BRUSSELS, Belgium – The American general picked to turn around the stalemated Afghanistan war paid a courtesy call on NATO defense chiefs Friday as he headed to his first day on the job in Kabul, a gesture meant to acknowledge the alliance's help even as the United States shoulders an ever-larger share of the fighting.
"I assure you that I take the responsibility very, very seriously," Gen. Stanley McChrystal told the ministers. He was in Brussels for a few hours for an update on NATO activity in Afghanistan.
The alliance has declared the Afghan war its highest military priority, but the fight against Taliban-led insurgents is unpopular in many European nations and several alliance countries are reducing or eliminating their forces.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates introduced McChrystal, whose Army fatigues stood out in a room full of business suits and dress uniforms. The general will be the overall commander for all forces in Afghanistan, including an American force expected to reach 68,000 by the end of this year, and about 32,000 allied troops.
Gates fired his last commander, and has said the war effort lacked focus and resources. He hand-picked McChrystal and named his own top military aide as the general's deputy in one of the clearest signs yet that the Obama administration is gravely worried about the course of the eight-year war.
Gates was in Europe for three days of consultations with NATO allies.
The military has given McChrystal his pick of officers and a free hand to rearrange what many considered an inefficient command structure. The United States is trying to ally NATO concerns about creeping "Americanization" of the war's direction, but will nonetheless install a new hierarchy that more closely resembles the U.S. military machine in Iraq.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer acknowledged Friday that development is not coming to Afghanistan as fast as the alliance had hoped, but said little about the direction of the overall war in opening remarks to the defense chiefs.
With insurgent violence at its highest point ever, U.S. officials acknowledge they are not winning in Afghanistan. While vastly superior in training and equipment, the combined U.S. and NATO militaries are hamstrung in certain parts of the country by an entrenched and flexible insurgency that relies on low-tech tactics, intimidation and payoffs.
President Barack Obama has promised to make the fight his focus in a way that former President George W. Bush did not. The Afghanistan fight, then going relatively well, became an afterthought in Washington, and always second in line for resources, following the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.
On Thursday, Gates warned that American patience with the war in Afghanistan will run out unless the additional forces, money and effort applied by the United States and its allies shows results next year.
"If we can show we're making progress, if we're heading in the right direction, the American people and the Congress will sustain this effort," Gates said.
He said defense chiefs from the nations fighting in Afghanistan's treacherous South agreed with him that there is perhaps a year to 18 months of leeway to show that the Taliban can be defeated.
"If in a year or so it appears we are in a stalemate and we're taking even more casualties, that patience would wear thin pretty soon," he said.
Many Europeans strongly oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan at a time of economic crisis and shrinking defense budgets.
Gates was making the argument for unity, but conceded that nations such as the Netherlands, which has lost 19 soldiers from a small Army, is not likely to rethink a decision to pull out fighting forces.
The Netherlands says it will withdraw its 1,600 troops from lawless Uruzgan province next year.
The U.S. soldiers represent a long-term U.S. expansion in Afghanistan, but Gates gave no deadline for the overall U.S. military campaign. He and other U.S. officials have said they expect to fight in Afghanistan for many years.
Dugong 'Wuru' eats from a special lettuce birthday cake during the Sydney Aquarium's 21st birthday celebration. AFP/Greg Wood
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