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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53737
Special Ops Commander Supports Strategy’s Focus on al-Qaida
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 1, 2009 – The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan is becoming “increasingly dire,” but President Barack Obama’s strategy for dealing with the threat in the region is the right one, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command said here today.
Navy Adm. Eric T. Olson testified at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy review.
Special Operations Command participated in the strategic review, and the admiral said he is pleased that the strategy “includes a clear focus on al-Qaida as the enemy, and that a whole-of-government approach is directed.”
How special operations forces operate will not change much as a result of a revised overall strategy, Olson said.
“Our units have been conducting both counterterrorism and counterinsurgency for several years,” he told the Senate panel. “We will continue to provide our broad capabilities to our fullest capacity in order to meet the needs of our elected and appointed civilian leaders and our military operational commanders.”
Al-Qaida has suffered losses from operations in the region, but remains a threat, Olson said. “Al-Qaida’s surviving leaders have proven adept at hiding, communicating and inspiring,” he said. “Operating in and from remote sites in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, al-Qaida remains a draw for local and foreign fighters who subscribe to its extremist ideology and criminality.”
The Taliban also are an increasing threat in the region, not only because they shield al-Qaida, but also because they intimidate the local population, the admiral said.
“Operating in the guise of both nationalists and keepers of the faith, but behaving in the manner of street gangs and mafias, they have forced and intimidated a mostly benign populace to bend to their will,” he said. “Their methods run the relatively narrow range from malicious to evil.”
The campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan will take time, but it is time well worth taking, Olson said.
“We, as a nation and international community, must be prepared for an extended campaign – a campaign that must go well beyond traditional military activities,” he said. “Increasing the presence and capacity of civilian agencies and international organizations, to include sufficient funding and training, is essential to help develop and implement the basic functions of credible government in Afghanistan, and to assist Pakistan’s efforts to dismantle safe havens and displace extremists in its border provinces.”
Military, law enforcement, border security and intelligence training is also important in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as “it is ultimately they who must succeed in their lands,” Olson said.
Special operations forces were the catalyst behind driving the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001, operating alongside members of the Northern Alliance in the months after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. Today, special operations forces missions range from high-tech man-hunting to providing veterinary services for tribal livestock, the admiral said.
“The direct-action missions are urgent and necessary, as they provide the time and space needed for the more indirect counterinsurgency operations to have their decisive effects,” he said. “Undertaken in proper balance, these actions address immediate security threats while also engaging the underlying instability in the region.”
In Pakistan, U.S. forces work to train the Pakistani military and Frontier Corps in counterinsurgency operations, and are prepared to do more, he said. “While we share much with them, our forces are in turn learning much about our common adversaries and the social complexities of the region,” Olson said.
Special operators are going after al-Qaida aggressively in Afghanistan, but the fundamental mission for most special operators is the enduring partnership with Afghan counterparts, the admiral said. U.S. Army Special Forces teams have trained Afghan commandos in the classrooms and on the firing ranges, and then moved with them to their assigned regions across the country.
“Living remotely with them on small camps, continuing the training and mentoring, and integrating with them on day and night combat operations has had great effect,” Olson said.
Supporting Afghans’ local development and assistance efforts has had perhaps even a more powerful impact, he said. The program has expanded to formally partner U.S. special operations forces with noncommando Afghan battalions. Olson said the program will consume most of the additional special operations forces that will deploy as part of the upcoming 21,000-strong troop increase.
More than 10,000 members of U.S. special operation forces are in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Olson said. “About 2,000 others are in 65 countries on an average day,” he added. “Their activities, fully approved and coordinated, cover the broad spectrum of traditional military activities – well beyond the stereotypical one-dimensional gunslinger to encompass the three-dimensional warrior, equally adept at defense, development and diplomacy. Special operations forces bring soft power with a hard edge.”
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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53742
Petraeus Explains Differences in Strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 1, 2009 – Although the U.S. government recognizes the differences between Afghanistan and Pakistan, it makes sense from a strategy standpoint to consider the two countries as one theater, the commander of U.S. Central Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee today.
Army Gen. David H. Petraeus praised the comprehensive strategy during his testimony before the panel.
“Although the additional resources will be applied in different ways on either side of [their mutual border], Afghanistan and Pakistan comprise a single theater that requires comprehensive ‘whole-of governments’ approaches that are closely coordinated,” Petraeus said.
More U.S. forces are deploying to Afghanistan, and the basis of the counterinsurgency plan is to protect the population from al-Qaida and the Taliban, Petraeus said. NATO also is sending in more forces to help with security as elections approach.
“The additional [U.S.] forces will provide an increased capability to secure and serve the people, to pursue the extremists, to support the development of host nation security forces, to reduce the illegal narcotics industry, and to help develop the Afghan capabilities needed to increase the legitimacy of national and local Afghan governance,” Petraeus said.
“These forces will also, together with the additional NATO elements committed to the election security force, work with Afghan elements to help secure the national elections in late August and to help ensure that those elections are seen as free, fair and legitimate in the eyes of the Afghan people,” he said.
The added troops will increase the footprint of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and they must behave in such a way as to limit the impact of that footprint, the general said.
“It is vital that they be seen as good guests and partners, not as would-be conquerors or superiors, as formidable warriors who also do all possible to avoid civilian casualties in the course of combat operations,” Petraeus said. “As additional elements deploy, it will also be essential that our commanders and elements strive for unity of effort at all levels and integrate our security efforts into the broader plans to promote Afghan political and economic development.”
But while more military forces are needed in Afghanistan, Petraeus said, they will not by themselves be sufficient. “It is important that the civilian requirements for Afghanistan and Pakistan be fully met as well,” he said.
Petraeus asked the senators to approve funding for the State Department and the Agency for International Development so those agencies can provide the personnel and resources needed in the countries.
Pakistan requires different handling, the general said. People must remember that Pakistan’s democratic institutions are fragile, he told the senators, and the country has taken many casualties in its operations against extremists.
Still, he said, al-Qaida and the Taliban have established sanctuaries in the rugged border area that “not only contribute to the deterioration of security in eastern and southern Afghanistan, they also pose an ever more serious threat to Pakistan’s very existence.”
The extremists have sustained losses, Petraeus noted, and the Pakistani military has stepped up operations against militants in parts of the tribal areas. “However, considerable further work is required,” he added. “It is in Pakistan that al-Qaida senior leadership and other transnational extremist elements are located. Thus, operations there are imperative, and we need to provide the support and assistance to the Pakistani military that can enable them to confront the extremists who pose a truly existential threat to their country.”
The U.S. military will focus on expanding its partnership with the Pakistani military, and helping it build counterinsurgency capabilities, the general said.
The military also will help to promote closer cooperation along the Afghan-Pakistan border. American servicemembers will train with Afghan and Pakistani soldiers and provide the equipment and intelligence capabilities the two nations need to confront the extremists, Petraeus said.