it also give the taliban a strong propaganda argument that government is a prop for a foreign-occupying force and that, too, will fuel the insurgency. we have to balance that out. also we have to understand having well over 130,000 foreign troops in a country does cause destabilizing effects. imagine in your own community if ever day you had foreign troops rolling down the streets as if they own the place. we need to get to the point to turning this over to the afghan people as soon as we responsibly can and the progress we made gives us the opportunity to do that. to say we're going to stay forever if something goes wrong undermines that very plan. it is my hope, general allen, dr. miller, you will lay out how we are making progress and as we go forward, how we are going to make that responsible transition that everybody in this room wants. we want our troops home. we want the afghan people back in charge of their own security, their own government. that's where we want to get. the path is not easy but one we must go down. i commend both of you for the progress that we've made. i look forward to hearing about

how we can complete that mission and bring our troops home. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. dr. miller? >> chairman mckeon, ranking member smith, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. i'm very pleased and honored to be here with outstanding commander, general john allen. i ask that my full remarks be enters into the record and i would like to summarize them. >> without objection, so ordered. could you pull the mike a little bit closer, please? >> mr. chairman, the united states' objectives in afghanistan remain to deny safe halve tonight al qaeda and to deny the taliban the ability to overthrow the afghan government. this administration is committed to meeting these core objectives. while we have faced serious challenges, our strategy is succeeding. our counterterrorism efforts against al qaeda have been successful. the job is not finished, there is no doubt that we have severely degraded al qaeda's capacity. as a result of this surge launched in 2009, we have broken and reversed taliban momentum in afghanistan.

in the afghan national security forces are increasingly capable, and increasingly in the lead. mr. chairman, our forces are performing extremely well. as i saw firsthand in a trip to afghanistan less than two weeks ago. we are well into a process of transition to ansf leadership, as agreed to at 2010 nato lisbon summit. today almost 50% of afghans already live in areas that have begun the transition process to ansf lead. as interim milestone at some point in 2013, the ansf will be in the lead for providing security across afghanistan. at that time u.s. and coalition forces will be in a support role which will take a number of forms. this includes u.s. and coalition forces partners with afghan units, as already occurring in many places today and it will include the smaller footprint associated with u.s. and coalition forces in a train, advise, assist role. by the end of 2014, the ansf will be responsible for the security of afghanistan.

by that time u.s. and coalition forces will have moved to a much smaller presence focused on counterterrorism and training, advising and assisting afghan forces. mr. chairman, there is no doubt that the afghanistan war has been a tough fight. in the last several weeks have been particularly difficult. the inappropriate handling of korans at bagram air because was an error that sent precisely the wrong signal. this unfortunate act stands in stark contrast to the many years during which u.s. forces have demonstrated deep respect for the religious practices of the afghan people. even more recently, the afghans and we have had to respond to the horrific killings of 16 afghan civilians in the district of kandahar. the department of defense conducting a full investigation of this sense also act. a suspect is in cuss did and at ft. levin worth, kansas. justice will be done and anyone responsible will be held accountable. we have also been challenged in recent weeks by attack business

afghan personnel against u.s. and coalition forces, so-called green on blue attacks. we will have to work through these incidents and these challenges as president obama and second panetta have discussed in the last week with president karzai. but it is critical that these tragic occurrences not blind us to the significant progress we have made. i'd like to give some examples. from 2010 to 2011 enemy initiated attacks in afghanistan were down 9%. this trend is continuing into 2012 for january and february this year, enemy initiated attacks are down a further 22% from 2011 levels for the same months. in october 2008 there were only 140,000 afghans in the ansf. today, there are approximately

