Petraeus warns new surge progress will be slowBy Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Dec 9, 2009 14:21:38 EST
WASHINGTON — Progress against the insurgency in Afghanistan probably will be slower than during the buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq two years ago, and the war will be “harder before it gets easier,” a top U.S. general said Wednesday.
Army Gen. David Petraeus, who executed the rapid buildup in Iraq in 2007, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he supports the upcoming escalation of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“While certainly different and, in some ways, tougher than Iraq, Afghanistan is no more hopeless than Iraq was when I took command there in February 2007,” Petraeus said. Indeed, he said, the level of violence and number of violent civilian deaths in Iraq were vastly higher than what has been seen in Afghanistan.
Petraeus is commanding general of U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for overseeing U.S. military activities in Central Asia, including Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the Middle East. He appeared with Ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry and Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew to answer questions about President Barack Obama’s new plan to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan and begin drawing down by July 2011.
Petraeus said he believes the new policy “will over the next 18 months enable us to make important progress.”
Rest of article at:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_military_us_afghanistan_surge_120909w/