Adviser: Surge not answer in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

Adviser: Surge not answer in Afghanistan
By Sean D. Naylor - [e-mail]
Posted : Saturday Feb 9, 2008 6:47:02 EST

The senior civilian adviser to the defense secretary on special operations says the key to success in Iraq and Afghanistan is through “the indirect approach” — working “by, with and through” host-nation forces — rather than “surges” of U.S. troops.

“Insurgencies have to be won by local capacity,” Mike Vickers, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations/low intensity conflict and interdependent capabilities, told a group of defense reporters in Washington on Feb. 6.

Because “it typically takes a decade or more” to achieve victory in a counterinsurgency, Vickers said, “a key measure of success” for the “supporting country” — in this case, the U.S. — is whether domestic political support for the mission can be sustained for such an extended period.

“Over the longer haul, I still believe that the indirect approach … irrespective of force levels, is the way we will ultimately succeed ,” he said, in answer to a question on reports that he had initially counseled against last year’s “surge” of U.S. forces into Iraq.

“When you have a country coming apart at the seams as we went through in 2006, then the temporary effect that can be provided by the direct application of our forces can be very, very important in that particular circumstance … That doesn’t mean that’s the approach you want to follow for the next 10 years.”


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/Army_vickers_080209w/