330,000. we expect to reach our goal of 35052,000 ansf ahead of the october 2012 target date. today almost 90% of coalition operations in afghanistan are carried out in partnership with the ansf and ansf is in the lead for more than 40% of operations. we are negotiating strategic partnership between the was afghanistan that will frame our enduring relationship. this strategic partnership will demonstrate that we learned the lessons from 1989, when the abrupt departure left our friends confused and enemies emboldened. partnership with president karzai and the afghan government we recently completed a crucial milestone. when general allen, co-signed a memorandum of understand standing. we are working with the afghans on a member ran of understanding on special operations which when completed, will further strengthen our partnership. concluding a strategic partnership will send a clear signal that the united states remains and will remain

committed to afghan security. such an assurance must continue beyond our planned transition of 2014. as obama -- as president obama said in his state of the union address, quote, we will build an enduring partnership with afghanistan so it is never again a source of attacks again america, end quote. the need for a long-term commitment extends to our coalition partners as well. as nato secretary-general rasmussen said in december, quote, our commitment does not end with transition, we will finish the job to help create a secure afghanistan for a shared security, end quote. achieving a durable peace in afghanistan will require some form of reconciliation among afghans. it is by no means certain the effort to bear fruit in the near term but it in is our national security interest to try. any negotiated outcome with insurgents must meet our red lines for reconciliation, insurgents must, one renounce violence, two, break all advertise with al qaeda and,

three, abide by the constitution after afghanistan. success in afghanistan will depend on the support of afghans -- afghanistan's names, like pakistan. pakistan has legitimate interest as should be understood and addressed. pakistan has responsibilities, most importantly, it needs to take further steps to ensure that military and extremist groups cannot continue to find safe haven in pakistani territory. pakistan has powerful incentives to do so. in 2011 alone 2000 attacks in pakistan resulted in about 2400 deaths, mostly from improvised explosive devices. mr. chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. we embarked on this fight a decade ago to ensure that the

terrorist networks that struck in new york, in washington, d.c., and in the skies over pennsylvania would never again be able to use afghanistan as their sanctuary. thanks to the great courage and skill of the u.s. armed forces and civilian personnel to our coalition partners, and to our afghan partners, our strategy is working. while success and warfare is never guaranteed we are on a path to meet our objectives to deny safe halve tonight al qaeda and deny the taliban to overthrow the afghan government. i'd like to thank the committee for your continued support of our effort in afghanistan and your strong support of the great men and women of the u.s. armed forces. mr. chairman, thank you. and i look forward to the committee's questions. >> thank you, dr. miller. general allen, welcome to your first hearing since you assumed this command. we're very appreciative of having you here today. the time is now yours.

>> thank you, chairman. it is an honor to be with you today, chairman mckeon, ranking member smith, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss our operations in afghanistan. it's a pleasure to be here with my friend, dr. miller, the acting undersecretary of defense for policy, and chairman i ask that my verbal remarks be entered into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you, sir. let me begin by expressing my gratitude to all of you on the committee for the support that you provide our men and women in uniform every day, that they are well-equipped, well-trained and well-led as a great testament to the efforts of this committee and the great work of this congress on behalf of the troops and their families, i want to thank you for that.

the past eight months i've walks the ground of afghanistan with many of those troops. along with my friend and partner ambassador ryan crocker and my nato compatriot, the senior civilian representative, ambassador sir simon gas, i've met with the leaders of most of the or 49 nations that serve along side us in the international security assistance force, isaf. and all through this i have been in close consultation with the afghan civilian and military leadership, most of whom have experienced the years of soviet occupation, the civil war, the darkness of the taliban, and in short they have been enmeshed in their country's conflict over three decades. from all of this i can tell you unequivocally three things. first, we remain on track to ensure that afghanistan will no longer be a safe haven for al qaeda and will no longer be terrorized by the taliban. second, as a coalition, the largest in recent history, we are well aware and well along on

the progress to meet our 2010 lisbon commitments to transition security lead to the afghan national security forces by december 2014. and, third, our troops know the difference that they're making every day. they know it and the enemy feels it every day. to be sure the last couple months have been trying, and in the wake of the revelations that american troops mishandled religious texts to include the koran, protests, some of them violent, occurred in several but only a few regions across afghanistan. 32 afghans lost their lives in these riots, and even more were hurt. just since the 1st of january the coalition has lost 60 brave troops in action from six different nations. 13 of them were killed at hands of what appeared to have been afghan security forces, some of whom were motivated, we believe, in part, by the mishandling of religious materials. just as tragic, as dr. miller

