Mullen hearing turns into Afghan debate

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- The re-appointment of Adm. Mike Mullen as Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman became a forum for U.S. senators to air views on increasing troops in Afghanistan.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Tuesday he thought it was in the United States' national interest to ramp up aid to the Afghan army and police to become self-sufficient as well as "demonstrate our commitment to the success of (that) mission."

"I believe these steps should be urgently implemented before we consider a further increase in U.S. ground combat troops beyond what is already planned to be deployed by the end of the year," Levin said in opening remarks.

The Obama administration indicated it would seek to deploy more troops to Afghanistan as part of its military-diplomatic-civilian strategy to stabilize the area.

Disagreeing with Levin's assessment was Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the committee's ranking Republican.

"I strongly disagree with a wait-and-see recommendation that we should deploy no additional U.S. combat forces through Afghanistan until this action has been taken," McCain said in his opening statement.

President Barack Obama's mission to disrupt, dismantle and defeat extremists can't be accomplished by force alone, Mullen said.

"You can't do that from offshore and you can't do that by just killing the bad guys," he said. "You have to be there where the people are, when they need you there and until they can provide for their own security."

Noting he shared Levin's view that a more capable Afghan security force was vital to the nation's viability, Mullen said, "We cannot achieve these goals without recognizing that they are both manpower and time intensive."

He said he didn't know what additional resources Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, would seek.

"But I do believe that having heard his views ... a properly resourced counterinsurgency probably means more forces, and without question, more time and more commitment to the protection of the Afghanistan people and to the development of good governance," Mullen said.