U.S. military's new Afghan formula faces tough test

By Andrew Gray

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even if the U.S. military has finally found the right formula for the war in Afghanistan, implementing it will still be a huge struggle.

That much was clear as the top U.S. military officer checked on the war's progress last week at bases scattered across the baking desert of southern Afghanistan and on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Oman.

The trip by Admiral Mike Mullen also included stops in Iraq and Pakistan, illustrating the vast scale of the U.S. military undertaking that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks and the problems that remain for Washington, nearly nine years later.

The U.S. military has learned painful lessons during that time, especially in Iraq, and it is eager to apply them to its renewed push to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan with tens of thousands of extra troops.

"We're the best counter-insurgency force in the world and we learned that through blood and treasure," Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Reuters in an interview on Saturday as he flew home.

"We know what we need to do. I think we know how to do it. It's now a matter of resourcing it and executing it."

Many factors, however, remain outside the control of the troops and their commanders -- including the reliability of the Afghan government and the political mood back home.

U.S. military officers say they did not have enough troops to stabilise Afghanistan as insurgent violence soared over the past few years while Washington was focussed on Iraq.