Afstan: CF's last command in the South?/ Big US "Oops"

Next commands in Regional Command South to be twelve months each instead of nine (but see the end of the post). Since we're scheduled out in 2011 this will be our last time in charge. But it looks like the diplomacy to get US permanent command in RC South did not succeed:

WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department said Wednesday [May 21] it has shelved a plan to take greater control in parts of Afghanistan where NATO is in charge after the Dutch and British agreed to extend their commands.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the Netherlands and Britain will stay in control in southern Afghanistan for a full year, rather than in months, as the military alliance fights a stubborn Taliban insurgency.

The European allies agreed to the new arrangement in recent conversations with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Morrell said.

"I think we're trying to create a situation in which ... by the command serving longer, there'll be greater stability and continuity to our operations" in southern Afghanistan, Morrell said. The U.S. raised the idea and allies signed on, he said.

The U.S. has complained that changing commands every nine months and rotating troops even more frequently do not provide the necessary continuity for an effective fight against the insurgency, particularly in Afghanistan's volatile south.

In recent months, the Pentagon suggested giving the U.S. military more authority in those areas now under NATO command. U.S. control is now limited to eastern Afghanistan...

Asked if the new agreement ends discussion that one country -- likely the U.S. -- take charge of operations in the south, Morrell said it addresses the issue there for at least the next two and a half years.

A NATO official said Wednesday that while the U.S. floated the idea of controlling the south, the Pentagon did not press hard for the plan. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not involved in the Pentagon's announcement, said there were no real disputes over the plan...

Morrell dismissed the suggestion that the new agreement for longer European commands was a compromise. But, he added, "We work with allies in (southern Afghanistan) and throughout the country, and we take their considerations into account."

One unresolved issue, Morrell said, is that two U.S. commanders will continue to control troops in Afghanistan. U.S. Central Command is responsible for operations in Afghanistan, but Gen. John Craddock is the head of U.S. European Command and is NATO's top military commander.

The agreement also does not extend the tours of allied troops serving in Afghanistan [emphasis added]. Morrell said the allies will likely still serve three- to six-month tours -- a practice that U.S. commanders have suggested can be disruptive.

Under the new agreement, the Canadians, who now control the south, will leave in November and the Dutch will assume command. In November 2009 the British would take over, and the U.S. is on tap to take command of the region in November 2010 [emphasis added]...

More on the vexed question of mixed command chains for US forces:

...
Q But it doesn't get to what General McNeill and General Craddock are talking about, which is getting one nation in charge and remaining in charge, as you have in the North and in other areas.

MR. MORRELL: Well, General McNeill and General Craddock are certainly entitled to their opinions in this. But we work with allies in RC South and throughout the country. And we take their considerations into account.

Yeah.

Q But this does mean or -- does this mean that for at least the first two years of General Petraeus's expected tenure at CENTCOM, that he won't have command of this key region of Afghanistan, that that will be under EUCOM-NATO-ISAF, or NATO-ISAF?[emphasis added]

MR. MORRELL: I think it is as I've just explained it. It -- for the next two and a half years, the Canadians, the Dutch and the British will share command of RC South and that the latter two nations, the Dutch and the Brits -- and the British, will have that command for a year instead of nine months. And they will be followed in that command by the United States. That's all I can share with you on that...[emphasis added]

As far as I can see our media have ignored this significant development. Maybe they'll notice this rather large "Oops!" of a mis-speak:

The Pentagon says the agreement on command of NATO operations in southern Afghanistan, which it announced Wednesday, is not finalized. But officials still hope the plan will be approved. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says he was "too emphatic" when he announced the agreement Wednesday. He had said the United States reached agreement with the Netherlands and Britain for those countries to each command the southern Afghanistan effort for a year, starting in November when Canada ends its rotation.

On Thursday [May 22], he told reporters it is not "a done deal." Rather, Morrell says Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his British and Dutch counterparts have agreed on the plan, but "it still needs to be approved by the Dutch and British governments," and by the NATO alliance [emphasis added]. He said he does not see any reason for the plan not to be approved...

...the United States will not be in command in the key area until more than two years into the expected tenure of General David Petraeus as the head of U.S. Central Command. The command oversees all U.S. military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, except for the part of the Afghan operation that is run by NATO. Some analysts had hoped General Petraeus might be given more authority in Afghanistan, in order to apply the counterinsurgency experience he gained as commander in Iraq...