U.S. commander in Afghanistan can finally command all U.S. troops

October 03, 2008
U.S. commander in Afghanistan can finally command all U.S. troops
Posted by Nancy Youssef - McClatchy blog

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Gen. David McKiernan as commander of U.S. Forces-Afghanistan. On its face, this does not seem like big news. After all, Gen. McKiernan has been the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan for four months, and all this confirmation does is change his title.

But at the Pentagon and in Afghanistan, this was long-awaited good news. Because, believe or not, up until yesterday, McKiernan was not actually in command of all U.S. troops there. That’s right-- the top U.S. commander didn’t actually command some U.S. troops.

With more than 40 nations serving in Afghanistan, the force structure set up somehow evolved into a complex matrix. There are forces under ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) control, others under U.S. control. And nothing is a simple as it seems. Some of the 101st Airborne soldiers serving in Afghanistan reported to ISAF; others answered to McKiernan. And sometimes McKiernan answered to U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for the region and other times he reported to U.S. European Command, which is in charge of NATO. It was so confusing that top officials at the Pentagon often got it wrong, especially when describing future deployments. Listen to Pentagon officials talk about it long enough and you will think they have switched topics and are describing Afghanistan’s complex, nuanced tribal system.

The Pentagon was eager to streamline the organizational chart and put McKiernan is charge of all U.S. troops in Afghanistan. It submitted its proposal to Congress Sept. 8. The hope was that this change would happen a few days after that. But then the bailout crisis happened and the Senate delayed the vote to debate the pending financial bill.

But now, finally, McKiernan will only wear one hat and U.S. troops will answer to one commander. Now, if only they could streamline the strategy.