McChrystal: Kandahar operation 'will happen more slowly'

[unhappycamper]

By Dion Nissenbaum and Hashim Shukoor | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, June 10, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — Amid a spike in Afghan and American deaths in southern Afghanistan, U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top NATO commander in the country, conceded Thursday that the military push to secure the Taliban's spiritual capital will take longer than anticipated.

As McClatchy reported last month, a series of obstacles has slowed the opening stages of the highly anticipated summer offensive to defeat Islamic militants and bolster the Afghan government in Kandahar province.

A Taliban intimidation campaign has undermined the American-led effort to build a functional Kandahar government. Afghan security forces are taking longer than planned to prepare for the summer campaign. The Afghan government's efforts to install respected local leaders have lagged, and U.S. Marines in neighboring Helmand province have yet to gain the upper hand against resurgent Taliban fighters.

On Thursday, McChrystal, the head of U.S.-led military forces in Afghanistan, said the high-profile Kandahar operations, which once were expected to produce significant results by mid-August, would now continue well into the fall — and beyond.

"I do think that it will happen more slowly than we had originally intended," McChrystal told reporters while visiting Brussels for a meeting of NATO leaders. "But I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I think it's more important we get it right than we get it fast."