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The U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq

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The U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq S. HRG. 112–349 THE U.S. STRATEGY IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 Printed for the use of the Committee on Armed Services ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 73–877 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:45 Apr 24, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 Y:\BORAWSKI\DOCS\73877.TXT JUNE PsN: JUNEB COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES CARL LEVIN, Michigan, Chairman JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona JACK REED, Rhode Island JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia JIM WEBB, Virginia ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts MARK UDALL, Colorado ROB PORTMAN, Ohio KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire MARK BEGICH, Alaska SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JOHN CORNYN, Texas KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York DAVID VITTER, Louisiana RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut RICHARD D. DEBOBES, Staff Director DAVID M. MORRISS, Minority Staff Director (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:45 Apr 24, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 Y:\BORAWSKI\DOCS\73877.TXT JUNE PsN: JUNEB C O N T E N T S CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES THE U.S. STRATEGY IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 Page Panetta, Hon. Leon E., Secretary of Defense ........................................................ 8 Mullen, ADM Michael G., USN, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff ....................... 16 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:45 Apr 24, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 Y:\BORAWSKI\DOCS\73877.TXT JUNE PsN: JUNEB VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:45 Apr 24, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 Y:\BORAWSKI\DOCS\73877.TXT JUNE PsN: JUNEB THE U.S. STRATEGY IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:34 a.m. in room SH– 216, Hart Senate Office Building, Senator Carl Levin (chairman) presiding. Committee members present: Senators Levin, Reed, Akaka, Webb, McCaskill, Udall, Hagan, Begich, Manchin, Shaheen, Gillibrand, Blumenthal, McCain, Inhofe, Sessions, Chambliss, Wicker, Brown, Ayotte, Collins, Graham, Cornyn, and Vitter. Committee staff members present: Richard D. DeBobes, staff di- rector; and Leah C. Brewer, nominations and hearings clerk. Majority staff members present: Jessica L. Kingston, research as- sistant; Michael J. Kuiken, professional staff member; Peter K. Le- vine, general counsel; William G.P. Monahan, counsel; Michael J. Noblet, professional staff member; and William K. Sutey, profes- sional staff member. Minority staff members present: David M. Morriss, minority staff director; Christian D. Brose, professional staff member; and Mi- chael J. Sistak, research assistant. Staff assistants present: Hannah I. Lloyd, Maggie K. McNamara, Brian F. Sebold, and Bradley S. Watson. Committee members’ assistants present: Christopher Griffin, as- sistant to Senator Lieberman; Carolyn Chuhta, assistant to Sen- ator Reed; Nick Ikeda, assistant to Senator Akaka; Gordon Peter- son, assistant to Senator Webb; Jennifer Barrett, assistant to Sen- ator Udall; Roger Pena, assistant to Senator Hagan; Joanne McLaughlin, assistant to Senator Manchin; Chad Kreikemeier, as- sistant to Senator Shaheen; Ethan Saxon, assistant to Senator Blumenthal; Anthony Lazarski, assistant to Senator Inhofe; Lenwood Landrum, assistant to Senator Sessions; Clyde Taylor IV, assistant to Senator Chambliss; Joseph Lai, assistant to Senator Wicker; Charles Prosch, assistant to Senator Brown; Brad Bow- man, assistant to Senator Ayotte; Ryan Kaldahl, assistant to Sen- ator Collins; Matthew Rimkunas, assistant to Senator Graham; Russ Thomasson, assistant to Senator Cornyn; and Charles Brittingham, assistant to Senator Vitter. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARL LEVIN, CHAIRMAN Chairman LEVIN. Good morning, everybody. The committee re- ceives testimony this morning on the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:45 Apr 24, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 Y:\BORAWSKI\DOCS\73877.TXT JUNE PsN: JUNEB 2 and in Iraq. This morning’s hearing is Secretary Panetta’s first ap- pearance before this committee as Secretary of Defense and we welcome you, Mr. Secretary. It’s also likely to be Admiral Mullen’s last appearance before he retires at the end of this month. Since the Admiral’s appointment by President Bush as the 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2007 and his reappoint- ment by President Obama in 2009, Admiral Mullen has led our Armed Forces through one of the most complex 4-year periods of security challenges in recent history. Among the challenges