KABUL — The military may not finish its surge of 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan until nine to 11 months from now, a senior U.S. commander said Monday — a slower pace than President Barack Obama has described.
The White House stuck to its a goal of completing the buildup by late summer despite the comments by Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez.
The reinforcements begin arriving next week, and the sooner the full complement of 30,000 can get there, the sooner the added firepower might have an effect on turning around the war and creating conditions that will allow Obama’s promise to begin withdrawing troops in July 2011.
“We’re still working the speed at which they can come in, and so we’ll see how much faster that they can come in,” said Rodriguez, the second-highest U.S. commander in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, in a reminder of the difficulties awaiting the U.S. effort, five people were killed and 31 others were wounded in a suicide car bombing this morning in a heavily guarded area of Kabul.
The blast occurred near a hotel favored by Westerners, but an official in charge of hotel security said no customers were injured. The official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to provide information, said he did not think the hotel was the target because the explosion occurred about 30 yards from the hotel entrance.
President Hamid Karzai said the explosion occurred near the home of his former first vice president, Ahmed Zia Massoud, and that two of Massoud’s guards were killed.
The hotel was only slightly damaged. Three homes nearby were severely damaged.
