Mattis: Until I am confirmed I am not a familiar as I would be as the Centcom Commander, however, the partnering effort that is underway, the jointness of it, the joint planning and execution. Already over 7,000 Afghan soldiers in Kandahar, so they are rapidly approaching the strength they need, all sets the conditions for a very successful campaign whenever the determine the conditions are right to kick it off. Articles/Reports: By July 27, 2010 | 6:16 pm | Categories: General James Mattis supposed to be ? That guy to Wait, wasn’t Marine didn’t show up a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing Tuesday afternoon to helm U.S. Central Command. Instead, the Mattis that fielded senatorial questions for two hours backed the Obama to begin a in July 2011; supported administration’s plan “conditions-based withdrawal” his pal General Petraeus in an imminent effort to get the Taliban out of Kandahar; and pledged an integrated civil-military and multilateral approach to the Middle East and South Asia. He sounded a lot more like . Support for July 2011 and its ambiguous meaning a big troop reduction or a gradual — one hearing to command the Afghanistan war last month into . Not — turned Petraeus’ so for Mattis, who stuck to script pretty closely. Setting the date a Petraeus’ “brings sense of urgency, because I think it starts a process that is conditions based [and] we can also moderate the that to enemy’s message says we’re there occupy Afghanistan,” Mattis said, adding that the U.S. be handing off Afghanistan a won’t “like hot potato.” That was apparently enough to satisfy Senator John McCain, the leading critic of setting the date, press the point. who didn’t Mattis much to say about the first big challenge of his likely new job: didn’t have supporting Petraeus as the Afghanistan commander moves forward to take Kandahar from the Taliban. In fact, Senator Carl Levin, the committee chairman, upstaged Mattis a bit, talking about imminent operations in Argandab, west of Kandahar city, that will feature 10,000 troops, more than half of which will be Afghan. Mattis
Mattis: Until I am confirmed I am not a familiar as I would be as the Centcom Commander, however, the partnering effort that is underway, the jointness of it, the joint planning and execution. Already over 7,000 Afghan soldiers in Kandahar, so they are rapidly approaching the strength they need, all sets the conditions for a very successful campaign whenever the determine the conditions are right to kick it off. Articles/Reports: By July 27, 2010 | 6:16 pm | Categories: Wait, wasn’t Marine General James Mattis supposed to be ? That guy didn’t show up to a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing Tuesday afternoon to helm U.S. Central Command. Instead, the Mattis that fielded senatorial questions for two hours backed the Obama administration’s plan to begin a “conditions-based withdrawal” in July 2011; supported his pal General Petraeus in an imminent effort to get the Taliban out of Kandahar; and pledged an integrated civil-military and multilateral approach to the Middle East and South Asia. He sounded a lot more like . Support for July 2011 and its ambiguous meaning — a big troop reduction or a gradual one — turned Petraeus’ hearing to command the Afghanistan war last month into . Not so for Mattis, who stuck to Petraeus’ script pretty closely. Setting the date “brings a sense of urgency, because I think it starts a process that is conditions based [and] we can also moderate the enemy’s message that says we’re there to occupy Afghanistan,” Mattis said, adding that the U.S. won’t be handing off Afghanistan “like a hot potato.” That was apparently enough to satisfy Senator John McCain, the leading critic of setting the date, who didn’t press the point. Mattis didn’t have much to say about the first big challenge of his likely new job: supporting Petraeus as the Afghanistan commander moves forward to take Kandahar from the Taliban. In fact, Senator Carl Levin, the committee chairman, upstaged Mattis a bit, talking about imminent operations in Argandab, west of Kandahar city, that will feature 10,000 troops, more than half of which will be Afghan. Mattis
131041_Afghan%20-%20Kandahar%20operations%20-%207.29.10.docx