bobdina
11-20-2009, 04:56 PM
Hillier to Obama: Listen to the commander
Former chief of defence staff General Rick Hillier
‘Until you can build the Afghan army and the Afghan police forces, you've got to have more international forces on the ground'
Michael Posner
From Friday's Globe and Mail Published on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 9:03PM EST Last updated on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 2:01AM EST
Retired general Rick Hillier, Canada's highest-ranking soldier until last year, Thursday waded into the fractious debate about what to do next in Afghanistan, saying that if he were asked, he'd tell U.S. President Barack Obama to “listen carefully to your commander on the ground.”
“I haven't done the analysis to know whether it's 40,000 more troops or 45,000,” the often outspoken former chief of the Canadian Armed Forces said in an interview. “That sounds about right. I'm not close enough to the situation to know what the right number is. But I know U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan [Karl] Eikenberry very well and I know U.S. General [Stanley] McChrystal somewhat. And if somebody asked me, I'd say, ‘Yes, listen to your ambassador, but who's the guy the who's fighting the war? Listen to the commander.'“ The Obama administration is wrestling with conflicting points of view on how to proceed in Afghanistan. Gen. McChrystal has suggested a range of options, one of which is a so-called surge of 40,000 additional troops. Mr. Eikenberry, the former senior military commander in the country, has reportedly suggested that more soldiers will not address the fundamental issues.
Mr. Hillier commanded the United Nations-mandated coalition mission in Afghanistan for two years, 2003-2005.
Speaking after an address Thursday at a combined luncheon of the Empire and the Canadian Clubs, he said the need for additional troops in the southern and western provinces of Afghanistan has long been known to military planners in Washington and elsewhere.
“Until you can build the Afghan army and the Afghan police forces, you've got to have more international forces on the ground,” he said.
But Mr. Hillier, who retired last year after a three-year term as chief of the defence staff, insisted that the projection of military power is only part of the solution to the complicated Afghan puzzle.
More efforts need to be made, he said, to help the regime of President Hamid Karzai deal with endemic corruption.
“We should be holding their feet to the fire on that, but what are we doing to make them more effective? Too many of [their own] people who could be helping them build capacity are either dead or living in the West. Canada has no teams there. So I would say that to Obama as well – ‘Mr. President, you've got to help Afghanistan build a government, not just beat up on them.'“ Now promoting A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War , a chronicle of his 35-year military career, Mr. Hillier said the ultimate road to mission success in Afghanistan runs through Pakistan.
“I believe that over the past six to 12 months, the Pakistanis have finally awakened to the fact that the number one threat to their society is not India, but the Taliban,” he said. “Helping the Pakistanis remove that threat will make the Afghanistan issue easier to solve in the next three to five years. So my top three priorities for Afghanistan would be Pakistan, Pakistan and Pakistan.”
There, too, he added, the military option must be accompanied by greater efforts to build decent standards of living in the federally administered tribal areas, with jobs, education, health care and security
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/hillier-to-obama-listen-to-the-commander/article1361602/
Former chief of defence staff General Rick Hillier
‘Until you can build the Afghan army and the Afghan police forces, you've got to have more international forces on the ground'
Michael Posner
From Friday's Globe and Mail Published on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 9:03PM EST Last updated on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 2:01AM EST
Retired general Rick Hillier, Canada's highest-ranking soldier until last year, Thursday waded into the fractious debate about what to do next in Afghanistan, saying that if he were asked, he'd tell U.S. President Barack Obama to “listen carefully to your commander on the ground.”
“I haven't done the analysis to know whether it's 40,000 more troops or 45,000,” the often outspoken former chief of the Canadian Armed Forces said in an interview. “That sounds about right. I'm not close enough to the situation to know what the right number is. But I know U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan [Karl] Eikenberry very well and I know U.S. General [Stanley] McChrystal somewhat. And if somebody asked me, I'd say, ‘Yes, listen to your ambassador, but who's the guy the who's fighting the war? Listen to the commander.'“ The Obama administration is wrestling with conflicting points of view on how to proceed in Afghanistan. Gen. McChrystal has suggested a range of options, one of which is a so-called surge of 40,000 additional troops. Mr. Eikenberry, the former senior military commander in the country, has reportedly suggested that more soldiers will not address the fundamental issues.
Mr. Hillier commanded the United Nations-mandated coalition mission in Afghanistan for two years, 2003-2005.
Speaking after an address Thursday at a combined luncheon of the Empire and the Canadian Clubs, he said the need for additional troops in the southern and western provinces of Afghanistan has long been known to military planners in Washington and elsewhere.
“Until you can build the Afghan army and the Afghan police forces, you've got to have more international forces on the ground,” he said.
But Mr. Hillier, who retired last year after a three-year term as chief of the defence staff, insisted that the projection of military power is only part of the solution to the complicated Afghan puzzle.
More efforts need to be made, he said, to help the regime of President Hamid Karzai deal with endemic corruption.
“We should be holding their feet to the fire on that, but what are we doing to make them more effective? Too many of [their own] people who could be helping them build capacity are either dead or living in the West. Canada has no teams there. So I would say that to Obama as well – ‘Mr. President, you've got to help Afghanistan build a government, not just beat up on them.'“ Now promoting A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War , a chronicle of his 35-year military career, Mr. Hillier said the ultimate road to mission success in Afghanistan runs through Pakistan.
“I believe that over the past six to 12 months, the Pakistanis have finally awakened to the fact that the number one threat to their society is not India, but the Taliban,” he said. “Helping the Pakistanis remove that threat will make the Afghanistan issue easier to solve in the next three to five years. So my top three priorities for Afghanistan would be Pakistan, Pakistan and Pakistan.”
There, too, he added, the military option must be accompanied by greater efforts to build decent standards of living in the federally administered tribal areas, with jobs, education, health care and security
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/hillier-to-obama-listen-to-the-commander/article1361602/