Gates to Army: We'll follow Obama's orders on Afghanistan

McClatchy's/ here

"...... "Speaking for the Department of Defense, once the commander in chief makes his decisions, we will salute and execute those decisions faithfully and to the best of our ability," Gates told the Association of the U.S. Army in Washington.

Gates' comments seemed to include a rebuke to Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Last week, McChrystal appealed for more troops during a speech before the Institute of International and Strategic Studies, calling current White House consideration of proposals that would not increase U.S. troop strenght in Afghanistan "short-sighted."

On Monday, Gates said that military and civilian advisors should provide "our best advice to the president candidly -- but privately.".....

The administration has said that the Afghan presidential election, which was sullied by charges of ballot stuffing by incumbent Hamid Karzai, demands that it reconsider whether it wants to spend more money backing that government and helping create a 134,000-strong army to serve Karzai.

"I believe that the decisions that the president will make for the next stage of the Afghanistan campaign will be among the most important of his presidency. So it is important that we take our time do all we can to get this right," Gates said....'