Flying by helicopter over the steep mountains and deep valleys of Afghanistan recently, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal gazed down at the mud huts of a remote hillside village.
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“It must be a harsh life,” McChrystal said, “but also simple.”
He paused, then added, “There’s something to be said for simplicity.”
There’s nothing simple about McChrystal’s life.
As the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, he spends several days a week hearing the grievances of local officials.
“We need four helicopters here, so that we can react more quickly to the enemy,” Kunduz Gov. Mohammad Omar told him during a meeting with representatives of various armed forces, including leaders of the Afghan, German and American military and the Afghan police.
“We have a very big river that divides the province, and we are not able to maintain control on both sides,” Omar said. “The people here … do not feel safe.
McChrystal told the governor he shared his concerns about Kunduz and that part of the solution lay with the Afghans themselves.
“We — the coalition — need to change the way we partner with the Afghan forces,” he said. “I am going to ask that we grow the Afghan forces faster than we are now.”
As the meeting ended, Omar presented McChrystal with a traditional Afghan coat, which he briefly put on. But there was little time for pleasantries. McChrystal was soon off in his armed convoy. More trouble spots lay ahead.