WASHINGTON, July 16, 2009 – Defense leaders are encouraged about operations in Afghanistan, but meeting long-term objectives there will require “an enormous” worldwide commitment to train and grow Afghan forces, a Pentagon spokesman said. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates “is encouraged thus far by how things are going operationally” in the U.S. Marine-led offensive that began two weeks ago in Afghanistan’s southern provinces, Geoff Morrell told reporters at a Pentagon press briefing yesterday. Morrell acknowledged it has been “an extraordinarily difficult month” with 22 U.S. servicemembers and 17 other coalition members killed in the offensive dubbed Operation Khanjar, or “strike...