Gates sees momentum in Afghanistan but plays down prospects for reconciliation

U.S. Defense Secretary Gates visits Afghanistan to prepare US offensive against Kandahar
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan on Monday to discuss preparations for a major Military offensive against Kandahar, the country's second largest city. At a joint press conference in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Gates warned of a new round of bloody violence against the Afghan people. "People do need to understand there is some very hard fighting and some very hard days ahead," he said. "I worry people will get too impatient and think things...

Gates Visits Afghanistan to Meet With Karzai
Kabul, Afghanistan — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Monday morning to meet with President Hamid Karzai and NATO commanders, and to review plans for a major American-led offensive into the Taliban heartland of Kandahar. Related Mr. Gates gave no date for the anticipated push into the city of Kandahar, which has a population of 900,000 and is the capital of Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan, but he said that “there...

Gates Warns of 'Hard Fighting' in Afghanistan
Related Articles U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Monday of "hard fighting" ahead in Afghanistan -- despite recent progress. Speaking to reporters during his unannounced visit to Kabul, Gates acknowledged "bits and pieces of good news" with the capture of senior Taliban commanders in Pakistan and the takeover of the former Afghan Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Helmand Province.   But he also cautioned against overconfidence, saying it is too soon to suggests that the war is at a...

Gates confers with commanders in south Afghanistan
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday held talks with commanders on a major ongoing offensive in southern Afghanistan and plans to move against the Taliban in Kandahar. Gates flew into Kandahar Air Base from Kabul, where he called an operation in the Marjah area of Helmand "only one of many battles still to come in a much longer campaign focused on protecting the people of Afghanistan." The overall ground commander, US General Stanley McChrystal, has said that US and NATO troops could...

Gates in Afghanistan; meets with military leaders
Kabul (AP) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Afghanistan early Monday as coalition forces continue to restore order in the town of Marjah, the first major test of the U.S. and NATO Counterinsurgency strategy since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 new American troops to blunt the Taliban's momentum. Gates said the offensive that began last month is encouraging, but he stopped short of saying the success in Marjah suggests that the war is at a turning point. The Marjah...

Gates meets with troops in southern Afghanistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is getting a closer view of the Afghanistan war Tuesday, with a visit to troops fighting the Taliban in the country’s rugged south. Gates flew to Kandahar early Tuesday for meetings with U.S. and British generals overseeing the current Military campaign in Marjah. Gates presented Silver Stars for valor to two Army aviators before scheduled visits with U.S. forces at small forward operating bases elsewhere in the south.

Gates Tours 'Reborn' Town In Southern Afghanistan
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, aiming to show progress in the expanded war against Insurgents in south Afghanistan, took a brief, heavily guarded walk Tuesday down a rutted street in this scruffy market town where the Taliban lobbed mortars at U.S. forces only weeks ago. Now Zad was the scene of first significant Military push following President Barack Obama's announcement in early December that he would add 30,000 troops atop 17,000 reinforcements he had already sent into the flagging...

Gates meets with troops fighting Taliban in southern Afghanistan
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates got a closer view of the Afghanistan war Tuesday, with a visit to troops fighting the Taliban in the country's rugged south. Gates flew to Kandahar early Tuesday for meetings with U.S. and British generals overseeing the current Military campaign in Marjah. Gates presented Silver Stars for valor to two Army aviators before scheduled visits with U.S. forces at small forward operating bases elsewhere in the south. On Monday, the...

Gates in Afghanistan Sees 'Some Very Hard Days Ahead'
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the offensive that began last month is encouraging, but he stopped short of saying the success in Marjah suggests that the war is at a turning point.  Kabul -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Afghanistan early Monday as coalition forces continue to restore order in the town of Marjah, the first major test of the U.S. and NATO Counterinsurgency strategy since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 new American troops to blunt the Taliban's...

Gates Says Corruption Damages Afghanistan Efforts
Official Corruption in Afghanistan has proved "an impediment to success" even as the White House's Counterinsurgency strategy there appears to be bearing fruit, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday. Gates, on an unannounced visit to Afghanistan, said he was concerned that Corruption "undermines popular confidence in officials and in [the Afghan] government itself." At a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the capital, Kabul, Gates said the U.S. Military campaign in...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Afghanistan as NATO carries out counterinsurgency plan
Kabul — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Afghanistan early Monday as coalition forces continue to restore order in the town of Marjah, the first major test of the U.S. and NATO Counterinsurgency strategy since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 new American troops to blunt the Taliban's momentum. Gates said the offensive that began last month is encouraging, but he stopped short of saying the success in Marjah suggests that the war is at a turning point. The Marjah...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates lands in Afghanistan as NATO carries out counterinsurgency plan
Defense Secretary Robert Gates (Getty Images file photo) Kabul — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Afghanistan early Monday as coalition forces continue to restore order in the town of Marjah, the first major test of the U.S. and NATO Counterinsurgency strategy since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 new American troops to blunt the Taliban's momentum. Gates said the offensive that began last month is encouraging, but he stopped short of saying the success in Marjah...

