Obama Afghanistan Speech:

President Obama's speech on Afghanistan on Tuesday received praise from a former Fort Bragg commander who led NATO forces there for 16 months.

"His strategy of trying to focus some of these troops on helping the Afghans become better operating units, I think, is exactly the right strategy," retired Gen. Dan. K. McNeill said.

The goal should be "to enable the Afghans to take responsibility for themselves, at least when it comes to security," McNeill said.

In his speech at West Point, the president pledged to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanisan early next year. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, reportedly requested 40,000 more troops.

"That's a little less than Gen. McChrystal asked for, but an increase will be helpful," said McNeill, who retired from the Army in 2008 and lives in Fayetteville.

In an August assessment, McChrystal wrote that the Afghanistan campaign "has been historically under-resourced and remains so today." McNeill made a similar observation in June 2008.

McChrystal has called for a long-term counterinsurgency campaign aimed more at gaining the support of the Afghan people than a purely military solution.

"I think Gen. McChrystal's request was a modest one if you study U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine in its present form," McNeill said. "You probably need more than what he asked for."

At Fort Bragg, the 82nd Airborne Division on Tuesday released a statement saying "no new deployment orders have been received." However, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team has spent the most time at Fort Bragg since being overseas and might be the most likely large Fort Bragg unit to go to Afghanistan.

Fort Bragg's U.S. Army Special Operations Command has about 2,700 soldiers from around the United States in Afghanistan. The 3rd Special Forces Group is in charge of the Special Forces mission.

"But keep in mind, it's a NATO effort," McNeill said. "NATO agreed that they wanted to take it over, and they took responsibility for the whole country about four months before I got there on my second tour. So it's not just about an under-resourcing of Americans. It's all the members of NATO."

The regional issues go beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan, McNeill said.

"It's not just about a military solution," McNeill said. "The Afghans have to govern themselves better. The infrastructure has to be increased in that country. ... The good news is, some of those things are occurring."





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