Munich Security Summit Focuses on Combating Afghan Insurgency

JIM LEHRER:

And now, the new Obama mission on Afghanistan. We start with some background, narrated by NewsHour correspondent Tom Bearden.

TOM BEARDEN, NewsHour Correspondent:

Seven-and-a-half years into the American campaign in Afghanistan, the U.S. and its NATO partners face a revived Taliban insurgency, which is battling to extend its reach throughout the country.

The joint U.S.-NATO effort has 55,000 troops on the ground; more than 30,000 are Americans. The Obama administration says it will add 30,000 troops to Afghanistan over the next several months.

New obstacles arose last week. A bridge was blown up on a main supply route in Pakistan, and the government of Kyrgyzstan said it would cancel the lease on the air base at Manas, a major supply point for Afghanistan.

At the start of a security conference in Munich, Germany, Russia offered a base on its territory for Afghan re-supply. The conference focused on the Afghan challenge.

For his part, Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, suggested domestic political negotiations.

HAMID KARZAI, President of Afghanistan: This is perhaps the right time for me to call for a process of reconciliation. We will invite all those Taliban who are not part of al-Qaida, who are not part of terrorist networks, who want to return to their country, who want to live by the constitution of Afghanistan, and who want to have peace in the country and live a normal life to participate, to come back to their country. And I would request the international community to back us in this fully.

TOM BEARDEN:

The U.S. delegation was led by Vice President Joe Biden, joined by the national security adviser, James Jones; General David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command; and the new administration's special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke. Holbrooke, who is now heading to the region on his first mission, told the conferees yesterday that Afghanistan is "going to be a long and difficult struggle. In my view, it's going to be much tougher than Iraq."

Jones said the U.S. and its NATO partners must work together.

JAMES JONES, National Security Adviser:

We cannot afford failure in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not simply an American problem; it is an international problem.

TOM BEARDEN:

But the conference showed sharp disagreements among the NATO allies. German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said his country's limit on troops was 4,500.

FRANZ JOSEF JUNG, Defense Minister, Germany (through translator):

I think, with military means only, we will not be successful in Afghanistan. We have to combine effective military security and civilian reconstruction.

TOM BEARDEN:

Jung's British counterpart, John Hutton, said the alliance was failing in its efforts and needed a new mindset.

JOHN HUTTON, Defense Minister, United Kingdom:

What I want from NATO is more of a wartime mentality to rise to the challenge of the threat that we face, less of a peacetime culture, which is characterized, I'm afraid, far too often by process, an obsession with process, bureaucracy, and prevarication. Given where we are today, however, I think we need stronger force levels in Afghanistan.

TOM BEARDEN:

But several NATO countries have said they're planning to reduce their commitments to Afghanistan or withdraw all together.