Taking the Fight to the Enemy

Global War On Terrorism Continues

Interview With Gen. Tommy R. Franks, Commander, U.S. Central Command

As the combatant commander of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), Gen. Tommy R. Franks is responsible for U.S. military operations in a diverse geographic region reaching more than 3,100 miles across the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and South/Central Asia. From his headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., Franks commands U.S. Army, Navy-Marine Corps, and Air Force component commanders, as well as standing Joint Task Forces operating in his geographic area of operational responsibility. Franks, commissioned a second lieutenant in 1967 as a distinguished graduate of the Artillery Officer Candidate School, Fort Sill, Okla., is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War and Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm. During a distinguished 35-year career, he has served in a wide range of operational assignments, including command of the Second Infantry (Warrior) Division and the Third U.S. Army. He was graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in business administration from the University of Texas (Arlington) and with a Master of Science degree in public administration from Shippensburg University. He also graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College and the Army War College.

Gen. Franks responded to questions from Senior Editor Gordon I. Peterson for this issue of Sea Power.

Sea Power: General, first of all--on behalf of all members of the Navy League--congratulations to you and the men and women of CENTCOM for your sterling prosecution of Operation Enduring Freedom. What a difference a year makes--you must be tremendously proud of your people and their accomplishments to date.

FRANKS: I am extremely proud of the men and women, both uniformed and civilian, who have made sacrifices--some of them giving the ultimate sacrifice--in support of our country and the Global War on Terrorism. On my frequent trips to the AOR [area of operational responsibility] I have had the opportunity to meet and talk to our young men and women in uniform, and I am constantly amazed at their dedication and professionalism.

From the very first Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines to respond on station--to those serving now--they have all performed superbly in our efforts to eradicate terrorism. And their efforts over the last year are visible and tangible. We have freed Afghanistan from the reign of the Taliban and, while we have not eliminated them, we have greatly decreased both the numbers and the capability of al Qaeda.

And, just as importantly, as we move from the more "kinetic" type operations to the humanitarian assistance-type efforts, we are seeing changes that really affect the way of life in Afghanistan. We are now working with several hundred nongovernmental organizations inside the country. More than 5,500 offices and projects are ongoing in the country of Afghanistan as we speak. Almost 600,000 metric tons of food and humanitarian assistance have been delivered to the Afghan people. Literally thousands of mines and pieces of unexploded ordnance have been picked up and destroyed in Afghanistan, and more than 140,000 civilians have been treated by coalition hospitals in that country. And, as Secretary Rumsfeld [Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld] has said on a number of occasions, more than two million people have returned to their homes in Afghanistan.

However, something that I find very touching--and most indicative of the change that has taken place--is the realization that when I first visited Afghanistan there were no children on the street. Now you can see children on the street carrying books and going to schools that didn't exist a year ago. You also see female children going to school. And they hadn't done that before for six years. You also see a hospital that eight months ago was completely falling down and had absolutely no capability to provide medical assistance to anyone. You find that that hospital is now not only treating civilians, it's actually treating women.

During the period of the Taliban's rule, women were unable to receive medical treatment because females were not permitted to be seen by male doctors, and there were no female doctors. Yes--a year has made a tremendous difference.

The Chinese strategist Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War that "...those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle; they capture his cities without assaulting them and overthrow his state without protracted operations." There were battles in Afghanistan a year ago, to be sure, but the strategy that you and the Central Intelligence Agency developed for prosecuting the campaign against the Taliban government and al Qaeda terrorists bears some striking similarities to what Sun Tzu wrote more than 2,500 years ago. What factors led you to adopt such an innovative and unconventional war plan--how did it evolve?

FRANKS: The plan was based on analysis of our capabilities, the enemy, and what we were trying to accomplish. The immediate problem was simply getting to the battlefield. There are places on earth harder to get to than Afghanistan--but not many! The State Department worked wonders in obtaining overflight rights and bases that enabled us to get there. Afghanistan's remoteness and the fact that our forces would need to be supported almost exclusively by air meant that there was a premium on keeping the size of our forces to a minimum.

