Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
FNC
October 14, 2008
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: Afghanistan’s defense minister says U.S. military successes in Iraq have forced sophisticated and well-trained insurgents into his country. That statement backs up a comment from the top American commander in eastern Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser. He told the Associated Press last month that he is seeing a spike in the number of foreign militants coming to Afghanistan.
In tonight’s “America’s Future” report, correspondent Dana Lewis talks with Gen. Schloesser about the tough times ahead for U.S. forces.
DANA LEWIS: It’s been a long, hot, violent summer in Afghanistan. And the top American commander of the elite 101st Airborne, fighting in the mountainous eastern half of the country, is the first to admit it.
MAJ. GEN. JEFFREY SCHLOESSER [101st Airborne Commander]: And some of these terrorist groups and some of these foreign fighter groups are acting as teachers and mentors, and they are helping the insurgency become better fighters.
LEWIS: Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser says attacks originate from terrorist safe havens and training camps in Pakistan. He says the Pakistani army’s fight against terrorists in the northern tribal areas is limited. U.S. drones and Special Forces have conducted half a dozen strikes on high-value terrorist targets inside Pakistan in recent months. Tension is rising. The Pakistani army fired on two U.S. helicopters, which returned fire.
SCHLOESSER: I just frankly believe it was a mistake on their part. We did everything we possibly could to defuse that, but we can move along that border. We do move on that border with helicopters and I’m not going to stop.
LEWIS: Flying over Logar Province, south of Afghanistan’s capital, the general points out how insurgents have attacked the main highway to Kabul, blowing up four bridges and killing three aid workers. Is Kabul encircled, as the enemy claims?
SCHLOESSER: Pure rubbish.
LEWIS: He points to new roads being built linking Kabul to the rest of the country, increased security in some centers where even six months ago streets and markets were empty. But even the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said he’s not sure we’re winning in Afghanistan and the British commander this month said the war can’t be won.
[To Schloesser] Are you losing?
SCHLOESSER: No. There’s absolutely no way we’re going to lose. Like I told you, most of these fights are either militarily insignificant or we clobber them. I mean, we just – you know, kill a large number. But this is a very slow win.
LEWIS: Slow because of a critical lack of soldiers. This is Forward Operating Base Shank. In January, this base will expand to host 3,500 soldiers from 10th Mountain Division, a vital boost in American troop strength.
Gen. Schloesser says it’s naïve to think that the insurgents come over the mountains from Pakistan in the spring and then they go back in the fall. He believes they stay here through the winter. This year, he says, he’s going to take the fight to them. They won’t be allowed to rest and rearm.
Gen. Schloesser claims the numbers of attacks are up because U.S. forces are pushing into areas they’ve never been before. More troops, more enemy contact. And he has to try to put his finger on just where insurgents will strike next.
In Logar, Afghanistan, Dana Lewis, Fox News.
October 14, 2008
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: Afghanistan’s defense minister says U.S. military successes in Iraq have forced sophisticated and well-trained insurgents into his country. That statement backs up a comment from the top American commander in eastern Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser. He told the Associated Press last month that he is seeing a spike in the number of foreign militants coming to Afghanistan.
In tonight’s “America’s Future” report, correspondent Dana Lewis talks with Gen. Schloesser about the tough times ahead for U.S. forces.
DANA LEWIS: It’s been a long, hot, violent summer in Afghanistan. And the top American commander of the elite 101st Airborne, fighting in the mountainous eastern half of the country, is the first to admit it.
MAJ. GEN. JEFFREY SCHLOESSER [101st Airborne Commander]: And some of these terrorist groups and some of these foreign fighter groups are acting as teachers and mentors, and they are helping the insurgency become better fighters.
LEWIS: Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser says attacks originate from terrorist safe havens and training camps in Pakistan. He says the Pakistani army’s fight against terrorists in the northern tribal areas is limited. U.S. drones and Special Forces have conducted half a dozen strikes on high-value terrorist targets inside Pakistan in recent months. Tension is rising. The Pakistani army fired on two U.S. helicopters, which returned fire.
SCHLOESSER: I just frankly believe it was a mistake on their part. We did everything we possibly could to defuse that, but we can move along that border. We do move on that border with helicopters and I’m not going to stop.
LEWIS: Flying over Logar Province, south of Afghanistan’s capital, the general points out how insurgents have attacked the main highway to Kabul, blowing up four bridges and killing three aid workers. Is Kabul encircled, as the enemy claims?
SCHLOESSER: Pure rubbish.
LEWIS: He points to new roads being built linking Kabul to the rest of the country, increased security in some centers where even six months ago streets and markets were empty. But even the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said he’s not sure we’re winning in Afghanistan and the British commander this month said the war can’t be won.
[To Schloesser] Are you losing?
SCHLOESSER: No. There’s absolutely no way we’re going to lose. Like I told you, most of these fights are either militarily insignificant or we clobber them. I mean, we just – you know, kill a large number. But this is a very slow win.
LEWIS: Slow because of a critical lack of soldiers. This is Forward Operating Base Shank. In January, this base will expand to host 3,500 soldiers from 10th Mountain Division, a vital boost in American troop strength.
Gen. Schloesser says it’s naïve to think that the insurgents come over the mountains from Pakistan in the spring and then they go back in the fall. He believes they stay here through the winter. This year, he says, he’s going to take the fight to them. They won’t be allowed to rest and rearm.
Gen. Schloesser claims the numbers of attacks are up because U.S. forces are pushing into areas they’ve never been before. More troops, more enemy contact. And he has to try to put his finger on just where insurgents will strike next.
In Logar, Afghanistan, Dana Lewis, Fox News.