occurring on Admiral Mullen’s watch have been the following: A drawdown of forces in Iraq; a shift to a counterinsurgency strategy and the surge of U.S. troops in Afghani- stan; the reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan; support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operations in Libya; management of a volatile relationship with Pakistan’s military; and counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda and other transnational terrorist groups, including the extraordinary raid by our Special Operations Forces (SOF) this past May that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Throughout his chairmanship and more than 4 years of extraor- dinary service to this Nation, Admiral Mullen has provided steady, dedicated leadership and thoughtful, principled, and courageous military judgment. Admiral Mullen has been joined throughout this time by his wife, Deborah, who has been equally tireless in pro- moting initiatives on behalf of our military families and wounded warriors. On behalf of everyone on this committee, Admiral, thank you. The strategy the President charted in December 2009 in his West Point speech is on track to achieving its objectives. These include disrupting, dismantling, and degrading al Qaeda and training the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to provide security for their country, so that Afghanistan will not again serve as a safe haven for extremists plotting attacks against us. As outlined in the West Point speech, the President’s strategy called for a surge of an additional 33,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to break the insurgency’s momentum and to help build the capacity of the ANSF. He stated at that time that 18 months later these U.S. surge troops would begin to come home. Our military men and women have performed magnificently in Afghanistan. Coalition and Afghan forces have reversed the insurgency’s momentum in much of Afghanistan and seized the ini- tiative in key areas, including Taliban strongholds in the south. At the same time, the NATO training mission has added 100,000 sol- diers and police to the ranks of the ANSF, which are partnered with coalition forces in the field and are increasingly in the lead in operations. The Taliban has been reduced to suicide attacks and roadside bombings. In this regard, the assassination of Mr. Rabbani, the leader of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council tasked with pursuing reconciliation talks with the Taliban, was tragic. However, that despicable act only highlights that the Taliban can no longer hold territory and are detested more than ever by the Afghan people be- cause of their attacks on civilians. VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:45 Apr 24, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 Y:\BORAWSKI\DOCS\73877.TXT JUNE PsN: JUNEB 3 The President’s decision to bring home the U.S. surge forces by 2012 maintains the sense of urgency at the highest levels of the Af- ghanistan Government. Further, as 33,000 U.S. troops draw down by next summer, the Afghan army and police at the same time will grow by another 70,000, to a total of over 350,000, and these forces will increasingly be in the lead, be more capable and equipped, and more than willing to take on the Taliban. The growing capabilities of the ANSF represent the best chance for success of the mission, creating a secure Afghanistan which can no longer be the staging ground for an attack against us. This committee has heard directly that the military commanders charged with implementing the President’s decision say that they support it. This includes Admiral Mullen, General Martin Dempsey, who will succeed Admiral Mullen as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and General John Allen, Commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. ANSF have now assumed the lead in seven areas throughout Af- ghanistan. NATO and ISAF participating countries have agreed with President Obama and President Karzai that ANSF should as- sume responsibility for protecting the Afghan people throughout the country by 2014. This transition to Afghan control does not mean that the United States will abandon Afghanistan. The strategic partnership agree- ment currently being negotiated between the United States and Af- ghanistan will help define the long-term relationship between the two countries and play an important role in demonstrating to Af- ghanistan and its neighbors that the United States intends to re- main engaged in this region and that we’re not about to repeat the mistakes of 1989, when the United States turned its attention else- where following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Clearly, great challenges remain. Foremost is the threat posed by the militant extremists launching attacks against Afghan and coa- lition forces from sanctuaries in Pakistan, particularly the Haqqani group in North Waziristan and the Afghan Taliban shura in Quetta.
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