"Cultural shift" needed in Afghan combat: commander

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan said on Wednesday foreign troops need to make a "cultural shift" away from conventional warfare and focus on winning the support of Afghans.

General Stanley McChrystal, who took charge of some 90,000 international troops in Afghanistan last week, said most forces were designed for conventional "high intensity" combat aimed at "destroying the enemy" and using "every asset" available.

"This is appropriate for the conventional battlefield where it is army against army, but not appropriate for the COIN (counter-insurgency) battlefield," McChrystal said on a visit to the new U.S. Marine base in southern Helmand Province.

"In my view what we've really got to do is make a cultural view," he told reporters.

McChrystal is meeting commanders around the country as part of a "listening tour" and is expected to release "within days" new guidelines for troops aimed at limiting civilian deaths that have put their mission at risk and have outraged Afghans.

A U.S. military report issued last week found air strikes by U.S. B1 bombers in May that killed dozens of civilians had violated orders already in place at the time and recommended drawing up new guidelines soon.

"INFORMATION CAMPAIGN"

McChrystal said that while everyone knew "academically" how to conduct a counter-insurgency campaign, the problem was getting the message to soldiers on the ground who often reverted to "automatic reflective responses" of conventional warfare.

"What I'm trying to do is help everybody shape their behavior and understand that. It's going to be almost the equivalent of an information campaign," McChrystal said.

"I've learnt ... that if you feel very strongly about certain things you have to say them very clearly, you have to say them very often, and you have to repeat the same thing over and over again," he said.

The U.S. military is to publish an unclassified version of its new guidelines to show the public the steps it has taken to minimize civilian casualties.

McChrystal said the new directive would not amount to a surrender to the insurgents.

"You surrender to the Taliban when you give up the fight for the support of the people. That's the decisive terrain. We are going to do counter insurgency here in an offensive manner."

(Editing by Jon Hemming)