Stavridis takes helm at NATO command

MONS, Belgium — NATO’s new commander said Thursday that the situation in Afghanistan remains “very challenging,” but that the Taliban and other insurgents can be defeated.

At his swearing-in ceremony at NATO’s military headquarters in southern Belgium, U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis argued that the war is winnable, even as the Taliban makes gains eight years after it was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion.

“I believe that we will pursue a civil-military approach in Afghanistan,” Stavridis said. “The situation is very challenging but it is far from hopeless and I hope our approach will be an effective one in dealing with this insurgency.”

President Barack Obama appointed Stavridis, 54, and the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, after announcing a new war strategy boosting the number of U.S. ground troops and helping train Afghan security forces.

McChrystal says he intends to run a classic counterinsurgency campaign, putting distance between local Afghans and hardcore Taliban fighters in order to win support and gain better intelligence.

“Gen. McChrystal is in the process of producing his initial assessments, but I can assure you that his views and mine will be very similar,” Stavridis said.

Stavridis is the first naval officer to hold NATO’s most senior operational post since it was created by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, before he became U.S. president, in 1951. He replaces Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, who is retiring.

Stavridis assumes command at a time when the 28-member alliance is engaged in operations in a number of theaters, including Afghanistan, Kosovo and in the pirate-infested waters off the Somali coastline.

Traditionally, an American officer commands the alliance’s military forces from the headquarters in Mons, while a European civilian heads its political head office in Brussels.

The job of NATO commander is especially sensitive at this stage in the alliance’s 60-year history, mainly because of the quandary over how to turn around its war effort in Afghanistan.

Stavridis also said that one of his immediate goals would be to improve ties with Russia, which have been strained since the war in Georgia last August. Russia vigorously opposes plans for expanding NATO, fearing that it will encroach on the country’s sphere of influence, though it is cooperating closely with NATO in the Afghan war and on anti-piracy missions.

Stavridis told reporters that a constructive relationship is essential to security in Europe, and noted that Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are meeting in Moscow.

“I think there is positive movement toward a constructive relationship,” He said. “I will be looking at that as a very high priority.”

Stavridis has gained a reputation as an outspoken backer of “smart power” — the combination of military power and the ability to persuade through diplomacy, aid, ideas and trade. He moved to NATO from the top post at Southern Command which heads U.S. military operations in Latin American and the Caribbean.

NATO currently has more than 61,000 soldiers in Afghanistan; there are approximately 15,000 Taliban guerrillas.

Of the NATO force, about 29,000 are Americans, with 12,000 more U.S. troops are serving under a separate command. President Barack Obama is deploying 21,000 additional U.S. forces to confront the Taliban more forcefully, particularly in the south where the Taliban’s roots are strong.

Under the administration’s new strategy, NATO will help train the Afghan security forces, which could grow to as many as 400,000, more than double the current total.

Associated Press correspondents Matt Moore in Berlin and Constant Brand in Brussels contributed to this report.