Levin on McChrystal’s Strategy Review

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I agree with General McChrystal that “success is achievable” in Afghanistan, that “stability in Afghanistan is an imperative” for our national security, and that there is “the urgent need for a significant change in our strategy and the way that we think and operate.”

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Perhaps the most important judgment General McChrystal has made – one with which I wholeheartedly agree – is that “focusing on force or resource requirements misses the point entirely.” Indeed, General McChrystal has gone so far as to say that “without a new strategy, the mission should not be resourced.”

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While I agree that the resource question should not now be our focus, I also agree with General McChrystal that additional resources will be required.

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My recommendation is that in filling those resource requirements, we should emphasize expanding the size and capability of the Afghan army and national police; providing the intelligence, surveillance and other support that Afghan forces require; providing many more trainers and increasing even further the cooperation between Afghan and U.S. troops; and a crash program to better equip Afghan forces, including the transfer of a significant amount of equipment that is now in Iraq to Afghanistan rather than back to the United States. We must also speed the adoption of a “Sons of Iraq” approach to peel low- and mid-level Afghan fighters away from the insurgency and re-integrate them into Afghan society.

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General McChrystal is attempting to shift our focus toward adopting a revised strategy that will increase the prospects for success of our efforts in Afghanistan. Focusing on the resource question before we accomplish the strategic shift is a mistake General McChrystal is wisely avoiding.