4 May Washington Post - U.S. Commander In Afghanistan Thinks Locally.

While the world may be wondering whether U.S.-led troops will ever find Osama bin Laden, Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry has his eye on smaller, more immediate tasks...

"The real soldiers in Afghanistan are not necessarily wearing uniforms," Eikenberry said in a brief speech to Afghans in this provincial capital northeast of Kabul. "They are providing health care, teaching your families, building the community."

For most of the 23,000 U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan, the main task is still to hunt down, capture or kill anti-government fighters. But after several months of intensified attacks by insurgents, including roadside and suicide bombings, Eikenberry argues that the most effective antidote is to strengthen and protect Afghanistan's weak central government.

The day-long visit to Mehtar Lam, one of Eikenberry's weekly trips to remote areas across the country, had a carefully scripted agenda of nation-building, and its main target audience was the Afghan public.

By giving a high-profile, bearhugging welcome to Laghman's newly appointed governor, Gulab Mangal, Eikenberry firmly endorsed President Hamid Karzai's strategy of shifting respected leaders into provinces where they have no ties. The goal is to immunize governors from local politics as they attempt to fight corruption and terrorism.

By walking for nearly an hour through Mehtar Lam's main bazaar, surrounded by only a loose cordon of troops and pointedly bereft of helmet or flak jacket, Eikenberry projected an image of engagement, confidence and respect. The tour was designed to counter some Afghans' notion of U.S. troops as swaggering, heavily armed door-kickers...

"In the end, Osama bin Laden is just one man," Eikenberry said in the interview. He vowed that U.S. military efforts would be "unrelenting" until the al-Qaeda leader is captured or killed, but he reiterated his conviction that the key to fighting terrorism is bolstering the reach, relevance and writ of the Afghan government.

"This is a real long campaign, and we are on the 50-yard line," he told Marines who protect the reconstruction base after pinning medals for valor and service on a number of them. "The Afghan army is getting stronger, the police are making progress," he said. "The real battle now is to enable the Afghan people to stand up their own society."