'Unity of effort' in Afghanistan will take more than firing McChrystal

I feel sorry for Stan McChrystal. He got sacked because his aides were too honest with a Rolling Stone reporter. They rashly exposed a problem that is undercutting the war effort: the infighting among civilian and military officials in Kabul and Washington, D.C.

The general's aides shouldn't have mocked top civilian officials, and he deserved to be chastised. However, President Barack Obama, in explaining the general's firing, said the war requires "unity of effort." If so, he'll need to do more than send the general home.

McChrystal's staff made snide remarks to Rolling Stone about Vice President Joe Biden, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and National Security Adviser James Jones. The general complained about being "betrayed" by Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul. Obama argued that the Rolling Stone piece "erodes the trust necessary for the team to work together."

What trust? The article reflects serious tensions between Obama's civilian and military advisers in Kabul, fed by the conflicting positions of White House and Cabinet officials on Afghan strategy. These tensions make it impossible to fashion a coherent policy that Americans — and Afghans — can understand.

McChrystal and Eikenberry differed over how to wage the war and how to deal with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. The relationship between embassy and military commanders in Kabul remains distant and mistrustful.

To complicate matters further, the president's special envoy to the region, the brilliant but brusque Richard Holbrooke, is resented by embassy staff as well as many in the military. His infrequent presence causes confusion among Afghan officials about who speaks for the president.

Obama's D.C. team adds to the confusion, with Biden making statements about Obama's 2011 pullout deadline that conflict with those of the secretaries of defense and state, Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton. The president has yet to clarify whose interpretation he endorses.

"This is a highly dysfunctional team," said former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, referring to those who work on the war in Afghanistan. "You can't win the big war if we're fighting the small ones with each other. And unity has to start at the top."

Indeed, the only good that might emerge from McChrystal's exit is if Obama — and Gen. David Petraeus, his choice to succeed McChrystal — can finally weld these players into a team that works together. Otherwise, the sacking will only aid those who are cheering American disarray.