I’ve received a lot of good feedback on Afghanistan, including a series of comments and questions that center around how we will use the 37,000-troop uplift.  Let me take a moment and share four quick thoughts that connect to a number of those questions.

First, I am very grateful to the nations that have contributed to this uplift.  The entire NATO alliance and all our ISAF partners — 43 today with more coming — are committing themselves to success in Afghanistan.  That is in and of itself a vital message to the people of Afghanistan AND to the Taliban that seek to overthrow the government and impose their tyranny on the population — which does NOT support them. more…

 

 Yesterday President Obama laid out the strategy for Afghanistan, and announced the addition of 30,000 troops.  Today and Friday, the NATO Foreign Ministers will meet in Brussels to discuss a wide range of NATO topics, including Afghanistan of course.  Secretary Clinton will lead the U.S. delegation.  I will be there to brief the Foreign Ministers and I look forward to it.  I will be joined by General McChrystal and General Ramms, my key team leaders focused on Afghanistan. 

Early next week, at our headquarters here in Mons, Belgium, we will lead the “Force Generation Conference” at which all 28 NATO allies will pledge forces as did the U.S.  I am confident we’ll top 5,000 additional allied troops, and I expect more — hopefully several thousand more — in the months ahead. 

This is a team challenge in Afghanistan, and in addition to 28 NATO nations, there are 15 other significant contributing countries to the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, for which we are grateful.  The United Nations supports this fully, with hundreds of workers “on the ground.”  This is indeed a global effort. more…

I’m flying over western Afghanistan at 35,000 feet, just heading out of the country. We’re passing over the Caspian Sea and soon will be over the Caucuses.  This is a complicated part of the world.

In three busy days in Afghanistan, I focused on Helmand province and the British and U.S. Marine Corps forces. Over the course of lunch with the provincial Governor – a man in his early 60s and a survivor of many challenging events in Afghanistan – I talked with him about the needs of the district.

“First is security,” he said. “It is the mother of all development.” When I pressed him for what comes next on the list, he said, “Education, health, and electricity.” With us at the table was the leader of a British Provincial Reconstruction Team, a group of civilian aid workers focusing on development. He seconded the view, and spoke about the programs they are putting in place in this agrarian part of Afghanistan where sadly the principal crop is opium poppies.

The conversation reinforced my oft-stated view that in the end we will not deliver security in Afghanistan from the barrel of a gun. We’ll need a few guns along the way, no doubt; but the key is getting the right balance of civilian and military work done in concert together. more…