(SoS) Clinton Rebuffs General's Warning on Afghanistan

[tekisui]

Source: AFP

NEW YORK (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed back against the US military's blunt warning that the battle against insurgents in Afghanistan would likely be lost within a year without more US troops.

Clinton's comments in an interview with PBS television late Monday came amid reports that the Pentagon has asked General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, to delay a request for more troops.

Clinton expressed "respect" for McChrystal's assessment that the United States would likely lose the war in Afghanistan within a year without more US forces.

"But I can only tell you there are other assessments from very expert military analysts who have worked in counter-insurgencies that are the exact opposite," she said.

Her remarks were the latest sign of stiffening resistance within President Barack Obama's administration to a major escalation in the US commitment in Afghanistan, and a growing rift over the issue between civilian leaders and the military.

The Wall Street Journal, citing defense officials, reported that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked McChrystal to delay submitting his request for more troops until the completion of a review of the US war effort.

(snip)

Clinton said the administration's goal was "to take all of this incoming data and sort it out. And I don't think anybody is going to push to a conclusion for the sake of a conclusion."

She added: "So we have to be really clear-eyed about this. And what I'm very grateful for is that we're not coming in with any ideological presuppositions."

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090922/pl_afp/usafghanistannatounrestmilitary

[xchrom]

1. so long as she does not know about the unknowns

and the unknowns don't know about her...