Second, this was not an invasion but a liberation of a country--something to be done by Afghans to the extent possible. We needed to avoid the mistakes others had made in the past. I also thought that the Taliban control of the country was dependent on al Qaeda's support and, because of this, was precarious. I had great faith that our special forces and air power, in combination with local Afghan forces, would be more than a match for the enemy. We led with air power for the first few days to set conditions for the campaign, and then started to introduce special operating forces who, with air support, were able to provide overwhelming advantage to Afghans anxious to reclaim their country from the Taliban and terrorism.

Were you surprised by anything during the past year's campaign?

FRANKS: While we expected the Taliban to crumble rapidly once the tide started to shift against them following the fall of Mazar-e-Sharif, we did not expect them to be routed quite as quickly as they were. This rapid collapse worked in our favor as it limited the ability of al Qaeda to get out of the country and kept Afghan casualties fairly low.

Another pleasant surprise was Pakistan's support. It exceeded our expectations at virtually every turn. The destruction of al Qaeda's base was the result of our efforts with our Afghan allies in Afghanistan and Pakistani operations in their own country. The two efforts complemented each other.

Some observers have said that you were too cautious in pursuing Taliban and al Qaeda forces in the mountains around Tora Bora late last year--saying that more U.S. forces should have been committed to this pursuit regardless of the risk of higher casualties. How do you respond?

FRANKS: One of the hallmarks of early success across Afghanistan was momentum. At the time of the fight for Tora Bora, the Taliban and the al Qaeda infrastructures were collapsing, and speed and agility of operations were essential to maintain the momentum we had. My judgment was that an operational pause to introduce additional forces before Tora Bora fell would be ill advised.

As an item of interest, the Soviets introduced more than 600,000 troops during their operation in Afghanistan, and they never succeeded in securing Tora Bora. Their losses were about 15,000 killed and more than 55,000 wounded. As a final point, Afghanistan belongs to Afghans. Our ultimate success there depends on Afghan success. Our Afghan partners wanted to take the Tora Bora area away from the terrorists, and they did so. Given these factors, I'll stand by the decisions made on the ground at the time.

A number of "lessons learned" have been compiled for Operation Enduring Freedom. Looking back, are there some things that you would have done differently?

FRANKS: Not necessarily things that I would have done differently, but there are several observations that give us insight into ongoing and future military operations. Three that I feel are most important are Strategic Airlift, use of Precision Guided Munitions [PGMs], and the risk of antipersonnel/antitank mines.

Strategic airlift remains key to current and future military operations. We are on a glide path to expand our strategic airlift capabilities and must remain committed to the task. Secondly, the use of Precision Guided Munitions continues to be a key force multiplier, increasing the likelihood of successful target engagement, reducing the number of aircraft sorties required to destroy a target, thereby limiting collateral damage and enabling the commander on the ground to more effectively engage targets.

Finally, antipersonnel/antitank mines continue to pose a significant threat to U.S. and coalition forces and the Afghan people, and they must be cleared. We estimate that three million mines are spread throughout Afghanistan. Service efforts to improve our mine-clearing capabilities remain important to current and future readiness.

It appears that U.S. joint-warfare capabilities have matured significantly since the Gulf War a decade ago. How do you assess the armed forces' ability to interoperate and fight as a team today?

FRANKS: Our ability to operate jointly is excellent and continues to improve. While some of the improvements can be attributed to technical fixes like communications, interoperability among the services is now more effective than ever before. Our forces are essentially "plug and play" forces where it makes no difference if a strike aircraft is Air Force, Navy, or Marine. Special forces units operate comfortably with conventional forces. What this has given us is the ability to generate more significant lethal impact on the enemy.

U.S. coalition partners also have made important contributions on the ground, in the air, and at sea in your AOR during the past year. How do you coordinate such a complicated operation?

FRANKS: The coalition has been the key to success of this operation. Six days after September 11th, a British three-star general and the lead elements of his staff arrived in Tampa--and 42 other countries have followed suit. The first conventional ground forces in Afghanistan were not American but French and Jordanian. Special forces units from all over the world joined in.

Japan, in addition to providing a naval task force, donated most of the fuel used by coalition ships in the operation. The coordination of this effort has been seamless. We work directly with liaison officers who work with their national command authorities. This has given us unity of effort at the strategic and operational level. In Afghanistan, we have the same level of unity of command at the tactical level.

