Gates predicts 'slog' in Afghanistan

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday signaled sharply lower expectations for the war in Afghanistan, warning the conflict will be "a long slog" and that U.S. and allied military forces, even at higher levels, can achieve limited goals. Gates said the U.S. military expects to be able to send three additional combat brigades -- between 10,000 and 12,000 troops -- to Afghanistan between late spring and midsummer to address a security vacuum "that increasingly has been filled by the Taliban." The U.S. force in Afghanistan numbers about 36,000, and commanders there have asked for as many as 30,000 more combat and support troops. "There is little doubt that our greatest military challenge right now is Afghanistan," Gates said, marking the formal shift in priorities away from Iraq in his first congressional testimony as Pentagon chief under President Obama. Still, Gates said, U.S. goals in Afghanistan must be "modest" and "realistic." "This is going to be a long slog, and frankly, my view is that we need to be very careful about the nature of the goals we set for ourselves in Afghanistan," he said. "If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose, because nobody in the world has that kind of time, patience and money," Gates testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee. (Valhalla is used as a synonym for heaven, but in Norse mythology it is a great hall where heroes slain in battle are received.) Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen said at a news conference late yesterday that roadside bomb and suicide attacks in Afghanistan have increased an estimated 40 percent over last year.