US Commander promises to turn Afghanistan tide within year

General Stanley McChrystal was making his first appearance before the US Congress since his grim August assessment when he warned that his mission would fail within a year without a troop surge.

He spoke as defence officials in Britain named the 100th British soldier to die in escalating violence in Afghanistan this year as Lance Corporal Adam Drane, a 23-year-old soldier from Bury St Edmunds who was serving with the 1st Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment.

General McChrystal's message was upbeat, applauding President Barack Obama’s pledge last week to deploy 30,000 additional forces, and saying that now he was confident that success could be achieved.

“We can and will accomplish this mission,” promised General McChrystal, in prepared testimony to the US House of Representatives Armed Services committee.

“By this time next year... it will be clear to us that the insurgency has lost the momentum.

“And by the summer of 2011, it will be clear to the Afghan people that the insurgency will not win, giving them the chance to side with their government.”