Too early to send more US troops, says Kerry

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Senator John Kerry says it is irresponsible to send more US troops to Afghanistan
at this time, amid a deepening election crisis that has placed the Kabul governments legitimacy at stake.
The United States should not proceed with a new Afghanistan strategy committing a potentially major increase in
US resources, including tens of thousands more troops, without first securing a clear partner in Kabul, Kerry told
CNN in an interview to be aired later on Sunday.
It would be entirely irresponsible for the president of the United States to commit more troops to this country,
when we dont even have an election finished and know who the president is and what kind of government were
working in, with, said Kerry, chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
When our own commanding general tells us that a critical component of achieving our mission here is, in fact,
good governance, and were living with a government that we know has to change and provide it, how could the
president responsibly say, 'Oh, they asked for more, sure - here they are?
Excerpts of the interviews were provided by CNNs State of the Union and CBSs Face the Nation programs.
Afghan President Hamid Karzais government has been plagued by uncertainty and a legitimacy crisis after
allegations of widespread fraud in the August elections whose preliminary results put him on top, and ongoing
charges of corruption.
Kerry, a Democrat who lost his 2004 bid for the White House to former Republican president George W Bush,
was in Afghanistan ahead of an anticipated announcement on whether a run-off election would be held between
Karzai and his main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
Obama is nearing a decision on the way forward in Afghanistan, after weeks of deliberations with his top
advisers, but also as public support wanes for the conflict.
Kerry stressed, as the White House has, that withdrawing from Afghanistan, which Obama has called a war of
necessity and not a war of choice, is out of the question for now.
Obviously, if you exhibit weakness or indecision, or if the United States were to suddenly pull out of here, it
would be disastrous in terms of the message that it sends. Nobody is talking about that. Thats not whats on the
table here, he said.
Even if Obama approves McChrystals favoured option, most of the reinforcements would not arrive in
Afghanistan until next year, the senior lawmaker noted.
Speaking to CBS television, Kerry said he did not see how Obama can make a decision about the committing
of our additional forces, or even the further fulfilment of our mission thats here today, without an adequate
government in place or knowledge about what that governments going to be.
He said it was time for Karzai to step up and explain how they could be a viable partner in the US and
NATO-led mission to rout out Taliban militants and build a stable Afghanistan eight years into the war.