US General Petraeus arrives in Kabul to take over Afghan war

Agence France Presse, Updated: July 02, 2010 22:39 IST

 

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Kabul:  US General David Petraeus arrived in Kabul on Friday to take over as commander of the Afghan war, a NATO official said.

"General Petraeus arrived in Kabul by plane at 1400 GMT and took a helicopter to ISAF headquarters," the official said referring to NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

Petraeus takes over as commander of the 140,000 US and NATO soldiers in Afghanistan who are fighting Taliban insurgency amid growing concern that the war is bogged down as troop casualties reach record heights.

He is expected to make his public debut in Kabul on Saturday, when he attends celebrations at the US embassy marking the Fourth of July as United States' Independence Day.

His appointment was confirmed in Washington on Wednesday, in a 99-0 Senate vote, a day before the House of Representatives approved a bill to pump another US $37 billion into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The funds will cover the cost of deploying an extra 30,000 troops to turn around the faltering campaign, as part of a counter-insurgency strategy devised by Petraeus and supported by US President Barack Obama.

Petraeus replaces US General Stanley McChrystal, sacked last month after he was quoted in Rolling Stone magazine disparaging US officials, including the President, and leaders of NATO allies also committed to the war.

A four-star general, Petraeus has said he will not alter strategy, despite complaints from soldiers that they are hamstrung by the rules of engagement, and an alarming rise in the number of foreign troops dying on the battlefield.

He has vowed to give his forces the right firepower to fight the Taliban but insisted sparing civilians remained a priority.

Civilian casualties are an incendiary issue in Afghanistan, where many civilians blame the very presence of foreign forces for the ongoing violence.
Source:ndtv.com
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Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/us-general-petraeus-arrives-in-kabul-to-take-over-afghan-war-35239?cp

Drop Afghan pullout deadline, Barack Obama told

BARACK Obama is being urged to drop his deadline of July next year to start US troop withdrawals from Afghanistan Fears are rising that the deadline has emboldened the Taliban.
The US President's deadline was yesterday branded unrealistic and the cause of uncertainty about the White House's long-term commitment to the Afghan war.

Critics said it sent the wrong message to the Taliban, that they only had to wait for the US-led forces to leave the country. Afghanistan's ambassador to Washington, Said Jawad, was blunt in declaring the date to start withdrawing troops was unhelpful.
"If you over-emphasise a deadline that is not realistic, you are making the enemy a lot more bold," Mr Jawad said. "You are prolonging the war. That deadline should be realistic. The line should be based on the reality on the ground, and we should give a clear message to the enemy, to the terrorists who are a threat to everyone, that the US, NATO, Afghans, are there to finish this job."
Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain cast aspersion on a "firm date" for the US pullout.
He said Mr Obama's message about withdrawal while at the same time committing not to "turn out the lights in the middle of 2011" was indecipherable.
It made a long-term US commitment appear uncertain. "I'm all for dates for withdrawal, but that's after the strategy succeeds, not before," Senator McCain said.
Mr Obama faces growing pressure over his decision in December to declare -- in the same speech he announced plans to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan -- that the troop withdrawal would start in the middle of next year.
With 93,000 US troops and 43,000 NATO forces in Afghanistan, including 1500 Australians, new allied commander General David Petraeus insists: "We are in this to win."
But progress in the eight-year war is not as fast as the Obama administration would like. The Taliban is entrenched in key parts of Kandahar, and a military surge in the town of Marja this year delivered mixed results. But Mr Obama is sticking with the deadline to begin a US withdrawal, which he is believed to have added to his December troops announcement to appease opponents of the war in his Democratic Party.
The remarks by Mr Jawad, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai's top envoy to Washington, indicate nervousness in Kabul about the US strategy and the message it send to Mr Karzai's enemies.
Prominent Republican Lindsey Graham sounded a warning about the White House strategy. "If you send a signal to your enemy you're going to leave at a certain date, they'll wait you out," he said.
But not all the criticism went against Mr Obama yesterday, as Republican national committee chairman Michael Steele faced pressure to resign after claiming the US could not win the Afghan conflict, which he called a war "of Obama's choosing".
The remarks, made by the Republicans' titular head at a fundraiser, prompted outrage in his own party.
Senator McCain said Mr Steele would have to assess whether he could still lead the Republican Party, which supports the Afghan conflict as a war against terrorism over the attacks on the US of September 11, 2001. "Those statements are wildly inaccurate, and there's no excuse for them," Senator McCain said.
Republican Tom Cole said Mr Steele's gaffe, the latest in a long line to have embarrassed his party, would justify his resignation. Mr Steele has not spoken publicly since his comments, but issued a clarifying statement yesterday: "There is no question that America must win the war on terror."
Source:theaustralian
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New Afghan war Chief David Petraeus in vow to win

By Chris Hughes 5/07/2010

The new commander of the 130,000-strong international force in Afghanistan declared "we are in this to win" as he took charge yesterday.
Top US general David Petraeus made his vow as he received two flags - one for the US and the other for Nato - marking his assumption of command.

He said it was important to show that al- Qaeda and its allies will not be allowed to again establish havens in Afghanistan from which they could launch terror attacks.
He succeeds General Stanley McChrystal, who was fired last month for criticising White House officials in an article.
Gen Petraeus said he would continue McChrystal's emphasis on avoiding civilian deaths but curbs on the use of airpower and heavy weapons might be reviewed if troops were at risk.

Source:: mirror.co.uk

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Tages:Taleban  Tora Bora 911 Nato Battle of Saigon 

(1955)  2001 in Afghanistan Commission911