Joint Chiefs chairman: Afghanistan getting worse

The situation in Afghanistan will worsen next year unless the U.S. adjusts its policies, according to Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

“The trends across the board are not going in the right direction,” Mullen told reporters at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor. “It’s been very tough fighting this year and it will be tougher next year unless we adjust in a way to get at all aspects of the challenges in Afghanistan.”

{mosads}Mullen said the solution does not lie solely in sending more troops to Afghanistan, although he said security has to be achieved first in order to stabilize the country’s political system and move forward with economic goals.

U.S. policy in Afghanistan has been a major part of the presidential battle between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. Obama argues troops should be removed from Iraq and added to Afghanistan. McCain opposes any drastic troops cuts in Iraq.

Mullen expressed particular concern that the U.S. and NATO so far have been unable to eradicate poppy crops financing much of the insurgency in Afghanistan.

Gaining some economic security in a country ranked as the world’s fifth poorest is a key, Mullen said. The U.S. also has to make clear to the Afghanis that it is not an “occupying force,” he added.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is appealing to NATO allies to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight Taliban insurgents.

Commanders are seeking up to 12,000 more troops in Afghanistan, but European allies have been reluctant to commit more forces. The United States currently has about 33,000 troops in Afghanistan, more than half of which are under NATO command.

The White House has launched an urgent review of Afghanistan policy that is to be completed over the next several weeks. But Mullen dismissed any perception that the Pentagon is in a holding pattern in Afghanistan until the review is completed or a new president is in the White House.

“I am not in a strategic holding pattern,” said Mullen, adding that he is working to “get it right.”

Mullen also expressed concern about the massive economic crisis that has gripped the United States and the rest of the world. “The country has some very significant fiscal challenges outside of national security,” he said. “Those challenges are going to be heightened and intensified based on the current crisis.”

Mullen has set up a robust transition team at the Pentagon to prepare the next president for the challenges ahead. The transition teams are set up to answer questions from the campaigns and brief the candidates and their staffs on requested issues. If one candidate’s campaign receives a specific briefing, the transition team by rule offers the same briefing to the rival campaign, Mullen told The Hill.

He also expressed surprise that there were no questions about the situation in Iraq during the hourlong breakfast discussion.

“Isn’t it amazing that there were no questions about Iraq? Clearly, the trends are in the right direction in Iraq. I am very hopeful that we will continue to draw down forces there,” he said. “It is still fragile and not irreversible.”

Al Eisele contributed to this report.