Pentagon chief probes Afghan war progress
US defence secretary Robert Gates began a two-day visit with US troops, allied commanders and Afghan leaders today to gauge war progress as the Obama administration moves towards crucial decisions on reducing troop levels.
Mr Gates planned to travel to eastern and southern portions of Afghanistan, the areas most fiercely contested by the Taliban uprising.
Defence Department spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters flying with the Pentagon chief from Washington that Mr Gates wanted to get a first-hand feel for changes on the ground since he was last in Afghanistan in December.
The US is committed to beginning a troop withdrawal in July. But the size and scope of the pullback will depend on the degree of progress towards handing off full control to the shaky Afghan government.
Mr Morrell said Mr Gates expected to hear from troops and commanders that US and Nato strategy was making important progress against the relentless Taliban, thought to be gearing up for a spring offensive.
US commanders have been saying for weeks that the Taliban is suffering big losses in territory and personnel, while being denied the funding and infiltration routes it has relied on in the past to ramp up guerrilla operations each spring.
Marine Maj Gen Richard Mills, top commander in the south-western province of Helmand, said last week that a Taliban counter-offensive is anticipated.
He said he expected the Taliban to try “to regain very, very valuable territory ... lost over the past six to eight months”. He added that US and allied forces were intercepting “as many of the foreign fighters as we can” who come from Pakistan to attack US and Afghan troops.
Mr Gates sees the spring as a potentially decisive period for President Barack Obama’s war strategy, which includes beginning to withdraw US forces in July.
This week’s visit is his 13th trip to Afghanistan and probably one of his last as defence secretary.
He has said he will retire this year but has not given a date.
After Afghanistan, he plans to fly to the Stuttgart, Germany, headquarters of US Africa Command to attend a ceremony on Wednesday marking the arrival of a new commander, army general Carter Ham.
Mr Gates will attend a Nato defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
