1 in 4 elite Army officers Afghan-bound

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By JOHN MILBURN

Associated Press Writer

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) -- One-quarter of the officers graduating this week from the Army's School for Advanced Military Studies will soon be in Afghanistan.

Thirty officers will graduate Thursday from the school at Fort Leavenworth after a year of study in military arts and sciences. The program focuses on planning and carrying out operations, ranging from conventional war to counterinsurgency and peacekeeping missions.

President Barack Obama announced Tuesday he's sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, with the first to join the fight by Christmas. Two of Thursday's graduates will be working directly with the training of Afghanistan's security forces, a key component of the new Obama strategy.

Majs. Grant Martin and Joe Jackson have orders to report to Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, the former Fort Leavenworth commander who was tapped by Obama to lead the new NATO training mission.

Jackson was in Afghanistan in 2007 and worked on the training plans that have been in place to build Afghan police, army and border patrol units. He said that plan will be revised to fit the new strategy, but the overall goal for Afghanistan can't rely solely on the military and must require significant economic and diplomatic efforts.

"It's not just a matter of measuring success but what you aren't losing," Jackson said.

Martin said Obama answered key questions about what the U.S. commitment will be in the short term, but more important is what happens when 2011 rolls around and troops are scheduled to go home.

"One of the biggest mistakes we made in Vietnam was the aftermath. What happens when we do leave," Martin said. "A lot of strategic communications is what we do and not what we say."

The majors said a key change will be that instead of small teams of advisers working with Afghan forces to train them and accompany them into battle, the new strategy will increase the number of active duty Army soldiers working directly with the Afghans. The majors said this should increase the Afghans' effectiveness, as was the case in Iraq when U.S. units worked in closer concert.

Members of the Republican-dominated Kansas congressional delegation gave Obama's announcement a mixed review, praising the increase in troops, but critical of setting a date for reducing overall numbers which will approach 100,000 troops.

Sen. Sam Brownback said Thursday that he was pleased with the president's decision to pursue a counterinsurgency strategy, which Brownback feels keeps the United States on the offensive against the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Brownback said the key factor was Caldwell's training mission and that U.S. troops should come home when Afghanistan can take control of its own security.

Both he and Rep. Todd Tiahrt, who represents the Kansas 4th District, said it is wrong for Obama to set or openly discuss timelines, which they say only emboldens adversaries.

"I don't like artificial deadlines placed on insurgencies. It's dangerous for Afghanistan and it's dangerous for Pakistan," the senator said.

Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins, who 2nd District includes Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, said she hoped Obama would listen to commanders on the ground in implementing the policy, adding that defeating al-Qaida was "is not an option, it is a necessity for our nation's security."