WASHINGTON: US foreign policies have left its allies confused and may cause it to lose the war against extremists in Afghanistan and the Middle East, warn retired American generals.

In a series of testimonies before the new, Republican-dominated Congress, the generals have also suggested keeping US forces in Afghanistan longer than the Obama administration desires.

The new Congress, which took charge earlier this month, may like this argument as the Republicans, who now dominate both the chambers, also share these views.

“America needs a refreshed national security strategy,” Gen. James Mattis, a former commander of US Central Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Former Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John Keane argued that the United States should keep its forces in Afghanistan beyond the 2016 deadline imposed by the Obama administration.

“The Afghan National Security Force does not have the capability to deal with that harsh reality” of Afghanistan, he said, while claiming that the Haqqanis still had “safe havens in the east.”

Admiral William Fallon, also a former Centcom chief, criticised US President Barack Obama’s preference for ending wars on a preconceived deadline.

All three argued that instead of taking initiatives, the United States was only reacting to whatever was happening around the world.

“We need to … come out from our reactive crouch and take a firm, strategic stance in defence of our values,” said Gen. Mattis.

He claimed that in Iraq, the United States had a “strategy-free” while in Afghanistan it was busy implanting a pre-conceived deadline.

Gen. Keane argued that drones were not enough for defeating militants in Pakistan and Yemen and airstrikes in Iraq and Syria were not working either.

“We are reduced to a very piecemeal effort,” he said.

“This approach almost certainly guarantees we will be incrementally engaged with one radical group after another with no end in sight.”

Gen. Mattis applauded President Barack Obama for visiting Saudi Arabia this week and for using US influence to help oust Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who had isolated the country’s Sunni minority.

The general claimed that Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan, remained confused about the Obama administration’s policies for their region.

“We’ve disappointed a lot of friends out there, from Abu Dabi to Riyadh, from Tel Aviv to Cairo,” he said.

Gen Keane, who oversaw the initial invasion of Iraq, urged the Obama administration to base their decision on progress on the ground and not on pre-conceived ideas.

The United States, he said, should tackle Islamic ideology in the same way it contained the communism during the Cold War.

A “policy of disengagement”, he argued, would only strengthen extremist groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. Gen. Keane also advised Washington to cement its alliance with forces within the Middle East and other Muslim regions who opposed extremism.

This should be the part of a” comprehensive approach to deal” with Islamic extremism as fighting their war without support from the like-minded people within those regions would not work, he said.

Gen Mattis said that the US needed to get “a very detailed level of understanding” of this problem and urged Washington to be clear about its objectives.

“What is the political objective we’re out to accomplish? Frankly, I don’t know what that is right now,” he said.

“The clarity and commitment of the US can draw in the full commitment of others.”

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2015

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