Allen: Surge Bought Time for Afghan Forces to Grow, Mature

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By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – The goal of thejust-completed U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan was not to defeat the Taliban,but to provide Afghan security forces the time needed to develop, the commanderof NATO forces in the country said today.
And, Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allenadded, it succeeded.
Allen spoke to NBC’s Lester Holt thismorning and stressed the coalition campaign in Afghanistan has allowed Afghansoldiers and police to develop their capabilities.
The sacrifices made by coalition servicemembers have given Afghan national security forces, “the wherewithal, ultimately,to create security in this country so that governance can take root, the ruleof law can be embraced and economic opportunity and development can moveforward,” Allen said.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panettaannounced Sept. 21 that the drawdown of the 30,000 additional U.S. forcesdeployed as part of the surge was complete. From January 2010 to today,officials said, the Afghan government has added 85,000 more soldiers to theranks and 50,000 police. Seventy-seven percent of Afghan army units are ratedin the top three levels of capability, up from 52 percent in 2010, officialsadded. The gains for police -- a boost from 47 percent to 59 percent – are notas dramatic, they acknowledged, but they noted that the police had farther togo to reach that capability level.
But the threat of insider attacksremains in Afghanistan, Allen said, and it has his full attention.
“We’re going to work as … hard as wepossibly can, around the clock, to understand the problem,” he told Holt. “AndI think we've got a good grip on it now.”
Eliminating the threat will requireclose cooperation with Afghan government partners, he said. “See, the Taliban,in infiltrating the ranks of the [Afghan security forces], recognize that thisis an opportunity for them to try to split us apart,” the general said. “We’regoing to work very hard to prevent that from happening.”
Allen said he probably will recommendbringing more American troops home from Afghanistan, and that he expects tomake his recommendation to U.S. leaders before the end of the year once hisevaluations of the situation are complete.
“I’ll evaluate the nature of theinsurgency,” he said. “I’ll evaluate the progress that we have made with theAfghan national security forces. We’ll look at the operational environment wethink we’ll face in 2013. And the combination of all of those will permit me tomake a recommendation.”
The general would not speculate on thesize of any potential force reduction.