The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan worked to sell the new American strategy for the country to Afghan parliamentarians Thursday, promising that international troops will not start leaving until national security forces are ready to take over.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal addressed about 30 parliamentarians in an ornate conference room two days after President Barack Obama announced he was sending 30,000 new U.S. troops in early 2010 to try to turn the tide against Taliban insurgents. Obama said he hoped to start drawing down in 18 months if conditions permit.

"We will not decrease coalition forces without the increase of Afghan national security forces capability," McChrystal, in combat fatigues, told a room full of mostly men in suits _ some wearing traditional felt hats and a few in turbans. The general is commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

He said that the 30,000 additional forces should be in place within a year and that by the summer of 2011 "it will be clear that the government of Afghanistan will be the victors," McChrystal said, adding that a U.S. presence in the country would remain.

"It will not be over. It will take time after that. It will take years after that, together, to provide security and continue to secure Afghanistan," he said.

His speech took a slightly different tack than Obama's televised address Wednesday. Obama, speaking mostly to Americans, stressed the exit strategy. McChrystal emphasized to the parliamentarians that the U.S. will stay as long as necessary. He met with the parliamentarians after holding talks with President Hamid Karzai and key ministers on Wednesday.

The Taliban have said more Americans would die under the Obama plan, which would give them an opportunity "to increase their attacks and shake the American economy, which is already facing crisis."

The Taliban statement issued Wednesday said that Obama only set a tentative pullout date for July 2011 to lessen the sensitivities of Afghans about the troop buildup and to decrease the American public's opposition to the war.

Parliamentarians told McChrystal they were worried about a quick departure and about being deserted by international troops so soon, according to those who participated in a closed-door question and answer session with the general.

Daoud Sultanzai, a parliamentarian from Ghazni province, said the lawmakers were worried that the two-year deadline meant that U.S. forces were not committed to the country.