The last post: McChrystal's bleak outlook By Jonathan Owen and Brian Brady
 Sacked US General Stanley McChrystal issued a devastatingly critical assessment of the war against a "resilient and growing insurgency" just days before being forced out.Using confidential military documents, copies of which have been seen by the IoS, the "runaway general" briefed defence ministers from Nato and the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) earlier this month, and warned them not to expect any progress in the next six months. During his presentation, he raised serious concerns over levels of security, violence, and corruption within the Afghan administration. Details of General McChrystal's grim assessment of his own strategy's current effectiveness emerged as the world's most powerful leaders set the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, a five-year deadline to improve security and governance in his country.The G8 summit in Toronto called for "concrete progress" within five years on improving the justice system and for Afghan forces to assume greater responsibility for security. David Cameron said a "political surge" must now complement the military one. But the "campaign overview" left behind by General McChrystal after he was sacked by President Barack Obama last week warned that only a fraction of the areas key to long-term success are "secure", governed with "full authority", or enjoying "sustainable growth". He warned of a critical shortage of "essential" military trainers needed to build up Afghan forces - of which only a fraction is classed as "effective".He pinpointed an "ineffective or discredited" Afghan government and a failure by Pakistan "to curb insurgent support" as "critical risks" to success. "Waning" political support and a "divergence of coalition expectations and campaign timelines" are among the key challenges faced, according to the general. It was this briefing, according to informed sources, as much as the Rolling Stone article, which convinced Mr Obama to move against the former head of US Special Forces, as costs soar to $7bn a month and the body count rises to record levels, because it undermined the White House political team's aim of pulling some troops out of Afghanistan in time for the US elections in 2012. In addition to being the result of some too-candid comments in a magazine article, the President's decision to dispense with his commander was seen by the general's supporters as a politically motivated culmination of their disagreements.General McChrystal's presentation to Nato defence ministers and Isaf representatives provided an uncompromising obstacle to Mr Obama's plan to bring troops home in time to give him a shot at a second term, according to senior military sources. The general was judged to be "off message" in his warning to ministers not to expect quick results and that they were facing a "resilient and growing insurgency".It came as mounting casualties added to US and UK discomfort. June has been the bloodiest month for coalition forces since the conflict began, with 88 killed. A soldier from 4th Regiment Royal Artillery died yesterday in hospital in Birmingham of wounds sustained in an explosion on 10…

 Democrats facing loss of Kennedy's former Senate seat Barack Obama puts reputation on the line in effort to prevent unthinkable defeat in MassachusettsBy Rupert Cornwell in WashingtonSunday, 17 January 2010
apDemocratic candidate Martha Coakley is said to have run a lacklustre campaign for the crucial seat US President Barack Obama is making an emergency trip to Massachusetts today in an attempt to prevent the unthinkable – the loss of the Senate seat held by Edward Kennedy that would cause panic in his Democratic Party and probably drive the final nail into the coffin of his signature issue, healthcare reform. With 48 hours to go until Tuesday's vote, polls show that the little-known Republican Scott Brown is running level with or slightly ahead of Martha Coakley, the state's attorney general, who until a little more than a week ago was seen as a certainty to win one of the safest Democrat seats in the country. The stakes suddenly have become enormous. Victory for Mr Brown would not only give Republicans a 41st vote in the Senate that would enable the party to block approval of the healthcare bill. It would also terrify Democrats facing mid-term re-election contests in November and imperil the rest of Mr Obama's ambitious legislative programme.So great is the danger that the President has been forced to take time away from vital issues of the moment to try to shore up Ms Coakley's faltering candidacy in person. Nor is he the first of the Democrats' big guns to do so. On Friday former president Bill Clinton was in Massachusetts, telling voters at one rally: "You just have to decide if you want to pick the person who gets to shut America down." In Washington, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, one of the most powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill, declared: "If Scott Brown wins, it'll kill the health bill."Whatever the outcome – and many observers believe that Ms Coakley will ultimately prevail in a bedrock Democratic state – Democrats are already trying to work out why what appeared an electoral canter has instead produced so nail-biting a finale. Perhaps lulled by complacency after easily winning last month's Democratic primary, Ms Coakley has staged a lacklustre campaign. Another reason is the timing of the vote, in the middle of winter, one day after the long Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Mr Brown has run an energetic campaign, portraying himself as an independent-minded "JFK Republican" who is reliably conservative on national security and the economy, but relatively liberal on social issues.But other factors are at work. Just a year into his presidency, Mr Obama has seen his approval ratings slide to below 50 per cent, one of the lowest ever for a president so early in his first term. In that sense his visit – preceded by a video warning to supporters that his entire change agenda "probably rests on one vote in the United States Senate" – is a gamble. It by no means guarantees success for Ms Coakley, and if she…

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