Gates in Afghanistan; meets with military leaders
Kabul – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Afghanistan early Monday as coalition forces continue to restore order in the town of Marjah, the first major test of the U.S. and NATO Counterinsurgency strategy since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 new American troops to blunt the Taliban 's momentum. Gates said the offensive that began last month is encouraging, but he stopped short of saying the success in Marjah suggests that the war is at a turning point. The Marjah...

Afghan leader to host peace conference in spring
Kabul (AP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai says an action plan for reintegrating Taliban fighters into society and talking with the insurgency's top leaders will be crafted at a spring peace conference in Kabul. At a news conference Monday with U.S. Secretary Robert Gates, Karzai says Afghans from all sections of the nation and all walks of life will be attending the so-called jirga. He says the government is extending an offer to reconcile with members of the Taliban who renounce ties to...

Gates makes unannounced Afghan trip
Kabul, Afghanistan , March 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived unannounced Monday in Afghanistan, where the NATO-led anti-Taliban offensive in Helmand was in its 24th day. Gates planned to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, CNN reported. The 15,000-strong "Operation Moshtarak" campaign, made up of U.S., British and other coalition forces and Afghan security forces, has largely driven...

Afghan leader to host peace conference in spring
Source: Associated Press Kabul

9 March SWJ Roundup
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Monday of "hard fighting" ahead in Afghanistan - despite recent progress. Speaking to reporters during his unannounced visit to Kabul, Gates acknowledged "bits and pieces of good news" with the capture of senior Taliban commanders in Pakistan and the takeover of the former Afghan Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Helmand Province. But he also cautioned against overconfidence, saying it is too soon to suggests that the war is at a turning point. Gates...

On Afghanistan: 'Very Hard Fighting, Very Hard Days Ahead,' Gates Says
Afghan, NATO and U.S. forces have made good progress in recent months in Afghanistan, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says, but he also cautions that "very hard fighting, very hard days" are ahead. And that means more U.S. casualties. The secretary is in Afghanistan today, where he met with President Hamid Karzai and other leaders. On the plane headed there Sunday, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly recorded the secretary's comments about the dangerous work that remains to be done as the U.S. and...

Afghanistan faces 'hard days ahead' despite some progress: Gates+
Kabul, March 8 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Afghanistan faces "hard days ahead" despite signs of progress in defeating Insurgents, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday during a visit to Kabul. Gates told reporters that with the commitment of more international troops to Afghanistan, "there are positive developments going on, but I would say it is very early yet, and I think people need to understand there are some very hard days ahead." "The early signs are encouraging...but I worry...

Robert Gates In Afghanistan: Some Troops Could Leave Early
PUL-E-CHARKHI, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility Wednesday that some of the U.S. forces involved in the Afghanistan surge could leave the country before President Barack Obama's announced July 2011 date to begin withdrawal. Without giving specifics, Gates said, "It would have to be conditions-based." Gates made the remarks during a visit to a dust-blown training ground in Kabul province where Afghan Soldiers come for weeks of training under U.S. and...

Gates: Some troops could leave Afghanistan early
PUL-E-CHARKHI, Afghanistan (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility Wednesday that some of the U.S. forces involved in the Afghanistan surge could leave the country before President Obama's announced July 2011 date to begin withdrawal. Without giving specifics, Gates said, "It would have to be conditions-based." Gates made the remarks during a visit to a dust-blown training ground in Kabul province where Afghan Soldiers come for weeks of training under U.S. and...

Iran's Ahmadinejad attacks US for Afghan 'double game'
Source: BBC News Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the US of playing a "double game" in Afghanistan after the US used the same term to condemn Iran's role. Mr Ahmadinejad said the US had "created terrorists and now say they are fighting them", as he appeared with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who is also in Kabul, has accused Iran of giving the Taliban low-level support. Later, Mr Karzai heads to Pakistan for talks with another key...

Gates praises troops in southern Afghanistan
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a hard-hit battle unit Tuesday that its heavy losses have helped the U.S. begin to push back against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

Gates praises troops in southern Afghanistan
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan (AP) — Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a hard-hit battle unit Tuesday that its heavy losses have helped the U.S. begin to push back against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan . Gates visited a small, remote outpost 30 miles north of Kandahar , where the Fort Lewis , Washington-based Stryker unit has lost 22 men and suffered an additional 62 wounded since arriving here last summer. The latest injuries came Monday night, and the...

Gates Praises Troops in Southern Afghanistan
The defense secretary praised the 800-soldier unit and told the troops that as the fight shifts toward securing Kandahar itself later this year, they will again be "at the top of the spear." FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a hard-hit battle unit Tuesday that its heavy losses have helped the U.S. begin to push back against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. Gates was visiting a small, remote outpost 30 miles north of Kandahar, where the...