mentioned, we're investigating what appears to be the murder of 16 innocent afghan civilians at hand of a u.s. service member. each of these events is heart wrenching, and my thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected by this violence. coalition and afghan alike. but i assure you the relationship between the coalition and our afghan security forces remains strong. just two weeks ago i was in the hellman province visiting with marines and the afghan commanders in the wake of the koran burning incident when violence was at its peak. a young marine said he and his unit were told about the demonstration business afghan counterparts. the afghan troops told them, let us patrol outside the wire for a couple of days, we've got this for you. understanding the gravity of the risk, the afghans had assumed for these marines the marine continued, our afghan brothers were trying to protect us. this one statement, spoken by a young marine, conveys the power of the brotherhood in arms forged in battle now over the years. it speaks to the trust that we have built with the afghans and

to the shock absorbency of the relationship. and yet we know there is much hard and deadly work that remains to be done, that the progress is real and importantly that progress is sustainable. we have severely degraded the insurgency. one afghan commander told me in the south, in the latter part of 2011, quote, this time around the afghan taliban were the away team, unquote. on top of that success, as a result of our recent winter operations, we have seriously degraded the taliban's ability to mount a major spring offensive of their own. this spring they will come back to find many caches empty, former strongholds untenable, and a good many foot soldiers absent or unwilling to join the fight. indeed in kandahar, 50 decided to reintegrate on short notice back into the afghan society, when we asked them why they laid down their arms they complains of the unrelenting pressure that they feel.

they said they found themselves up against capable afghan forces in greater numbers, with greater frequency. while they were willing to fight foreigners, they were unwilling to fight their afghan brothers, especially afghans who fought back with courage, with skill because of the training that we had provided them. and the training we provide them is critical to our mission. throughout history insurgencies have seldom been defeated by foreign forces. indeed they have been ultimately beaten by indigenous forces. in the long run our goals can only be achieved and then secured by afghan forces. transition then is the linchpin of our strategy, not merely the way out. during the past 12 months, afghan security forces have expanded from 276,000 to 330,000. they will reach their full strength ahead of schedule. the deadline having been 1

october. the expansion and the professionalization of the afghan security force as hows us recover the remaining 23,000 u.s. surge forces this fall and enables us continue to pressure the taliban to reconcile and makes possible security transition to the afghans in accordance with our lisbon commitments and on time. security conditions remain good in areas that have transitioned thus far. from kabul in the east to harat in the west, from the north to the south, and later this year, afghan security forces are expected to assume security leave for as much as two-thirds, or possibly more, of the afghan population. and as potential unifying influence in afghanistan, the afghan forces are better than we thought they were.

and they're better than they thought they were when tried in combat. so as we move them to the fore, they're gaining more and more confidence and gaining more and more capability. in the past five months 89% of the total conventional operations were partnered with both coalition and afghan forces and 42% were afghan led. over the next two years coalition forces will remain combat ready, but increasingly focused on security assistance missions as we move the afghans into the lead. in this process, afghan leadership is simply key, and i can tell you that the afghans want to lead and they want the responsibility that comes with it. in fact for the very first time our joint coalition afghan operational campaign plan for january 2012 through july 2013 was conceived, developed, and planned with afghans in the lead. they are truly emerging as the

real defeat mechanism of this insurgency and emblem of national unity and this is essential for the long-term security of afghanistan. but none of us harbor illusions. they are truly emerging as the real defeat mechanism of this insurgency and emblem of national unity and this is essential for the long-term security of afghanistan. but none of us harbor illusions. we know that we face long-term challenges as well. we know that al qaeda and other extremist networks, the very same networks that kill afghan and coalition troops every day, still operate with impunity across the boarder in pakistan. we know the taliban remain a resilient and determined enemy and that many of them will try to regain their lost ground this

