If Gen. John Allen is leaving Afghanistan, what’s next?
May 16th, 2012 | Afghanistan General officers Washington | Posted by Dan Lamothe
The Washington Post ran a long-form story on Gen. John Allen on Sunday, highlighting his efforts as a “triage commander” while leading the war in Afghanistan.
The general has a “pragmatic focus,” the piece said. He’s “more professor and Southern gentleman than hard-bitten Marine general,” and closely studying the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 during a complicated withdrawal of 23,000 U.S. troops there this summer.
Yesterday, we got a striking revelation about that same general: The supposedly indispensable leader of the war in Afghanistan is in line to become top commander of U.S. European Command, according to another story in the Post. He could leave his post in Afghanistan as soon as next winter, in between fighting seasons.
How those two realities square with one another seems like a fair conversation to have.
On one hand, there’s obvious reason for concern. “Another Afghanistan Commander Bails on the War Early,” reads a headline on Wired magazine’s popular Danger Room blog, and that’s a point of view that will certainly be held by many.
On the other hand, it’d be fascinating to know what’s going on behind the scenes at the White House and in Kabul that spurred this conversation.
Did Obama and Allen reach some sort of deal? Did Allen ask to move on? If so, why would the president agree to it when most educated observers believe the war in Afghanistan already has had far too many transitions in leadership in the last few years?
This one will bear watching in coming weeks.
Photos: Marine general busts a move in Afghanistan
March 13th, 2012 | Afghanistan Camp Leatherneck General officers | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Maj. Gen. John Toolan dances during a farewell dinner for distinguished members of the Afghan governmental and police forces and II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) senior officers on March 8. (Photos by Chief Petty Officer Leslie Shively)
As noted here, Maj. Gen. John Toolan turned over the reins of Regional Command Southwest yesterday to Maj. Gen. Charles Gurganus, who will lead Marine forces in Helmand and Nimroz provinces this summer.
Toolan has repeatedly praised Mohammad Gulab Mangal, Helmand’s provincial governor for his leadership. The general cited Mangal jumping to action as one reason why Helmand didn’t have the same kind of violent protests other parts of the country did after U.S. soldiers burned Qurans at Bagram Air Base last month.
To thank Mangal and other top Afghan officials for their year-long partnership, Toolan held a farewell dinner last week at the Afghan Cultural Center at Camp Leatherneck. And as you can see in the photograph above released by the Corps, the general threw himself into the mix completely, dressing in traditional Afghan garb and joining others on the dance floor.
A few more photos:
I’d reckon a guess that it’s this kind of familiar relationship that helps on tough days when top Marine and Afghan leaders must circle the wagons.
I MEF Fwd. takes command of Marine mission in Afghanistan
March 12th, 2012 | Afghanistan Camp Leatherneck General officers | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Maj. Gen. Charles Gurganus, the commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), speaks at Camp Leatherneck today after taking command of Regional Command-Southwest. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Tyler Reirez)
The transition is official: Maj. Gen. Charles Gurganus took command of Marine forces in southwest Afghanistan today, becoming the commander of Regional Command Southwest.
Gurganus and his headquarters element, I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), will lead nearly 30,000 coalition troops over the next year. It won’t be easy: they’ll oversee a massive drawdown of forces, continued combat operations and a shift toward Afghan security forces taking a leading role. Maj. Gen. John Toolan, the outgoing commander, highlighted what to expect in this long-form Marine Corps Times story published last week.
Marines in Afghanistan push through Kajaki’s tunnel systems
March 7th, 2012 | Afghanistan General officers Infantry Kajaki | Posted by Dan Lamothe
A village in Afghanistan's Kajaki district is seen through the optic on a machine gun last summer. (Photo by David Goldman/Associated Press)
Marine Corps Times just posted a long-form story I filed analyzing what Marines in Afghanistan can expect to see in coming months. It relies mainly on a long phone conversation with Maj. Gen. John Toolan, the outgoing commander of coalition forces in Helmand and Nimroz provinces.
Among the more interesting things to emerge from the interview: Toolan said Marine forces in northern Helmand province have focused recently on clearing Zamindawar, a region of volatile Kajaki district. The area is northwest of the landmark Kajaki Dam, and zig-zagged by a maze of underground irrigation tunnels.
From the story:
A significant target is Zamindawar, Toolan said. A hostile region in western Kajaki, it is situated among mountains and fields northwest of Sangin and northeast of Musa Qala. It is home to an elaborate network of more than 300 tunnels known as karezes, some of which are hundreds of years old.
