McChrystal's war goes to the White House
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
ISLAMABAD - When, on June 15, 2009, General Stanley McChrystal was appointed
commander of the International Security Assistance Force and commander of
United States forces in Afghanistan, one of the reasons cited for his elevation
was his reputation for saying and thinking what other officers were afraid to.
That trait might have cost the four-star general his job, and with it thrown
into chaos the US's strategy in the nine-year war in Afghanistan.
McChrystal was due to meet United States President Barack Obama in the White
House on Wednesday after being summoned from Afghanistan to explain comments
made by himself and aides about his commander in chief and senior government
officials in
an article in the forthcoming edition of Rolling Stone entitled "The Runaway
General".
"... I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make any
final decisions," Obama said on Tuesday, with some reports indicating that
McChrystal had already handed in his resignation after earlier issuing an
apology.
Even if he should stay on, the incident illustrates the deep divisions between
the military and the administration over the war. In particular, McChrystal has
expressed concern over Obama's pledge to start bringing troops home in July
2011.
Domestically, the latest polls show that a majority of Americans now say the
war is probably not worth fighting, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said
that public dissatisfaction means the US-led international coalition must show
progress this year.
At one point in the article, author of the article Michael Hastings writes:
Even
those closest to McChrystal know that the rising anti-war sentiment at home
doesn't begin to reflect how deeply f....d up things are in Afghanistan. "If
Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become
even less popular," a senior adviser to McChrystal says.
A
United Nations report released this weekend gave a grim picture of the security
situation in Afghanistan, saying roadside bombings - up an "alarming" 94% - and
assassinations - up 45% - had soared in the first four months of the year.
UN officials said the number of coordinated attacks has also increased, with an
average of two per month, about double last year's average. Coalition
casualties are rising, with at least 53 troops killed this month, including 34
US service members.
In the Rolling Stone article, criticism from McChrystal and his staff took in
US ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry, Vice President Joe Biden, National
Security Adviser James Jones and the special US envoy to Afghanistan and
Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. McChrystal's staff are reported as saying the
general believed the president was unprepared for their first one-on-one
encounter and that he felt betrayed and blind-sided by Eikenberry.
Gates hand-picked McChrystal, 55, to take over the Afghan war last year,
calling him a "driven visionary with the fortitude and intelligence to turn the
war around". He replaced General David McKiernan, who was forced out in a
shakeout that Obama administration officials said was needed to bring a bolder
and more creative approach to the Afghan war.
Know as "Stan the Man", McChrystal came to the job with high expectations.
As head of Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq from 2003 to 2008, his most
noted public achievement was the tracking down and killing of the leader of
al-Qaeda in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in 2006. McChrystal's unit in Iraq was
so clandestine that the Pentagon for years did not even acknowledge its
existence.
McChrystal hit the ground running in Afghanistan. He made it clear from the
start that he wanted more troops, and after intense and at time acrimonious
wrangling with Obama he was given an additional 30,000, far fewer than he had
requested. He also made it plain that his emphasis would be on
counter-terrorism and that he did not want to be too reliant on air strikes,
which had resulted in high civilian casualties, something that played into the
hands of the Taliban.
He knew he had a job on his hands. In a leaked confidential report dated August
30, 2009, he wrote. "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent
momentum in the near term (next 12 months) - while Afghan security capacity
matures - risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer
possible."
That year is nearly up, and the insurgency has only gained in strength. Obama
will decide whether McChrystal is given any more time to achieve his goals.
What will most likely end, though, are secret death squads and proxy operations
in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Under the radar in Pakistan
A feature of the past year of the war in Afghanistan has been the concentration
on controlling population centers while leaving remoter areas to the
Taliban-led insurgency. The most recent example of this was the operation in
Marjah in Helmand province, launched in mid-February, although this has not
been as successful as expected as the Taliban have started returning to the
area.
A major offensive in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province has been
delayed for at least two months, in part because of Pakistan's reluctance to
crack down on militant bases in the North Waziristan tribal area. These bases
serve as crucial feeders into the Afghan war.
McChrystal's relatively low-intensity approach has been complemented with hit
squads made up in part of private spies and contractors. Their targets have
been anti-American figures in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In copycat fashion, the
militants formed their own secret cells to kill pro-American figures in
Pakistan and Afghanistan, especially in Kandahar.
The US military has also relied on a clandestine grilling system in Pakistani
jails, using handpicked Pakistani police officials to extract information.
McChrystal's Zarqawi unit, Task Force 6-26, had used a similar approach at
Baghdad's notorious Camp Nama, where prisoners were interrogated - some
human-rights reports say tortured - to give up information. High-value
detainees were interrogated in The Black Room, "a dark mostly bare room with
large metal hooks hanging from the ceiling. The guards often used loud rock 'n'
roll or rap music to torment prisoners during interrogations". [1] Information
extracted from prisoners at this facility led to the death of al-Zarqawi and
the capture and subsequent hanging of former president Saddam Hussein.
Adyala jail in Rawalpindi, the garrison city that is twinned with the capital
Islamabad, is Pakistan's largest detention center for Muslim militants, with
more than 2,000 inmates. According to well-placed security sources who spoke to
Asia Times Online, many of the militants have been acquitted by the
Anti-Terrorism Court, but they are still being detained.
"These militants have high-profile links with al-Qaeda, therefore a syndicate
of international intelligence agencies has always been interested in
interrogating them," a senior Pakistani security official told Asia Times
Online on the condition of anonymity.
"Since direct accessibility and interrogation is difficult [under the law],
police officers were [illegally] hired by these intelligence organizations to
grill prisoners, and information was then passed onto these foreign agencies,"
the official said.
This unofficial conversion of some Pakistani jails into secret American
detention centers - a process that began before McChrystal took over in
Afghanistan - stung the militants. According to Pakistani security agencies,
the attack in March 2009 on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore was aimed so
they could take hostages to exchange for jailed militants. Similarly, the
attack and hostage-taking of policemen at a Lahore police academy, also in
March 2009, sought to win the release of prisoners.
A Pakistani Frontier Corps spokesperson has confirmed that militants have
demanded a swap of prisoners for 33 paramilitary soldiers they abducted last
week in Mohmand Agency.
According to the militant sources Asia Times Online spoke to, a new wave of
violence is likely to kick off to get prisoners released, especially those in
Adyala jail. Several dozen militants began a hunger strike on June 16 in
protest against illegal interrogation. There have also been clashes between
inmates and wardens, with several militants seriously injured.
The jail could become a serious flashpoint, much like the Lal Masjid (Red
Mosque) incident in July 2007. The Islamabad mosque, which had become a haven
for militants, was stormed with the loss of more than 100 lives, including
militants, security forces and civilians. The Lal Masjid siege gave hardliners
a rallying point and prompted al-Qaeda and the Taliban to launch retaliation
attacks.
This is not something Pakistan would want to see happening again, and it will
be reluctant to see a continuation of the interrogations under McChrystal's
replacement, or even if the general stays on.
As for Afghanistan, the war will go on, with United States Marine Corps General
James Mattis, also a counter-insurgency expert, being mentioned to lead the
fight. Should McChrystal - "lanky, smart, tough, a sneaky stealth soldier with
all the special ops attributes, plus an intellect" - win his little war with
the White House, one can expect he will no longer be allowed to march to his
own beat.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
