WASHINGTON (AFP) - A top White House adviser said Sunday Afghanistan is in no imminent danger of falling to the Taliban and dismissed concern the group's resurgence could fuel a renewed Al-Qaeda sanctuary there.
"I don't foresee the return of the Taliban and I want to be very clear that Afghanistan is not in imminent danger of falling," said White House National Security Adviser James Jones.
Jones spoke after Saturday saw the deadliest day for international troops in over a year in Afghanistan, with eight US troops there killed, as public support for the war wanes amid rising violence and an Afghan election seen as riddled with fraud.But the retired general insisted that the presence of Al-Qaeda -- which launched the September 11 attacks on the United States -- was "very diminished" across Afghanistan, with fewer than 100 members of the group operating there and "no bases, no ability to launch attacks."
The next step, he said, was "the sanctuaries across the border" in Pakistan, where militants have regrouped after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taliban in 2001.Jones insisted coalitions forces on the ground in Afghanistan are "robust." The solution to regaining the upper hand, he said, is "much more complex" than just deploying additional troops.
The security adviser's tone contrasted sharply with a grim assessment by the top US commander in Afghanistan, who has warned the US-led mission could fail if more forces are not sent to fight the insurgents who have been on the rebound.General Stanley McChrystal's dire warning has sparked a wide-ranging policy review, as Washington weighs his recommendation to send up to 40,000 more troops to reinforce the 68,000-strong US contingent.
The commander's concerns were highlighted by the dawn raid on Saturday, when hundreds of militants attacked a pair of outposts in the mountainous border region that is a haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.Lawmakers meanwhile escalated the debate over US strategy and troop deployments.
"I would not commit to more combat troops at this time," Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin told CBS television as he pressed for a "surge" of Afghan forces.But House Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton, also a Democrat, said the president should endorse McChrystal's troop request.
Republican Senator Jon Kyl agreed that commanders should get more troops if they ask for them."I think almost everybody agrees, if we were to pull out, the Taliban would take over again in Afghanistan," he told CNN, saying a withdrawal would allow "Al-Qaeda, then, to have a base from which it could operate."
McChrystal met Friday aboard Air Force One with President Barack Obama in Copenhagen -- their first in-person meeting in person since the general took command of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan in June.Obama is holding a series of meeting with his national security team to chart a new way forward in the war effort.
The general has pushed for a military buildup in Afghanistan, but Vice President Joe Biden and other Obama administration officials have advocated a diminished footprint that would focus on hunting Al-Qaeda cells, mainly through unmanned drone aircraft strikes and special operations forces raids.McChrystal has lambasted that counter-terrorism approach as "short-sighted" while he makes an unusually public case for his recommendations.
Turning to the Afghan government, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told "Fox News Sunday" the Obama administration should hold President Hamid Karzai's "feet to the fire to do a better job."Jones, who stressed the non-military elements of the strategy, urged the Karzai government to "do much better" than it has on economic development, the rule of law and tackling corruption.
He also pointed to progress in Pakistan, where security forces have rooted out militants from the Swat valley and Bajaur, but face a much tougher task in North and South Waziristan, which are teeming with militants.A successful campaign by Islamabad against the militants, he added, could prompt "a strategic shift that will spill over into Afghanistan."
Jones spoke on CNN's "State of the Union" and CBS television's "Face the Nation."
