The Hill News

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Thursday that he "never needed any convincing" over his views on U.S. strategy in the Afghanistan war.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) responded to a Rolling Stone article accusing the U.S. Army of illegally ordering a "team of soldiers specializing in 'psychological operations' to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war." He did not confirm or deny knowledge of the efforts, but said he makes his decisions independently.

{mosads}"For years, I have strongly and repeatedly advocated for building up Afghan military capability because I believe only the Afghans can! truly secure their nation’s future. I have never needed any convincing on this point," Levin said in a statement. "Quite the opposite, my efforts have been aimed at convincing others of the need for larger, more capable Afghan security forces, and that we and NATO should send more trainers to Afghanistan, rather than more combat troops."

The article touched off a firestorm in Washington, adding a new level of scrutiny to the war in Afghanistan. Levin is the first U.S. senator named in the report to publicly respond to its allegations.

Levin said he has confidence the military will handle the issue internally.

"I am confident that the chain of command will review any allegation that information operations have been improperly used in Afghanistan," he said.

Afghan commander Gen. David Petraeus has launched an investigation into the matter, according to NBC News.

According to the report, Army Lt. Gen. William Caldwell ordered an "information operations" officer to gather information on visiting dignitaries from the U.S. The information included basic background information as well as a "deeper analysis of pressure points we could use to leverage the delegation for more funds" for the war effort. 

Lawmakers who were reportedly targeted by the campaign include Levin, Armed Services Committee ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.), senior Senate Armed Services Committee member Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.).

In a statement to Rolling Stone, a spokesman for Caldwell "categorically denies the assertion that the command used an Information Operations Cell to influence Distinguished Visitors."