Mullen outlines top U.S. threats

WASHINGTON - A day after most U.S. troops have now left Iraq, the war in Afghanistan is the new principal focal point for the U.S. military.

WTOP asked Joint Chiefs Chairman U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen what it's going to take to win in Afghanistan:

"What it's going to take there to win is to provide security for the Afghan people, that would allow the Afghan people to develop confidence in their government, local government, provincial government, national government," Mullen says.

But winning also is going to require taking the fight to the Taliban.

"Clearly we're adding more troops there," Mullen acknowledges. "The fight is getting tougher. The Taliban is much more capable than they were last year and they've been evolving over the last three years, and that's one of the reasons we're putting the troops in."

Interestingly, Russia -- part of the Soviet Union that spent a decade trying to dominate Afghanistan -- is critical to U.S. plans to defeat the Taliban.

"Every Russian I've talked to does not want to see the Taliban return to running Afghanistan," Mullen says.

Mullen says part of the reason Russia does not want to see the Taliban return is the Afghan drug trade. It is dominated by the Taliban and runs right through Russia.

The U.S. and Russia have their differences, but Mullen says they have to put them aside to deal with common threats. In fact, Mullen's trip to Russia was planned with that in mind.

"In hopes that we can look to strengthen our relationship, which actually a year ago, or almost a year ago last August, you know fell on pretty hard times."

Mullen is referring to the Russian military dust-up with Georgia, which the U.S. supported.

One place where the U.S. and Russia are working together is off the coast of Africa.

"Facing this common challenge of piracy," Mullen says.

But right here in the U.S.'s own back yard, Russia has been very cozy with Venezuela, which by the declaration from its President Hugo Chavez, is no friend of the U.S. at this point.

"Every country gets to pick its relationships as they wish," Mullen says.

But when it comes to Russian relations in this hemisphere, Mullen pointed out, the Russians have been put on notice about U.S. concerns about certain Russian activities.

No doubt those activities have to do with U.S. enemies, such as Cuba, Venezuela and others.

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