ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
From NPR this is All Things Considered. I'm Robert Siegel.
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
And I'm Michele Norris. Afghanistan, not Iraq, presents the greatest military challenge facing the United States. That's the assessment of Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He was testifying on Capitol Hill today. The last time he did that, Gates worked for President Bush. But as the sole Cabinet member to keep his job under President Obama, Gates is now speaking for a new administration, one with different defense priorities. Here's NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.
MARY LOUISE KELLY: It was John McCain who set the tone for today's hearing. McCain is the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee and his first question to Gates was on Afghanistan.
(Soundbite of Senate Armed Services Committee hearing)
Senator JOHN MCCAIN (Republican, Arizona): Mr. Secretary, I think it's important - the most important thing that I have to say to you today. American people must understand this is a long, hard slog we're in in Afghanistan.
KELLY: That phrase - a long, hard slog - was famously used by Gate's predecessor as defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. But the Rumsfeld era felt very distant today. His name never actually came up at the Senate Hearing, and Secretary Gates made plain that Iraq, the word that came to define the Bush presidency, is no longer the top military priority.
(Soundbite of Senate Armed Services Committee hearing)
Secretary ROBERT GATES (Defense Department): There is little doubt that our greatest military challenge right now is Afghanistan.
KELLY: So, how to meet that challenge? For starters, more troops. The U.S. has more than 30,000 troops in Afghanistan already. The top ground commander there, General David McKiernan, has asked for 30,000 more. And Gate says he supports that request.
(Soundbite of Senate Armed Services Committee hearing)
Secretary GATES: We could have two of those brigades there probably by late spring and potentially a third by mid-summer.
KELLY: But Gates says he's, quote, "very skeptical" that sending any more troops beyond what General McKiernan has asked for would do much good. Senators didn't press Gates too hard on the interesting pivot he's having to make from serving President Bush who frequently cited Iraq as the central front in the war on terror, to serving President Obama who clearly sees Afghanistan as the top overseas military priority. Gates did say, however, that Americans need to be realistic about what the end goal should be for Afghanistan.
(Soundbite of Senate Armed Services Committee hearing)
Secretary GATES: My own personal view is that our primary goal is to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorists and extremists to attack the United States and our allies. And whatever else we need to do flows from that objective. Afghanistan is the fourth or fifth poorest country in the world, and if we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose.
KELLY: Because nobody has that kind of time, patience, and money, Gates added. Several senators praised Gates for his directness. Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asked point blank about the consequences of putting more troops in Afghanistan.
(Soundbite of Senate Armed Services Committee hearing)
Senator LIDNSEY GRAHAM (Republican, South Carolina): Is it fair to say that casualties in Afghanistan are likely to go up?
Secretary GATES: I think that's likely.
Senator GRAHAM: And the amount of money we spend is likely to go up in the short term, maybe the foreseeable future?
Mr. GATES: Yes, sir.
KELLY: Senator Graham wasn't done.
(Soundbite of Senate Armed Services Committee hearing)
Senator GRAHAM: Bottom line is this is going to be tough, it's going to be difficult, in many ways harder than Iraq. Do you agree with that?
Secretary GATES: Yes.
KELLY: Not that Iraq is easy. Gates noted there's still the potential for setbacks there and that Americans should expect to stay involved in Iraq on some level for, quote, "many years to come." Gates said the Pentagon is working on a range of options for pulling troops out of Iraq. Some would have combat troops out within 16 months - some significantly later. There are pros and cons to each of the plans. President Obama will have the chance to hear more tomorrow when he makes his first trip to the Pentagon to meet with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mary Louise Kelly, NPR News, Washington.