Central & South Asia

Defense Secretary Gates Cites Progress in Afghanistan - Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in Kabul that long-term success in Afghanistan ultimately will be determined by how well the Afghan government, with international support, can respond to the Afghan people and “inspire their loyalty.” Gates, in Afghanistan to check on progress since operations were expanded late last year, met March 8 in the Afghan capital with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and Army General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. forces and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). He also visited U.S. forces north of Kandahar March 9 to thank them for their efforts and sacrifice. “The most pressing matter we’ve discussed was the major operation that President Karzai approved in Helmand province, where Afghan and international troops have succeeded in clearing almost all of Marjah and Nad Ali,” Gates told reporters at a joint press conference with Karzai.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Brussels December 4, 2009, for talks with officials from NATO, the EU and other countries participating in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Just hours after President Obama announced December 1 that the United States will send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan (speech), U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke arrived in Brussels to brief EU and NATO officials on the strategy. In Congressional testimony the same day in Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that a stable security situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is sustainable by their governments over the long term is vital to U.S. national security interests and to the world. Joining him on the panel (Senate and House testimony), Secretary Clinton said that even after U.S. forces have left Afghanistan, U.S. civilians will remain to help the country build its democratic institutions and restore its agricultural economy.