“The karezes are really underground irrigation canals that are very sophisticated, and move water to the various agricultural farms that they have,” Toolan said. “Over the years, and over the many years of war, many of those karez systems have been damaged and are not being used, and so the Taliban have turned them over into places to store weapon systems and drugs.”
Commanders have used several Marine units to clear Zamindawar. Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, has pushed in from the east since taking over for 1/6 early this year, Toolan said. Pendleton’s 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, has launched operations from the west, where it oversees security in Musa Qala. First Reconnaissance Battalion and special operators also have played a role, taking aim at drug laboratories and other targets.
“It has always been traditionally a very bad place,” Toolan said. “We’ve been all over that place in the last few weeks doing a number of operations, both conventional and Special Forces.”
For the curious, there’s more on Zamindawar posted in this report developed in the 1970s by the U.S. Geological Survey. It includes a substantial amount on the history of the region and its karezes.
General: ‘Inside threat’ from Afghan troops takes courage to face
March 1st, 2012 | Afghanistan General officers Leadership | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Maj. Gen. John Toolan speaks with Marines of 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, during a January visit to Forward Operating Base White House. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Justin Loya)
In next week’s Marine Corps Times, we’ll have a package of stories highlighting what’s coming this summer for Marines in Afghanistan. Much of it comes from an interview I did Friday with Maj. Gen. John Toolan, the top commander in Helmand and Nimroz provinces, where 17,000 Marines are deployed.
We covered a lot of ground, some of which appeared in this breaking news story last week. Then I asked the general if there was anything else he wanted to touch on.
Not surprisingly, he said he was proud of the troops under his command. But he also added a candid assessment of what it’s like to be training members of the Afghan national security forces, even after dozens of them have killed U.S. personnel in the last few years.
“There’s one threat out there that could really damage the progress that has been made so far,” Toolan said. “There are a couple of threats, actually. Corruption is one. But, the other is this insider threat –you know, that the Afghan security forces in a couple of instances have turned on their advisers, trainers and mentors.”
The glue that keeps the training mission going is trust, and the insurgency knows it, Toolan said. The Taliban has actively attempted to turn Afghan troops against their mentors, “and it’s just an act of courage and commitment every day that our guys step up, take the time, building the relationships with the Afghans, teaching them about their job, and most importantly modeling how to behave when you’re given responsibility and authority.”
The general didn’t add much else to the topic, but it’s a frank assessment of what he and his troops are dealing with. It’s also rings a lot truer than when military officials suggest there’s no pattern emerging with green-on-blue deaths.
Video: Gen. John Allen motivates soldiers after deadly attack fueled by Koran burning
February 25th, 2012 | Afghanistan General officers | Posted by Andrew deGrandpre
On Friday, Marine Gen. John Allen, the commander of all coalition forces in Afghanistan, visited a forward operating base in eastern Nangarhar province, where the day prior a man protesting the Koran-burning scandal shot and killed two U.S. soldiers. It’s a passionate address and a unique look at this Allen’s leadership style.
You can watch the video below. To learn more about Gen. John Allen, check out Marine Corps Times’ profile.
A Christmas message from the Commandant and Mrs. Amos
December 14th, 2011 | General officers Leadership The CMC | Posted by Gina Cavallaro
Marines, Marine families, Marine supporters and anyone who’s ever worn the Marine Corps uniform get a Christmas salute from Gen. and Mrs. Bonnie Amos in this 4:43 minute video shot at The Home of the Commandants in Washington, D.C.
With “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” playing softly in the background, the commandant sends a “special shout out” to the “more than 30,000 Marines and sailors forward deployed and forward engaged in the defense of our nation in Helmand province, aboard ships at sea, at embassies and in detachments around the globe.”
Taking turns addressing viewers, Bonnie Amos points out the loneliness felt by Marines away from family at Christmas time and notes that she and the commandant have endured such separations over time.
The video was released by the commandant’s office on Dec. 14. Here’s a link.
Is Gen. John Allen already at odds with the president on Afghanistan?
December 8th, 2011 | Afghanistan General officers Leadership | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Well, that didn’t take long.
With a massive military drawdown in Afghanistan looming, there are plenty of questions about what U.S. forces and NATO can do to consolidate and preserve gains in security that have been made in the war-torn country.
Military leadership appears to have accepted that forces will be cut from the estimated 97,000 troops in theater to about 68,000 by the end of next summer. That would leave the U.S. with about the same amount of troops that it had in combat before President Obama ordered the surge of about 33,000 troops into theater in late 2009.
