A failure to win over local populations in the large-scale campaign to push the Taliban out of Kandahar has put coalition forces behind schedule, theater commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal says:

“I don’t intend to hurry it,” said Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, visiting Brussels for a meeting of NATO leaders. “It will take a number of months for this to play out. But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. It’s more important we get it right than we get it fast.”
U.S. and NATO commanders began laying the groundwork this spring for their campaign to gain control of Kandahar, an operation considered crucial to the success of President Obama’s strategy for the Afghan war. The military side of the campaign was originally scheduled to surge in June and largely end by August.
But McChrystal said it was taking longer than anticipated to gain the blessing of local tribal leaders — and Kandaharis in general — for the operation. He also said commanders needed more time to ensure that Afghan government could step in after the fighting stops and provide effective public services, something that has been lacking in Kandahar for years.
“When you go to protect people, the people have to want you to protect them,” McChrystal told reporters. “It’s a deliberate process. It takes time to convince people.”

I take McChrystal at his word that he doesn’t intend to hurry things. I’m just not so sure about his political masters.