KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made an unannounced visit here this morning and was prepared to offer troops a hopeful message from Washington after President Barack Obama’s decision to boost troop levels significantly.
“A big piece of it, of my conversations, especially with the soldiers, will be just to thank them for their service, for their sacrifice and to tell them we are in this thing to win,” Gates told reporters traveling with him before his arrival.
Gates, the first senior U.S. official to travel to Afghanistan since Obama’s announcement, said he will stress to President Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials that the United States will not abandon them as it did in 1989, when the Soviet Union left in defeat.
As U.S. troops begin to depart in favor of trained Afghan forces, developmental and economic aid will continue to flow, he stressed.
“We intend to be their partner for a long time,” Gates said.
Gates’ remark that the U.S. is in the battle in Afghanistan “to win” marked an unusual description of the mission here by an administration official.
Obama shied away from such expressive language in his speech last week announcing the decision to send at least 30,000 more troops.
But Gates must calibrate his message for soldiers waging war under difficult conditions.
Noting “some of the units have taken a lot of casualties,” Gates said he would seek soldiers’ views on “the way forward.”
On Monday, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer told soldiers and Marines he expects casualties to rise next year as additional U.S. troops pour into the war.
“This is the most dangerous time I’ve seen growing up the last four decades in uniform,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told about 1,000 Marines at Camp Lejeune.
Many attending Mullen’s talks at Camp Lejeune and Fort Campbell, Ky., will be sent to Afghanistan under Obama’s plan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