spring through assassination, intimidation, high profile attacks and the emplacement of ieds. we know that iran continues to support the insurgency and fuels often the flame of violence. we know that corruption still robs afghan citizens of their faith in their government and poor governance itself advances insurgent messages. the campaign has been long. it has been difficult. and it has been costly. there have been setbacks, to be sure, and we're experiencing them now. and there will be setbacks ahead. i wish i could tell you that this war was simple and that progress could easily be measured, but that's not the way of counterinsurgencies. they're fraught with successes and setbacks which can exist in the same space and in the same

time. but each must be seen in the larger context of the overall campaign. and i believe the campaign is on track. we are making a difference. i know this and our troops know this. and i'd like to take just another moment of your time today, mr. chairman, to end where i began this morning with our troops and the thousands of american and coalition partnered troops bearing the weight of this conflict and those that will never return to their families. know this, that they are central to my every decision and every word to this committee. one of them, a young marine who was laid to rest tuesday in arlington cemetery was a hero. he knew what he stood for and he knew his mission, and he knew the risks. he knew he might have to give his life for this cause for which we fight. so sergeant william stacey prepared a letter for his family to be read in the event of his

death. and in it he said, there will be a child who will live because men left the security they enjoyed in their home country to come to his and this child will learn in new schools that have been built and he will walk his streets not worried about whether or not some leader's henchmen will come and kidnap him and he will grow into a fine man who will pursue every tune his heart could desire. and he will have the gift of freedom, which i have enjoyed so long. if my life buys the safety of a child who will one day change the world, then i know that it was all worth it. mr. chairman, i can only add that i am confident that americans are safer today because of the service of members like william stacey. and i am confident that we will prevail in this endeavor. thank you again for this opportunity today, for the extraordinary support that you and this committee provide every day to our magnificent young men and women in uniform.

i am so privileged and honored to lead. thank you, chairman. thank you ranking member smith. >> thank you very much, general. general, we hear conflicting accounts in the press about both our goals in afghanistan and the means to achieve those goals. i'm hoping that you can clarify the current thinking and what you are being told. first, can you tell the american people what our mission in afghanistan is, and are we succeeding? >> chairman, our mission is to keep the taliban from overthrowing the government of afghanistan and to provide the capacity for the afghan national security forces to provide the security to that government over the long term. but it's also to deny al qaeda safe havens in afghanistan. >> thank you. i have a series questions here to further clarify what you just told us. following the security gains made in the south by the surge forces last year, does your campaign plan still call for coalition operations to shift focus to regional command east? >> chairman, at this particular juncture we intend to

consolidate our hold on the population centers in the south, ensuring that we have, it is my intention to examine the shift of the main effort to the east at this point about i've not made a final decision in that regard. we anticipate shifting resources to the east in any case because it remains there that the principal counterinsurgency fight will ultimately be shaped in 2012. >> does your plan call for a continued counterinsurgency mission? >> yes, it does, sir. >> to your knowledge, is the administration committed to this plan, and sustaining a counter insurgency mission? >> yes, it does, sir. >> in your best professional military judgment what level of forces do you require through the end of the 2013 fighting

season, and what are the associated objectives you would want to achieve with those forces? >> chairman, the answer to that question is a bit more complicated. we're in the process now, i'm in the process, of making decisions with respect to the recovery of the second phase of the surge forces. i anticipate that those decisions to have been made and for my submission of that recommendation sometime in early april. if we're going to spend preponderance of the high up tempo period of the summer of 2012 both continuing to fight the counterinsurgency, as i said to consolidate gains in south to expand the security zone around kabul, at the same time we'll be recovering the second phase of the surge forces, the 23,000. on 1 october we will have approximately 68,000 u.s. forces remaining, somewhere around 40,000 isaf forces and probably

