Obama to put onus on Afghans

WASHINGTON - President Obama will not commit more U.S. troops to Afghanistan until he is convinced the central government can be a credible and effective U.S. partner, a senior White House aide said yesterday.

The central question before the president, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said, is "not how many troops you have, but whether in fact there's an Afghan partner."

But he did not categorically say whether Obama intends to accept or reject the request by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for thousands more American troops.

The issue of developing an effective Afghan central government has dogged the U.S. mission virtually from the war's start after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It gained new urgency after charges of vote fraud marred the Aug. 20 presidential election.

An election-fraud investigation could lead to a runoff between President Hamid Karzai - whose government is frequently accused of having alienated many Afghans with incompetence and corruption - and his top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

A potential second round of balloting would have to be held before winter, which begins in mid-November. Once heavy snows block mountain passes, thereby limiting voter access to polling places, a runoff would have to wait until spring, leaving the country in political limbo for months as the Taliban gains strength.

The weakness of the Afghan government has undermined the U.S. and NATO military mission in several respects.

It has created disillusionment among ordinary Afghans who then turn to the Taliban militants for security and other services. That has been an important factor in the Taliban's resurgence.

In Sunday talk-show interviews, Emanuel did not answer directly when asked whether Obama would wait for a final election outcome before deciding U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan. But he underlined doubts about the Kabul government as a reliable partner for the United States.

"There's not a security force, an army, the type of services that are important for the Afghans to become true partners," Emanuel said. "It would be reckless to make a decision on U.S. troop levels if, in fact, you haven't done a thorough analysis of whether, in fact, there's an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that the U.S. troops would create and become a true partner in governing."

Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visiting Kabul over the weekend, said Obama should wait until the election cloud has lifted.

"I don't see how President Obama can make a decision about the committing of our additional forces or even the further fulfillment of our mission that's here today without an adequate government in place or knowledge about what that government's going to be," said Kerry (D., Mass.).

Critics, including some Republicans in Congress, have blasted Obama for undertaking a lengthy review.

Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) said Obama may be emboldening U.S. enemies.

"At some point, deliberation begins to look more like indecisiveness, which then becomes a way of emboldening our enemies," Cornyn said, "and causing our allies to question our resolve."

Emanuel provided no timeline for Obama to finish his Afghan review, which began in September.

Kerry said a successful U.S. and NATO mission in Afghanistan depends as much on the effectiveness of the Afghan government and the sufficiency of international civilian support as it does on the size of the U.S. military presence.

"It would be very hard, I think, for the president to make a commitment to 'X' number of troops, whatever it might be, or to a new strategy, without knowing that all of the components of the strategy are indeed capable of being achieved," he said, adding, "And I'm not yet convinced that we're there."

Kerry and Emanuel were on CNN's State of the Union and CBS's Face the Nation. Cornyn appeared on CBS.