Chambliss: Another 2 or 3 Years Fighting In Afghanistan

ATLANTA - "They know what their mission is. They know it's dangerous, but they're excited about the opportunity to participate in this conflict and to do their part for their country and morale is extremely high."

That's how U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss describes the mood of about 3,000 members of Georgia's 48th Army National Guard Brigade now stationed in Afghanistan.

He shared his fourth Thanksgiving meal with some of them on Thursday during a two day visit to that country.

In a phone call with 11 Alive's Paul Crawley, Chambliss also said he believes President Obama will announce next Tuesday that he's sending possibly as many as 30,000 more troops.

After 8 years of fighting in Afghanistan, the U.S. has 68,000 troops there now along with 45,000 from other NATO countries.

As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Chambliss said he also spent part of his Thanksgiving day meeting with General Stanley McChrystal and other U.S. military and civilian officials.

"General McCrystal is ready to execute the new strategy based on the numbers that the President does call for," Chambliss told me.

The Senator predicted it could take another two or three years to stabilize the military situation there...two or three more years of training the Afghans to handle their own security, part of the 48th Brigade's job.

"What ultimately has got to happen, Paul," he told me, "is that we've got to have the same type of training of the military and security police as we saw in Iraq."

Chambliss also told me he thinks it will take several more years to stabilize Afghanistan's civilian economy.

"If we leave this country without the Afghans having the ability economically and otherwise to really have stability in the country," he added, "then the Taliban will be right back in there."

Chambliss also predicted dire circumstances for neighboring Pakistan if the effort in Afghanistan fails.

"Lord knows," he said, "if the terrorist community, particularly al Qaeda, had the ability to get their hands on nuclear weapons that we know obviously are present in Pakistan, the world would be a much more dangerous place."

Senator Chambliss will spend Friday in other parts of Afghanistan and then travel to Pakistan on Saturday.

President Obama is expected to announce his troop plan for Afghanistan during a televised speech from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point next Tuesday evening.

He already authorized 20,000 additional troops for Afghanistan last March.