MADELIENE BRAND, host:

And let's bring back Tom Bowman, our Pentagon correspondent. And what do you make of that, of what the Senator just said in terms of focusing the resources on making the Afghan security forces able to take over security? Is that possible to do in such a short time frame?

BOWMAN: Well, according to General McChrystal, you can't do that on a very short timeframe. He talks about gaining the initiative by sending in more troops and they will serve as a bridge until the Afghan security forces can start to be ready. When will that take? How long will that take? One to two years he said. The Afghan forces can start to take the lead and then after that American and allied forces can start to draw down. But from the indications we have from General McChrystal's report that's going to take some time and you're going to need more American forces to fill that gap.

BRAND: All right, Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, thank you very much.

BOWMAN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.