When a component command, for example the Coalition Joint Forces Maritime Component Commander [CJFMCC], has a specific need for a maritime asset [e.g., ships and planes], the deployment details and location of the asset are coordinated between the coalition country's Senior National Representative [SNR] at the CENTCOM headquarters, the CENTCOM Coalition Coordination Center [CCC], and CJFMCC. The asset is placed into the AOR based upon CJFMCC's needs, the type of maritime asset that country can contribute, and that country's political limitations. All coalition maritime assets are under operational or tactical control [OPCON/TACON] of CJFMCC.

Returning to Sun Tzu, he also wrote that national unity is an essential requirement for a victorious war--under a government devoted to the people's welfare. In addition to continued efforts to apprehend al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, CENTCOM also is making some important humanitarian and nation-building contributions to the new Afghan government, correct? Does winter's arrival add a sense of urgency?

FRANKS: We are currently focusing a great deal of effort on humanitarian contributions to the new Afghan government. We are coordinating projects to repair medical clinics, schools, and roads and bridges. We are also coordinating with the United Nations Joint Logistics Command [UNJLC], the lead agency responsible for implementing a winterization plan. This plan is designed to address emergency humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan.

So far, more than 200 humanitarian projects have been approved. This includes 23 medical center projects, 42 drinking water-well projects, four irrigation projects, and eight agricultural projects. Also vital to restoring transportation routes throughout the country are 10 road and bridge projects.

Your troops also continue to root out, capture, or kill al Qaeda fugitives in Afghanistan--a tedious, hazardous mission. What is your outlook for the year ahead?

FRANKS: What I see for the year ahead is continuing to root out al Qaeda in Afghanistan and working with Pakistan to do the same. We are also doing what we can to help Afghanistan get back on its feet after 23 years of war. This will require a long-term commitment on our part. There is a great deal left to be done, but I think it is amazing how far Afghanistan has come in the past year.

Turning to Iraq, President Bush has said that he hopes that the use of force will not be necessary to make Iraq comply with U.N. resolutions calling for the elimination of all its weapons of mass destruction. The prospect of another conflict within the CENTCOM AOR is, however, very real. Are you confident that you could prosecute a new war with Iraq without compromising the war on terrorism elsewhere in your theater?

FRANKS: The decision to use force against Iraq is one that will be made by President Bush. And that decision has not been made. However, should the president call on us to execute operations anywhere in our area of responsibility, we will be ready and capable of ensuring success.

In general, how would you describe Iraq's military strength today?

FRANKS: Iraqi's conventional military strength is not what it was in 1991, but its military capability is substantial. More importantly, Iraq is a state sponsor of terrorism, and Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. This presents the potential of a state with weapons of mass destruction passing those weapons to terrorist organizations. That risk exists, and we take it very seriously.

There have been reports that the United States has increased its military presence in your AOR in recent weeks--to include the early deployment of Navy ships and lead elements of staffs from the U.S. Army's V Corps and the U.S. Marine Corps' I Marine Expeditionary Force. Can you comment?

FRANKS: We shouldn't discuss specific force movements and deployments. However, it is a responsibility of our command to evaluate the situation in the CENTCOM AOR and ensure forces are deployed where they are needed. From time to time forces will be deployed to support our national objectives and in support of the president's campaign against terrorism. You should anticipate that this force posturing will continue.

Thank you very much for your time, general. In closing, I would simply wish you and everyone assigned to CENTCOM every success during the weeks and months ahead. Is there anything else that you would like to say to the readers of Sea Power?

FRANKS: As a Soldier, I am very proud and thankful for the tremendous efforts displayed by our sea services on a daily basis. The Navy-Marine Corps team remains at the tip of the spear, on station, as our nation navigates dangerous seas. This is nothing new--their reputation precedes them. I thank them for their contributions and sacrifice.

Likewise, the Navy League--the readership of Sea Power--has a proud history of supporting those very sea services that defend our nation today.

I believe your support and hard work will guarantee America's future, just as you have purchased the heritage of her past. Thank you! *