by then 3352,000 ansf. because of the nature of the recovery of the force, because of the progress of the campaign that i anticipate in 2012, it's my intention to take the time following the recovery of the surge forces to examine the insurgency, examine the progress that we've made in the development of the ansf, to see the posture of the battle space, as it has developed throughout the fighting season of 2012 and before the end of 2012 i intend to provide to the president a series recommendations for the combat power i need for 2013 and 2014. it's not my intention to be able to make that decision today. it's going to require analysis, of the after the conclusion of the fighting season and the recovery of the 23,000 troops in phase ii of the surge drawdown. >> thank you. have you been given assurances by the white house that you can have the forces that you believe you need through the end of the 2013 fighting season?

>> i have been given assurances by the white house that we're in a strategic conversation, chairman. there has been no number mentioned. there has been no number that has been specifically implied. there's an excellent, i believe, strategic conversation that is going on that will account for my recommendation, the recommendation of the theater commander, and the joint staff in this process. and i'm very pleased frankly where with we are in that conversation now, sir. >> thank you. has the white house always followed your best military judgment? >> as the commander in afghanistan, it has, sir. >> "the new york times" reported last week there's a growing belief within the white house

that the mission in afghanistan has now reached the point of diminishing returns. do you agree the mission as reached the point of diminishing returns? if not, why is the progress you're make sustainable? >> i don't agree with the article. i read the article. i know that there -- the article was disavowed by people who were quoted in the article. we are making progress, chairman. we have made progress as dr. miller had indicated, for example, just in the last 12 weeks, the enemy initiated violence across the country as 25% less than it was during the same period of time last year. in the same period of 12 weeks the civilian casualties, for example, 74% less than it was during the same period of last year. the growth of the ansf has been dramatic. the growth of the ansf special operators has been as dramatic. as the ansf continues to move to

the fore in full partnership with us in the comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign, i believe that there is great potential for us to accomplish all of these objectives. and i remain committed to the campaign and i remain optimistic with the right kinds of resourcing and the comprehensive campaign, counterinsurgency campaign continuing as we currently envision it, that we will be successful. >> thank you very much. ranking member smith? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to follow up on that piece there. i think it's just a misunderstanding about the mission in somewhere it's going. we were transitioning, that is the whole point, to bring in other forces, it's not a mat that the mission is reaching a point of diminishing returns, it's a matter the mission is reaching a point of reasonable success, and for it to continue to succeed we need to make that transition. it seems like there's always an argument for more troops on our side if things are going well, that's evidence that we can't leave because, look, it's working, we have to stay there, if anything goes wrong, that's evidence that we have to stay

longer and in greater numbers because, look, it's not going well. that's not the point of our mission. as i said in the outset, nobody on this committee, nobody in this country wants a permanent presence in afghanistan. so you've got to take a step back and say okay if we don't want that and succeed in the mission that you general allen, clearly described, to make sure that the taliban do not return to power, that al qaeda does not find safe haven, how do we do that? logically we build up a force of afghan whose can make sure that does not happen. that is literally the only option. it is not an option for us to stay there forever in order to make sure that the taliban and al qaeda don't come back. therefore, we need to build up a local partner that can do that. and what we've described this morning, even some comments from the chairman show that we're making enormous progress on that. but we don't succeed until we make that transition.

general, if you could -- you've mentioned some of the numbers a couple of times, but if you could lay out for us the progress that has been made in terms of the ansf, you know, all security forces, both in terms of the national military, local police, i think that will give us some idea. as we've drawn down, you know, from relative number, i don't know exactly what the numbers are, there's 100,000 u.s. troops, we're coming down to mid-60s, i think by october, nato's drawn down a little bit give us an idea of how to that compares with how the ansf, domestic security forces have grown, if you could give us those numbers, that's a key part of the transition. >> thank you for your comments because i absolutely agree with you that transition to the ansf is the key to the success of this mission over the long term. in january 2011, there were 155 battalion sized formations in the ansf, and 101 of those were ranked in the top three of the categories of measure for capability effective with advisers, effective with partnership.