New Afghan strategy makes use of militias

WASHINGTON — Confronting the prospect of failure after seven years in Afghanistan, the U.S. military is crafting a new strategy that probably will expand the power and reach of tribal militias while relying less on the increasingly troubled central government.

Under the new approach, U.S. forces would scale back combat operations to focus more on training both of government forces and tribal militias. The plan is controversial because it could extend the influence of warlords while undermining the government of President Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

At the same time, the new strategy could set up a rivalry between national-security units and the improved tribal forces, proponents concede.

The U.S. military's willingness to consider such risks reflects the growing worry about worsening conditions in Afghanistan. Until recently, the military would not have considered a move to bolster tribal militias but, with relatively few troops available, military leaders believe only a new approach to the war can stanch the spreading violence.

"There has been very, very tough fighting this year and it will be tougher next year unless we adjust," Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Thursday.

Supporters contend the dangers are offset by the prospect that well-trained tribal forces could help improve local security, undercut the insurgency and strengthen ties between rural areas and the central government.

"My bottom line is that this is clearly something we should do," said a senior military officer, who was one of several to describe strategy reviews on condition of anonymity because it is still under way.

By focusing on tribal militias and local security, the new approach resembles the U.S. campaign in Iraq, where former Sunni insurgents were paid to shift their allegiance.

The new approach also reflects increasing frustration among U.S. and allied commanders over Afghanistan's central government, which they believe has been proved too weak to exert any meaningful influence outside the capital, especially in the country's mountainous reaches.

Although Karzai several years ago declared that the era of warlordism was over and offered several warlords influential posts in the central government, warlords remain extremely powerful forces in the country. Many enjoy great influence in their home provinces, with some fielding private militias or gaining wealth from the opium trade.

Any broad effort to train tribal militias probably would have U.S. military forces working with Taliban sympathizers. But U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss the Afghanistan war with NATO defense ministers, said Thursday the U.S. would be open to reconciling with the Taliban.

The new Afghan strategy is being crafted as new intelligence assessments conclude that Afghanistan is spiraling downward in part because of the government's shortcomings and widespread corruption. Those findings, contained in an upcoming U.S. National Intelligence Assessment, pose new concerns for American forces in Afghanistan, which have reported two successive years of record casualties in 2007 and 2008.

There are more than 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, far fewer than the 140,000 in Iraq. Military officials hope to send as many as 15,000 new troops in 2009, but some members of the joint chiefs have insisted that no additional forces should be sent until a new strategy is in place.

19 killed in missile strikes, bombings

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A suspected U.S. missile strike targeted two areas in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghanistan border on Thursday, killing at least nine people, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

Also Thursday, bombings targeting police killed 10 people and wounded 14 in Pakistan's volatile northwest and the capital — reminders of the challenge facing the country as its lawmakers pursue a national anti-terror consensus.

One missile strike occurred at a house in Tappi village in North Waziristan tribal region. A local tribesman, Shoaib Dawar, said Taliban militants surrounded the house. A second alleged strike was reported at a house in the village of Dande Darpa Khel. The site was near a seminary of veteran Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, considered an archenemy of the U.S. Al-Qaida and Taliban militants have used Pakistan's tribal areas as bases from which to attack U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, spurring U.S. frustration with Pakistan. The tribal regions also are considered potential hiding places for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri.

In the bombings Thursday, one attack, an apparent suicide car bombing, occurred in a police complex in Islamabad. It wrecked an anti-terror-squad building and wounded at least four police.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb struck a prisoners' vehicle in the Dir region near Afghanistan and killed two police, four inmates and four children.

The Associated Press