The top U.S. military officer warned on Monday the first U.S. troops headed to Afghanistan as part of President Barack Obama”s surge can expect more fighting and casualties, hours after 15 Afghan police were killed.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Kabul as the latest of a clutch of high-ranking U.S. officials seeking to explain Obama”s new strategy to Afghans in the days since Obama announced a further 30,000 troops.
Mullen, who said he will meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai later in the day and intends to visit Islamabad later in the week, said he remained “deeply concerned by the growing collusion between Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda.”
He said he had met with U.S. Marines in Camp Legune in North Carolina before coming to Kabul and warned them to prepare for a tough fight.
“I told my troops headed here to steel themselves for more combat and more casualties, even as I urged them to use the time before deployment to learn all they can about the Afghan culture … local dialects,” Mullen told reporters in Kabul.
