Mullen downplays logistics problems with Afghan deployment

The
chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff said he foresees no problems with
quickly deploying 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.

Adm.
Mike Mullen told The Hill shortly after a hearing Thursday that he has no
concerns about the speed of the additional U.S. troop deployment. Poor
infrastructure in the southern half of Afghanistan has slowed previous
deployments, but Mullen said U.S. officials are prepared.

“We have the best transportation logistics people in the world working
on this problem, and they’ve been working for months,” Mullen said.

{mosads}Members
of Congress have expressed skepticism, saying it will be difficult to get the
additional troops to Afghanistan on an expedited schedule given that country’s
poor infrastructure and security.

“I
believe that we have a good strategy,” House Armed Services Committee
Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) said on Thursday. “But, we must be mindful that
implementing this counterinsurgency strategy will be extremely complex and far
from easy. 

“Just
the task of deploying an additional 30,000 troops will be difficult—supply
lines to Afghanistan are long and difficult, bases are austere, and there is a
shortage of every sort of infrastructure.”

Congressional
sources have been skeptical of how the Pentagon will deploy the troops to
Helmand Province and Kandahar, where infrastructure is seriously lacking. While
forces could be flown in on a more accelerated timeline, their equipment and
all other deployment necessities could be lagging behind.

Mullen
joined Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert
Gates at Thursday’s hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As the
trio did at two hearings on Wednesday, the officials sought to defend President
Barack Obama’s decision to send additional troops to Afghanistan, and to trigger
an eventual withdrawal starting in July 2011.

Once
again, they heard GOP criticism of the July 2011 date for beginning to withdraw
troops from Afghanistan, and Democratic skepticism of the war effort itself.

“I just don’t get the sense at this point in time of a
comprehensive policy that says I should vote for billions of dollars more to
send our sons and daughters into harm’s way in a way that we will ultimately
succeed,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). “I hope I can be convinced
before that vote comes. But as of right now, I’m not.”

Sen.
Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) said he disagreed with Obama’s decision on the troop
surge without a more firm date for withdrawing them.

“I am disappointed that he has decided to escalate our military
presence and did not give any goal or timeframe for when our massive military
operations in Afghanistan will end,” Feingold said. “I do not support
the decision to prolong and expand a risky and unsustainable strategy in the
region.”

Gates received some support for the withdrawal from Republicans on the
committee, with some senators agreeing that Afghanistan officials needed some
signal that the U.S. commitment is not open-ended.

“They think in terms of centuries,” said Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho). “We
think in terms of months.”

Mullen warned the committee on Thursday that the additional troops will
bring an increase in violence as well as U.S. casualties.

Roxana Tiron contributed to this article.

This article was updated at 2:20 p.m.