McChrystal and Eikenberry present united front after troop surge row

Source: Guardian

McChrystal and Eikenberry present united front after troop surge row

Top US military commander in Afghanistan and his diplomatic counterpart insist they share the same goals
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 December 2009


The top US military commander in Afghanistan and his diplomatic counterpart presented a united front today after a highly publicised rift over the value of sending of 30,000 extra US troops to combat the Taliban.

The US ambassador to Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, and General Stanley McChrystal, head of US and allied forces in Afghanistan, described each other as old friends and insisted they shared the same goals when they gave evidence to Congress.

Eikenberry, in an apparent reversal of his previous scepticism about sending more troops, said such a surge of reinforcements was essential. Playing down his dispute with McChrystal, he said the two were united in their efforts and this could not work unless a high degree of cooperation existed.

The rift was exposed when two memos from Eikenberry were leaked in which he expressed deep concern about sending more troops unless the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, first tackled widespread corruption. Both Eikenberry and McChrystal were pressed about the rift by the House armed services committee. Eikenberry said: "I am exactly aligned with General McChrystal."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/08/mcchrystal-eikenberry-troops-afghanistan

Words like "honor" and "principle" guide very few in government anymore. Just a bunch of self-serving sycophants swimming in a cesspool of corruption.