Mullen, general split on Taliban resurgence

[unhappycamper]

Mullen, general split on Taliban resurgence
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 8, 2008 16:17:30 EST

The Taliban is not “resurgent” in Afghanistan, said the U.S. general who commands the 42,000-member NATO force there, contradicting the Defense Department view, expressed most recently before Congress during two hearings Wednesday by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Adm. Mike Mullen.

In his written statements submitted for the record to the House and Senate armed services committees, Mullen said, “In Afghanistan, we are seeing a growing insurgency, increasing violence, and a burgeoning drug trade fueled by widespread poppy cultivation.”

At a Wednesday morning press conference at the Pentagon, Army Gen. Dan McNeill agreed with the second two points but took exception to Mullen’s claim of the insurgency’s growth.

“Admiral Mullen has his view,” said McNeill, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force for the past year. “I’ve got mine, too.”

The differing assessments by the two four-star leaders come as officials grapple with the way forward in Afghanistan, where the U.S. in 2001 attacked the al-Qaida extremists who hatched the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and drove from power the Taliban government that harbored them. A Jan. 30 report by an independent commission concluded that “Afghanistan stands today at a crossroads” despite the 6½-year effort to stabilize the war-torn nation.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_taliban_afghanistan_080207w/