Afstan: 3,000 more US troops/Who's failing whom?

President Obama may be playing for time, but somehow Gen. McChrystal is nonethelees able to secure immediate reinforcements that exceed the total CF force in the country:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that he has ordered the deployment of as many as 3,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to meet what the top commander there has described as pressing security needs.

The additional troops, who Gates said were requested by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, are not part of units designated to be deployed under President Obama's original orders to send 21,000 more service members to Afghanistan this year.

Senior defense officials said, however, that Gates has the flexibility to add the forces without exceeding the planned overall increase there by the end of this year. Some units Obama ordered have not deployed at full strength, and McChrystal has decided that at least 1,000 troops currently in Afghanistan are not needed [more on replacing tail with teeth here].

"I'm prepared to ask for the flexibility to send more enablers if we need to before the president makes a decision on whether or not to send significant additional combat troops," Gates said at a Pentagon news conference, using the term "enablers" to refer to support troops as opposed to combat units [emphasis added].

The 2,500 to 3,000 troops include explosive ordnance disposal teams, route clearance teams, medevac units and intelligence specialists needed to combat the growing threat of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which are the leading cause of death among U.S. forces in the country....

Meanwhile, McChrystal has finished drawing up his request for what is expected to be thousands or tens of thousands of additional trainers and combat troops for Afghanistan, but he is awaiting instructions before submitting the request to the Pentagon.

Senior defense officials said that, in effect, McChrystal has been asked to delay submitting the request[emphasis added]...

Only the Washingon Post seems to have noticed this development. Whilst across the pond:

General Sir David Richards: Afghans losing patience with Nato 'failure'
General Sir David Richards, the new head of the British Army [see 1) here for his overall view of Afstan], has said that Afghans are losing patience with Nato’s “failure” to deliver progress in the battle with the Taliban...

In a frank assessment of the situation, Sir David said: “Over 80 per cent of the Afghan population still doggedly want their government and the international community to succeed, although their patience with our failure to meet the expectations of progress we ironically have done much to create is undoubtedly beginning to flag.”

Still, he insisted that “despite their frustrations with the speed of progress”, the majority of Afghans remain supportive of the Western intervention...

And there's another major elephant in the sandbox:

...Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., raised the key issue of the day [Sept. 15]. He began his questioning of [chairman of the joint chiefs] Adm. Mullen by asking whether the Taliban had any tanks. No, Mullen replied. Graham then asked how many airplanes they have. None, the admiral answered, perhaps wondering where this line of inquiry was going.

Then Graham zeroed in. If that's the case, he asked, how is it that the Taliban are gaining ground? The problem isn't the Taliban, it's the Afghan government, isn't that right?

Mullen agreed. The problem, he said, "is clearly the lack of legitimacy of the government."

Graham pushed the matter. "We could send a million troops, and that wouldn't restore legitimacy in the government?" he asked.

Mullen replied, "That is correct."

A few minutes later, under questioning from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Mullen elaborated: "The Afghan government needs to have some legitimacy in the eyes of the people. The core issue is the corruption. … It's been a way of life for some time, and it's just got to change. That threat is every bit as significant as the Taliban."..