U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, bids farewell to the Zabul provincial governor Mohammad Ashraf Naseri after a meeting where they discussed the situation and needs in the province in Qalat, Afghanistan, April 24, 2009. DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeleyFrom Yahoo News/AP:
WASHINGTON – The nation's top military officer warned Monday that the deaths of Afghan civilians caught up in U.S. combat operations could cripple President Barack Obama's revamped strategy for the seven-year-old war. "I believe that each time we do that, we put our strategy in jeopardy," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. "We cannot succeed ... in Afghanistan by killing Afghan civilians."
Mullen said additional forces and new tactics can help the United States turn a discouraging tide in Afghanistan. He said he was hopeful that "in the next 12- to 24 months, that we can stem the trends which have been going very badly in Afghanistan the last three years."
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My Comment: I can now hear a great moan from many members of Congress who are sympathetic with the anti-war cause. The idea of two more years of war and cost is not palatable to many of them .... and what is worse .... there is no guarantee that things will be trending our way by then.
Expect President Obama to have a political battle with his base by this time next year .... if not sooner.
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