WASHINGTON: Even with an additional 17,000 troops in Afghanistan, the top US commander there predicted "a tough year" in 2009 and said the fight against insurgents would require a major commitment of up to four years.General David McKiernan, who commands US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, spoke a day after President Barack Obama approved the deployment in coming months of 17,000 troops, increasing the current US force by about 50 percent."Even with these additional forces, I have to tell you, 2009 is going to be a tough year," McKiernan told reporters at the Pentagon."But we do see, with these additional forces, an opportunity to break this stalemate, at least in terms of security conditions in the south," he said.The general said NATO troops were training Afghan military and police but that it would take up to four years before the international force could hand over to the Afghans and have them take a leading role."For the next three to four years, I think we're going to need to stay heavily committed and sustain in a sustained manner in Afghanistan," McKiernan said.He said it was likely violence would rise initially in territory where US forces set up outposts for the first time.The extra troops would be in place by the height of the fighting season this summer and before Afghanistan's national elections August 20, he said.S troops were working with Afghan and Pakistan authorities to tighten control over the country's porous border that has served as a haven for insurgents and Al-Qaeda, McKiernan said. But he added his forces could use more hi-tech reconnaissance, a coveted resource that is subject to competing demands from US troops in Iraq.Echoing a theme from President Barack Obama and military officials, McKiernan said that improving security would allow other development efforts to go ahead and that the conflict could not be solved by military means alone.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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