Gates: Pieces coming together for Afghan success

KABUL (Reuters) - Secretary of Defence Robert Gates visited U.S. commanders in Afghanistan on Wednesday, promising that President Barack Obama's surge of extra forces would give them what they need for success against the Taliban.

Gates became the most senior U.S. official to visit Afghanistan since Obama announced last week that he is sending an extra 30,000 troops next year before beginning to withdraw them in mid-2011.

On Wednesday Gates toured a new U.S.-led command headquarters for all NATO combat troops in Afghanistan, built in a sprawling compound at Kabul airport.

The headquarters was set up under a restructuring led by NATO and U.S. commander General Stanley McChrystal in an effort to centralise command that had been divided among NATO allies.

The revamped command structure, coupled with the new U.S. troop commitment, "gives us new opportunities," Gates said during a tour of the operations centre, built in a former gym, where scores of command staff sit in rows below giant screens that show real-time video and data from the battlefield.

"We have all the pieces coming together to be successful here," he said.

The Pentagon chief met Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday and promised that Washington would not pull out its forces abruptly.

He also appeared to soften Washington's stance towards Karzai on the issue of corruption, praising some ministers in Karzai's cabinet and accepting that the West shared blame for graft because of how it manages huge aid and reconstruction contracts.

Western countries have focussed on the issue of corruption, especially since Karzai's re-election in an August 20 poll in which a U.N.-backed probe found nearly a third of votes for him were fake.

Karzai is due to announce his new cabinet early next week. Western diplomats are optimistic he will name ministers they trust to posts responsible for the security forces and portfolios like health and agriculture where most aid money is spent.

The Afghan government and the United Nations jointly announced on Wednesday that they would hold an anti-corruption conference on December 15-17.

McChrystal, whose dire assessment of the war in August triggered the call for extra troops, told members of Congress in Washington on Tuesday that he expects to be able to reverse the tide against the spreading Taliban insurgency.

"By this time next year ... it will be clear to us that the insurgency has lost the momentum," he said. "And by the summer of 2011, it will be clear to the Afghan people that the insurgency will not win, giving them the chance to side with their government."

The U.S. ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, also testified, saying he fully supported the strategy of sending extra troops. During the three-month strategic review that led up to the announcement, he was reported to have cautioned against sending more troops without placing firm demands on Karzai.

Some Afghans and U.S. Republicans have expressed concern that Obama's announcement he will begin withdrawing troops in 2011 will encourage the Taliban to wait the Americans out.

Gates told a news conference on Tuesday that the U.S. withdrawal would be "gradual" and "conditions based."

(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in KABUL; Writing by Peter Graff)

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