MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti) - The dismissal of the
top U.S. general in Afghanistan earlier this week was not due
to changes in Washington's policy in the country, a Russian
military analyst said on Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed Gen. David D.
McKiernan on Monday as commander of the U.S. troops in
Afghanistan, saying "fresh thinking" was needed in military
intelligence collection and organizational changes.
"The dismissal was driven by internal Defense Department
reasons," Pavel Zolotaryov, an analyst at Russia's U.S. and
Canada Institute, was quoted by the polit.ru online edition as
saying.
"Policies in Afghanistan have not been determined by the
military," he said.
Zolotaryov acknowledged that there has been a shift in
U.S. polices in Afghanistan from traditional army tactics to
the use of counterinsurgency methods, and support in
establishing civic institutions.
He said that after the 1980s war against the mujahideen,
the Soviet Union also moved to curb drug production in
Afghanistan, in a bid to reorient the country to traditional
economic activities.
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