A new report in the Wall Street Journal suggests that Gen. John Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, is privately lobbying to end the drawdown there, at least for now. That would appear to put him at odds with Obama, who has said troops would continue to leave at a “steady pace” after 2012.
From the report:
… people briefed on Gen. Allen’s thinking said he wants to halt troop withdrawals after the 2012 reductions and maintain troop levels at 68,000 through all of 2013. He envisages the drawdown resuming sometime in 2014, the year Afghans are scheduled to assume lead responsibility for securing the country, officials said.
This position reflects the findings of an internal assessment by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, which Gen. Allen commands.
The assessment, officials said, warns that quickly cutting U.S. troop levels below 68,000 would make it harder to clear and hold insurgent havens, and would complicate efforts to protect supply lines and bases ahead of the scheduled 2014 handover.
And therein lies the next likely rub about managing the war. While it is now accepted that the U.S. and coalition forces likely will not crush all vestiges of the insurgency before they leave Afghanistan, there are still many parts of the country that resemble the Wild West, especially in the east. One needs only to watch this video to see that there’s also still plenty of fight left in Helmand province, where about 19,000 Marines are still deployed.
It was acknowledged in many circles that the surge to 100,000-plus troops was temporary in nature, but the timeline for cutting forces below the amount in country in 2009 was never clear. Those decisions will go a long way toward deciding how quickly it takes to complete the drawdown, and what we leave behind in Afghanistan.
Marine Lt. Gen. Dennis Hejlik just launched a blog
November 10th, 2011 | General officers Leadership | Posted by Dan Lamothe
One of the Marine Corps’ most senior officers has just joined the revolution.
The blogging revolution, that is. On the eve of the Corps’ birthday, Lt. Gen. Dennis Hejlik posted his first entry on the new Marine Corps Forces Command Commander’s Blog. He also laid out his plans for the site:
I recently have come to appreciate blogs as a way a leader can share his thoughts while also collecting feedback from a broad group with a wide variety of perspectives. I’ve been particularly impressed with the United States Fleet Forces Command Blog started by Admiral J.C. Harvey, and my goal here is to pursue a similar course.
I plan to use the Marine Corps Forces Command Blog to offer my perspective on a variety of issues – from topics as broad as the future of the Marine Corps, to personal observations on leadership. At times, I will open these ruminations to comment in the interests of meaningful two-way communication. Other times, I will not. (It’s my blog, I can do that.)
It’ll be interesting to see where the general takes it. Harvey’s blog offers a mixture of observations and situation reports, allowing the admiral to draw attention to naval exercises and other military operations as he sees fit. Hejlik said in his initial post that he will be posting regularly about the forthcoming Bold Alligator exercise in the next few months, but he’ll touch on other things, too.
General: Taliban commander in Sangin to assist Marines
October 7th, 2011 | Afghanistan General officers Infantry Kajaki Leadership Sangin | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Maj. Gen. John Toolan, commander of Marine forces in Afghanistan, speaks with members of the Nimroz Health Department in Zaranj, Afghanistan, in June. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Bryan Nygaard)
Maj. Gen. John Toolan spoke from Afghanistan with reporters at the Pentagon yesterday, sharing some positive news from the volatile Sangin district.
I wasn’t able to attend the briefing due to another interview at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., but the transcript shows that Toolan gave the brief after sitting down with a Taliban commander earlier in the day. The commander agreed to reintegrate 30 of his fighters within a few days, and up to 300 by the end of October, Toolan said.
“Now he did this because he understands that at this stage in Helmand province, he sees the writing on the wall,” Toolan said. “He understands that we’re making progress. He understands, for example, that in Sangin today, there is very, very little violence. And when you compare it with six months, five months, a year ago, he realizes that now is the time. And that actually has become sort of the motto, is that now’s the time, Taliban, to come back and join the government.”
Toolan added that Marine forces have launched “major offensive operations” to assume control of the Kajaki region, which is to Sangin’s north. It’s part of a long-term effort to re-establish the Kajaki Dam and conduct construction projects that are needed at the hydroelectric facility.
The dam is considered central to the Marines’ counterinsurgency efforts in northern Helmand, Toolan told me last month. The U.S. will spend about $750 million on improvements to irrigation and the facility’s power output, Toolan said. It is protected by Echo Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, an artillery unit out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii that has some Marines patrolling 4,000 feet above sea level.
“There’s nothing better than having a living, breathing symbol of Afghan sovereignty, than to have a dam that is no longer being used by the insurgents to collect illegal taxes and revenues,” the general said. “It’s now a piece of infrastructure that the government owns, the government controls and – oh, by the way – is being improved by our projects.”