“We don’t win by destroying the Taliban,’’ he said. “We don’t win by body count. We don’t win by the number of successful military raids or attacks, we win when the people decide we win.’’
McChrystal is reported to be seeking an additional 40,000 US troops for Afghanistan and is lobbying European leaders to send more soldiers as well. He said the rules of conventional warfare do not apply in Afghanistan, which has become a counterinsurgency campaign. The four-star general spoke to a group of British academics and security specialists at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, one day after taking part via video link in a White House Situation Room review of Afghan policy chaired by President Obama.
McChrystal has made waves in Washington and London with his downbeat assessment of the eight-year effort to keep Afghanistan from becoming - again - a safe haven for Taliban extremists and their Al Qaeda allies, who used it as a base while planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Asked by the audience if it would be sensible to lower America’s military goals and limit the war effort to eliminating the Al Qaeda presence, McChrystal said it would be wrong to give up on the idea of bringing some security to the Afghan population.
“A strategy that does not leave Afghanistan in a stable position is probably a shortsighted strategy,’’ he said.
With the support of top Pentagon officials, McChrystal is seeking additional troops for the war effort. He said more troops would “buy time’’ as Afghan military and police forces are improved with an eye toward taking control of security by 2013.
But it is not clear if Obama backs this plan, even though he chose McChrystal to lead the war effort earlier this year. He has begun a series of top-level meetings to review all policy options, including those recommended by McChrystal.
