades to come and casualty counts will mount. Either way, the counterinsurgency strategy has failed and we should turn all of our efforts on dismantling Al Qaeda in Pakistan as that is where are true national interest is.

[jb237]

07:36 AM on 10/19/2009

Time to get out.

[Ukaisofu]

02:59 AM on 10/19/2009

Is Karzai a puppet?

[lippy33]

02:42 AM on 10/19/2009

I'm sorry but I still find Rahm hot.

[LLeGrande]

01:56 AM on 10/19/2009

Here's my assessment of this problem:

There will not be a strong central government for a very long time. That's why Mr. Karzai is called the Mayor of Kabul. There is a very weak central government right now. Why?

The war lords and leaders of the various provinces have all the weapons. They do the deals with whoever gets dealt with - whether the sale of drugs, or the disposition of the smuggling efforts, or dealing with the local citizenry in getting things done, or punishing the local citizens for violations of that province's rules.

The war lords will not easily take second row to a central government. Corruption would decrease, income would decrease, power would decrease, etc. etc. There is no inducement for these leaders to give up their base of power.

There is probably no solution to these problems for a very long time.

That's why Afghanistan is called the 'grave yard of empires'.

[QuakerBeach]

01:07 AM on 10/19/2009

It is refreshing to have our President take a very calculated assessment of what we can accomplish in Afghanistan. Without a true partner in that country - we are Vietnam screwed. God Bless this President for continuing to reassess our position and not sending American lives into unnecessary death like we did in Iraq.

[Mahmoud B]

05:50 AM on 10/19/2009

It is fascinating how much Afghanistan (specifically) is a symbol of historical shortsight. Empire after Empire (News from the Mideast: America is now an Empire) kept trying to control it by military might with disastrous consequences. President Obama's words seem to capture the solution being the conquest not of lands but of hearts and minds but his actions definetely lack the resolve of realizing this (moral and pragmatic) visions. Just a thought: what if the billions poured into the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were directed towards the average Afghan and Iraqi (schools, hospitals, social security and yes UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE), i can't help thinking that the result would be success in countering terrorism and gaining an important friend (and not just ally) to the US. Even if the military operations are a success (which in military terms i truly do not see how it can be realized) Taliba, Al Qaeda or any similar group would just relocate to a new place where popular sentiment sees the US as the Empire it is slowly but surely becoming rather than the "liberator" (from ignorance and poverty) we would all want to see. Just a thought.

[heyitschristie]

09:11 AM on 10/19/2009

So very well said. You captured my own sentiments exactly.

[cluesearch]

10:21 AM on 10/19/2009

I agree but you missed one huge problem--poppy. A friend of mine who has come back from this second tour in Afghanistan observed that until that profit engine is completely iradicated and the country rebuilt with humanitarian aid, there would be no peace in Afghanistan.

[admiralsonasongbird]

12:57 AM on 10/19/2009

I don't believe the president wont send troop. There consensus is that he will add troops. The white house FLIP-FLOP so much that I cant believe what they saying is their honest true.

[Schaef]

12:55 AM on 10/19/2009

All of the same people said all of the same things about the Iraq surge, and a year later Obama was on TV talking about how awesomely successful the surge was.

Give the commanders the resources they need to finish the job so we can bring them home. How hard is this?

[Ukaisofu]

02:53 AM on 10/19/2009

Iraq is a nightmare and the talke of the "surge" being a success is just that - talk. We are no more welcome in Iraq than in Afghanistan or Iran. I have figured this out. Have you?

[admiralsonasongbird]

12:46 AM on 10/19/2009

Repost: We may not like the repubs but at least they have GUTS. If they need something to get done, they get it done regardless of who criticize it. Tax cut for the Rich they got it done. Prescription bill they got it done. They beat their senators and congressman/woman in line to support it. The dems, God help us where are these people from? They are so weak and confused they cant agree on anything including the Public Option that poll show most americans want and all dems want badly.

[Ukaisofu]

02:56 AM on 10/19/2009

They have zero guts unless it is mine they are willing to spill. I never saw such a collection of chickenhawks in the history of our country than the flock of GOP people that admirals and generals kiss up to on a daily basis.

[Viper]

03:16 AM on 10/19/2009

Its easy to act when once your actions go to $hit, you never accept any responsibility for being wrong.. or change your idealogy that has failed this country for 30 years.

If your child made these kinds of disasters... you would say "son, be a man and admit it and then correct it"

Regards