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Gates: Mistake to set Afghan withdrawal timelines

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-28 11:57

US Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Susan Collins (R-ME) walk to a news conference at Kabul airport after arriving from Helmand province in the south of the country August 18, 2009. [Agencies]

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he hopes Obama will decide to commit the necessary troops.

"I think you will see signs of success in a year to 18 months, if we implement the strategy right away," McCain said on ABC's "This Week."

Obama sent 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan earlier this year.

Related readings:  Gates: New missile defense plan will better protect Europe  Gates endorses new US bomber project  Gates open to possible troop request in Afghanistan  Gates: 'A few years' of combat in Afghanistan  Gates: Some troops may be leaving Iraq early

But in a tough assessment of conditions on the ground, McChrystal warned that without more troops the United States could lose the war against the Taliban and its allies. Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen also has endorsed more troops, telling Congress this month Afghan forces aren't ready to fight the insurgency and protect the population on their own.

Gates rejected suggestions of a split over troop levels between the Pentagon's uniformed leadership on one side and Gates and Obama on the other.

"Having the wrong strategy would put even more soldiers at risk," he told ABC. "So I think it's important to get the strategy right and then we can make the resources decision."

He said the strategy review would be "a matter of weeks," but he said he would not submit McChrystal's request for troops to the president "until I think -- or the president thinks -- it's appropriate to bring that into the discussion of the national security principles."

In veiled criticism of the Bush administration, which he also served as defense secretary, Gates said the United States was too preoccupied with Iraq to have a comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan.

"The strategy that the president put forward in late March is the first real strategy we have had for Afghanistan since the early 1980s," he said.

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