Pat Dollard

The Hill:

High-ranking administration officials Wednesday warned Congress there would be severe consequences if the Taliban and al Qaeda aren’t defeated in South Asia.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen fired the opening salvos in what is expected to be an intense congressional debate over a war that has lost the support of the American public.

The trio faced the Senate Armed Services Committee the day after President Barack Obama’s speech outlining his Afghanistan strategy. They will testify before more congressional panels later Wednesday and again on Thursday.

Mullen told the committee that South Asia is “the epicenter of global Islamic extremism.”

“The challenges we face in Afghanistan and Pakistan are great, and our interests there are significant,” Mullen said in his testimony.

“If the United States should be hit again, I remain convinced that the planning, training and funding for such an attack will emanate there,” he added.

Obama announced on Tuesday he will send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, some as early as the end of the year. The president also announced his goal of beginning a U.S. troop withdrawal by the summer of 2011.

Gates told senators that failure in Afghanistan would mean a Taliban takeover of much, if not most, of the country and “likely a renewed civil war.” He called the current security deterioration in Afghanistan and the growing influence of the Taliban “unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, Clinton sought to tone down the public perception of the situation in Afghanistan. While she called it “serious” she said that in her view it is not “as negative as frequently portrayed in the public.”

Gates was left to defend the withdrawal timeline set to begin in July 2011. Obama’s presidential rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), lamented the “arbitrary” deadline, which is not based on conditions on the ground in Afghanistan.

Gates, who is in front of Congress defending the second surge of his tenure, stressed that the United States will thin its forces in Afghanistan as it turns over more districts and more provinces to Afghans. The transition will first start in “uncontested areas” and will ensure that the Afghans are capable of taking care of their own security.

“We are not going to throw these guys in the swimming pool and walk away,” Gates said.

He said that the transfer of security responsibility to the Afghans in summer 2011 is “critical,” and in his view “achievable.”

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, raised concern about the rapid deployment of a large number of troops without enough Afghan forces to partner with, because there is a shortage in Afghan troops.

Mullen stressed that by mid-2011 the military leaders will know whether forces in Afghanistan will succeed. He said the date is not arbitrary but reflects the two years the Marines would have operated in the Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.

The 30,000 additional forces will be deployed and concentrated in the southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan. Mullen said that the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, will use the additional troops to conduct “more focused counterinsurgency operations that enhance population security against the Taliban in south and east Afghanistan.”

Clinton said the U.S. government is on track to triple the number of civilian positions in Afghanistan to 974 by early next year. The U.S. government will also support an Afghan-led effort to “open the door to those Taliban who abandon violence and want to reintegrate into Afghan society.”

“The essence of our civil-military plan is to clear, hold, build and transfer,” Gates said during his testimony.

Mullen said he expected to see headway in Afghanistan in the next 18-24 months.

“No commitment of additional force in the number we plan for Afghanistan is without risk,” Mullen said. “The Joint Chiefs and I assess the risks to our military forces and our military missions, at home and abroad, from this force deployment decision to be acceptable.”