The United States military commander in Afghanistan and his diplomatic counterpart presented a united front this week after a highly publicised rift over the value of sending 30 000 extra US troops to fight the Taliban.
The US ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, and General Stanley McChrystal, head of US and allied forces in Afghanistan, insisted they shared the same goals when they gave evidence to Congress.
Eikenberry, in an apparent reversal of his previous scepticism about Âsending more troops, said such a surge of reinforcements was essential.
The rift was exposed when two memos from Eikenberry were leaked in which he expressed deep concern about sending more troops unless the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, first tackled widespread corruption.
When pressed about the rift by the House armed services committee, Eikenberry said: ”At no point in the review process was I opposed to additional troops going to Afghanistan.” He added that there had been no question that more troops would be sent, only over how many and what their mission would be.
McChrystal, who took over the command earlier this year, said the extra troops were needed to give time for Afghan armed services to take over. —