Gates Sees 2-3 Years of Combat in Afghanistan

COMBAT OUTPOST SENJARAY, Afghanistan—Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he envisions two or three more years of combat operations in Afghanistan before the U.S. transitions to an advisory role, a mission likely to last years more.Mr. Gates's comments Friday at a military camp outside Kandahar were his most decisive to date on the war's timeline. They came as he made a vigorous, public case that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy would prove to be working by the time the Obama administration begins its next review of the war in December...
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Picture Left:U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speaks with troops from the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, as he visits Forward Operation Base Camp Nathan Smith outside Kandahar Friday.(Reuters)