Gates: Advising Obama should be private

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says advice to President Barack Obama on Afghanistan would be better provided out of public view.

When civilian and military leaders proffer advice "it is imperative that all of us taking part in these deliberations -- civilian and military alike -- provide our best advice to the president candidly but privately," Gates said Monday during the Association of the United States Army annual meeting in Washington.

"Afghanistan has been on a different, and worrisome, trajectory -- with violence levels up some 60 percent from last year," Gates said. "I believe that the decisions that the president will make for the next stage of the Afghanistan campaign will be among the most important of his presidency. ... And speaking for the Department of Defense, once the commander-in-chief makes his decisions, we will salute and execute those decisions faithfully and to the best of our ability."

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, recently in his assessment said more troops were needed there and that the U.S. strategy needed to change.

Gates said he was ready to respond to "urgent needs and will keep pushing to get troops the equipment they need" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"(Improvised explosive devices) remain the number-one cause of casualties in Afghanistan," Gates said. "And let there be no doubt that, as long as our troops are in harm's way, the department will do everything it can to destroy these IED networks and to protect those heroes in the fight."