US Cmdr sees progress in Afghanistan

ISTANBUL (AP) - The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said Thursday the security conditions there are no longer "deteriorating," in contrast to assessments from other nations that the Taliban is expanding in the region and the situation has turned explosive.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal acknowledged the Taliban has made strides and said he is "not prepared to say we've turned a corner." Yet he said the Afghan government and U.S. forces are making progress that leaves him feeling more optimistic about than he did last summer, when he said conditions were backsliding.

"I feel differently now," he told reporters.

McChrystal's comments stand in contrast to those of officials in Afghanistan and other countries who say the Taliban's influence is expanding and that the situation there has worsened.

Nikolai Bordyuzha, secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization -- a federation of Central Asian states created by Moscow -- said on Thursday that Afghanistan was "explosive" and "catastrophically deteriorating." His comments were reported by Itar-Tass, the Russian news agency.

Even if slight, any improvement to the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan would bode well for President Barack Obama, who has staked his presidency on defeating the Taliban by widening the U.S. commitment there. While anti-war Democrats say they are skeptical, Obama seems to have convinced many Democrats that additional troops -- 30,000 more are being deployed this year -- are critical to ending the war.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other Pentagon officials have acknowledged they need to show clear progress against the insurgents within 12 to 18 months to firm up public confidence in the war effort.

"Right now, the Taliban believe they're winning," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate panel this week. "Eighteen months from now, if we've executed our strategy, we'll know they aren't, and they will know that they can't."

Ivo Daalder, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, on Thursday described 2010 as a "year of maximum effort."

"It is a year we are going to do everything we can so down the road, we have to do less," Daalder said.

McChrystal, Gates and Daalder were part of a senior-level U.S. delegation in Istanbul this week attending meetings with NATO allies. Among the delegation's priorities is ensuring that NATO bridges a shortfall of 4,000 trainers and mentors needed to work with Afghan security forces.

McChrystal said the mildly improved security is due in large part to the efforts of Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces. Allied nations have paid for improvements in blood, he said, adding, "We've lost a lot of really good people."

Other factors include a closer relationship between Afghan and U.S. forces and a surge in civilian contributions, he said.