Senator Biden: Gen. McNeil’s Advice on ‘Under-Resourced War’ Must Not Fall on Deaf Ears

June 3, 2008 -- Washington, DC -- Yesterday in Kabul, Afghanistan, General Dan McNeil, the American who has led NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), handed over his command.

General McNeil told reporters: "This is an under-resourced war and it needs more maneuver units, it needs more flying machines, it needs more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance apparatus.

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US Army and Afghan soldiers in Afghanistan: Afghan National Army and coalition forces soldiers rmove west across a wadi back to Main Supply Route Vermont in the Tagab District, Kapisa Province, Afghanistan Jan. 19, 2008, after a security patrol. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Johnny R. Aragon

"I'm not just focused on the U.S. sector, I'm talking about across the country."

Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement:

“General McNeil’s straight talk about our ‘under-resourced’ war in Afghanistan must not fall on deaf ears. The lawless area between Afghanistan and Pakistan is where the people who actually attacked us on 9-11 reside and are regrouping. But we don’t have the troops or equipment to finish them off. When I met with General McNeil in Afghanistan in February, he told me that he could turn around the security situation in the south with two more combat brigades – about 10,000 troops. But he acknowledged he cannot get them because they are tied up in Iraq. Every extra day we keep 140,000 troops tied down in Iraq puts off the day we fully take the fight to Al Qaeda and the Taliban.”

Source: Senator Joe Biden