Mullen: Afghan training mission top priority

[unhappycamper]

Mullen: Afghan training mission top priority
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 8, 2009 5:47:25 EST

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Marines tapped to go to Afghanistan as part of President Obama’s 30,000-troop surge must develop Afghan National Security Forces as “fast as we can” and begin transferring security operations to those forces within two years, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Monday.

“There’s a lot of time between now and then,” Adm. Mike Mullen told an audience of about 1,000 Lejeune-based Marines and sailors heading to Afghanistan in the coming months.

Obama has said that U.S. troops would begin leaving Afghanistan in July 2011, a plan that’s been criticized by some politicians, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who worries that setting a timeline for withdrawal will weaken support from Afghanistan’s neighbor, Pakistan.

Mullen told Marines that he supports the president’s decision because it will force the Afghan government to hold up its end of the bargain in providing a secure state.

“It places a sense of urgency on that,” he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/12/marine_mullen_lejeune_120709w/