By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

In a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday, Dr. Frederick W. Kagan, a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, called on the Obama administration to develop a political strategy in Afghanistan as an accompaniment to General Stanley McChrystals request for additional troops and a counterinsurgency campaign.

“We need to know what the administration’s political strategy in this crisis is going to be. Of course it’s not in General McChrystals plan, because it’s not his remit to develop a political strategy,” Kagan said.

“In order to conduct an effective counterinsurgency campaign you have to address the problems of the illegitimacy of the government that fuel insurgency…if the government was seen as legitimate you wouldn’t have an insurgency,” explained Kagan.

Gen. McChrystal’s assessment on the war in Afghanistan called for a “surge” of approximately 40,000 troops, and said protecting the Afghan populations is its highest priority. His assessment also included the key element of partnering with the National Afghan Security Forces (NASF). The assessment concluded that a partnership with the NASF would therefore hold the Afghan government more accountable.

J Alexander Thier, Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the United States Institute of Peace said, “I believe apart from the troops, we need to focus much more intensively on this effort to create government accountability and capacity particularly at the sub-national level.”

“Gen. McChrystal has done his homework…what we need to see is the homework for the rest of the effort, which is a political strategy to go along with this,” Kagan added.

By Meagan Wiseley – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

In a hearing Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) and Ranking member Howard McKeon (R-Calif.) said they both strongly support General Stanley McChrystal’s proposed counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy in Afghanistan and have sent a letter to McChrystal requesting him to testify before the Committee.

Retired U.S. Army General Jack Keane echoed a similar sentiment during his testimony before the committee, saying the U.S. must “put in play a COIN strategy with the appropriate military, civilian and financial resources.”

Gen. Keane, who retired in 2003, described the U.S. attempt of counter-terrorism (CT) in Iraq between 2003-2007 and said during that period of time “we were failing and we nearly lost the country.” He says the situation in Afghanistan has “simply gotten worse” because of the CT strategy being used in currently. He believes CT strategies are valuable, but must be used as a compliment to a “fully integrated civil-military counterinsurgency strategy.”

Gen. Keane cautioned the use of a COIN strategy without the proper amount of troops or resources saying it will “fail and fail miserably.”

However, a voice of dissent came from Dr. Paul Pillar, former Deputy Directory of the CIA’s Counter-terrorist Center, who instead believes the U.S. should avoid bolstering its military presence.

“An expanded military effort in the cause of counterinsurgency in Afghanistan would be unwarranted,” Pillar said. The former CIA official went on to say he believes the cost of counterinsurgency, U.S. equities, monetary resources and American lives, would outweigh the benefit.

“Last week the President told members of congress that his decision [on the war in Afghanistan] will be timely,” McKeon said during the hearing’s close. “My hope and expectation is that the President will make a decision on resources in the coming week and stick with it.”

“Time is of the essence,” McKeon added.

By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

During testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, former CIA counter-terrorism official Robert Grenier said that a strong U.S presence in Afghanistan could be useful in fighting Al-Qaida.

Wednesday’s hearing was set against the backdrop of the national debate on the U.S.’s military policy in Afghanistan. President Obama is currently under pressure to decide whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan as requested by General Stanley McChrystal.

In his remarks, Grenier said that a “robust presence” of forces is needed in Afghanistan.

“Much of our relative success against Al-Qaida leadership, particularly across the border in Pakistan, [we owe] to our intelligence and military platform we have inside Afghanistan,” Grenier said. “If that were to be diminished, I believe our success would diminish with it.”

Grenier said that a U.S. presence is crucial, but shot down suggestions that launching counter-terrorism operations offshore would be effective.

President Obama has yet to indicate if he will send more troops to Afghanistan.