WASHINGTON (PAN): The Obama administration, staying in close consultation with President Hamid Karzai and his team, has refuted media concerns that a delay in announcement of the new cabinet is reflective of problems in the Afghan government. "We are carrying on very close consultations with Karzai and his advisors as he goes forward in forming a new government. This is a very important next step in Afghanistan's democratic development," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters at his daily news briefing. "I don't think that a delay of a few days is necessarily indicative of any particular problem. I think it's more indicative of the fact that they want to make sure that they have the kind of government that will be effective and will enjoy the support of the Afghan people," Kelly remarked. Meanwhile, as the first surge of force arrived in Afghanistan, the Defence Department said the entire 30,000 additional troops announced by President Barack Obama would be on the ground in Afghanistan by the end of the next summer. Despite the fact that Afghanistan is a landlocked country and it involves huge logistic operations, the Pentagon is committed to meet the deadline set by the president, according to Defence Department spokesman Geoff Morrell. "We all recognise the huge logistical challenges involved in getting 30,000 forces and all their equipment, because they're not falling in on any equipment and all their equipment over to Afghanistan in the next, you know, eight or nine months, 10 months, whatever it may be," he said. Speaking at at the National Defence Institute in Ottawa, Canada, commander of US and NATO forces General Stanley McChrystal acknowledged the insurgency in Afghanistan was resilient and lethal, but was not popular. "It doesn't have a compelling political narrative or deep popularity with the people of Afghanistan." The general added: "We've had success where we apply security and follow that with the correct approaches of governance and development and help the Afghans build a future. We see success, and that convinces me that we can apply that success across the country. "Our strategic approach was really based upon a number of things. We've finished, and I'll discuss in a little while the process that got us to it. But the core of it is to partner with Afghanistan to provide them the time and space to assume their own security and to shape their own future," McChrystal said. lkj/mud