Gates says
By Julian E. Barnes
July 19, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- After eight years, U.S.-led forces must show progress in Afghanistan by next summer to avoid the public perception that the conflict has become unwinnable, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in a sharp critique of the war effort.
Gates said that victory was a "long-term prospect" under any scenario and that the U.S. would not win the war in a year's time. However, U.S. forces must begin to turn the situation around in a year, he said, or face the likely loss of public support.
"After the Iraq experience, nobody is prepared to have a long slog where it is not apparent we are making headway," Gates said an in interview. "The troops are tired; the American people are pretty tired."
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Gates has spoken about the need for progress in Afghanistan and the public's fatigue of war. But in this interview, he went further by offering a more specific time frame for needed progress as well as the consequences of failing to meet it.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gates19-2009jul19,0,477289.story