WASHINGTON, Sep 29: Defeating the enemies of tomorrow from rogue nations to terror networks will require a balanced and nimble US military that can coax or confound an adversary as well as it can crush one, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday. Speaking to a class at the National Defence University, Gates said the Pentagon must have a broad range of capabilities, but should not try to buy its way out of every problem.

Instead, he said that lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan show that the Defence Department must learn to move with more speed and agility to field needed weapons and equipment.

Rather than waiting for a 99 per cent solution that will take years to develop, Gates said the often sluggish bureaucracy must be able to field a “75 per cent solution in months” to defeat insurgencies.

As examples he pointed to the struggles to get to Iraq mine-resistant vehicles and effective countermeasures for deadly roadside bombs efforts that stumbled along for months as more troops died before the countermeasures finally took hold.

With just four months to go before he and the Bush administration turn control of the country’s military over to a new team, Gates issued a broad call for a more realistic defence strategy.

The nation, he said, must be prepared to face an international environment that is more complex and unpredictable today than it has ever been.

Pointing to the recent Russian incursion into Georgia, Gates said the United States still must have the high-tech power to go toe-to-toe with superpowers like Russia and China that are ramping up their militaries.

“The images of Russian tanks rolling into the Republic of Georgia last month was a reminder that nation-states and their militaries do still matter,” Gates said.

Nearly a year ago, in a landmark speech, Gates said that winning the war on terror will require more “soft power”, with government agencies and civilian groups using economic and political aid to bolster weak nations and battle insurgents.

Again on Monday he said the wars are not won by military might alone. But when creating that arsenal of weapons, there must be a mix of high-end bombers, cyber-tactics and missile defence along with lower-end skills to train, communicate and build.

Gates also urged patience, saying it will take “quiet successes over a long time” to defeat extremists, and that a key part of that will be the need to build up America’s friends, by bolstering their governments and training their security forces.

The next attack on the US, said Gates, is likely to come from a failed state where terror networks can flourish.

In addition, he said, gaining the ability to fight such insurgencies cannot be considered “exotic distractions or temporary diversions. We do not have the luxury of opting out because they do not conform to preferred notions of the American way of war”.

Gates also repeated his warning that the Pentagon must not succumb to what he calls “next-war-it is”. The military, he said, must not be so preoccupied with preparing for future conflicts that it fails to hone short-term capabilities needed to fight and win the wars the US is in today. He said, America’s ability to deal with future threats will depend on its performance in those wars being waged now.

“To be blunt, to fail or to be seen to fail in either Iraq or Afghanistan would be a disastrous blow to our credibility,” Gates said.

—AP