WASHINGTON — Progress will come more slowly from the Afghan
troop surge than it did during a similar U.S. escalation in Iraq, the top
American commander in the Middle East told Congress Wednesday, predicting
intensified combat in coming months.
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command,
said Afghanistan is beset by problems that will challenge the new U.S.
strategy, including government corruption, insurgent sanctuaries along the
Pakistan border and the strength of the Taliban movement.
Petraeus commanded U.S. forces in Iraq in 2007 and 2008 and
often called the situation in Iraq “hard but not hopeless.”
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Petraeus said
Afghanistan is “no more hopeless” than Iraq was.
“Achieving our objectives in Afghanistan … will not
be easy,” Petraeus said. “The Taliban has in recent years been
gaining strength and expanding the extent of its control of parts of
Afghanistan.”
Petraeus predicted an increase in violence in the summer of
2010, during the height of the next fighting season. He also said that as
pressure mounts on the Afghan government to fight corruption, political
conflicts and other governmental turmoil are likely to result.
Petraeus urged senators not to pass judgment on the
strategy, but allow the administration a year to show the new approach will
work.
Petraeus appeared with Karl W. Eikenberry, the U.S.
ambassador to Afghanistan, and Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew a day after
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and allied commander in Afghanistan,
appeared before Congress to describe the new strategy.
Senators on Wednesday questioned the officials on the role
of Pakistan in the new U.S. strategy. Sen. John Kerry, the committee chairman,
predicted that developments in Pakistan would influence the outcome in
Afghanistan more than the Obama administration’s troop increase or strategy
shift.
“Pakistan is in many ways the core of our
challenge,” Kerry said. “The interconnected extremist groups that we
face don’t stop at the Afghan border. And so our strategy cannot stop there
either. It must extend to Pakistan.”
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who has been critical of the new
strategy, said putting more troops in Afghanistan could draw attention away
from the militant threat in Pakistan.
“The risk is that we will expend tens of billions of
dollars fighting in the strategically less important Afghanistan, while Taliban
and al-Qaida leaders become increasingly secure in Pakistan,” Lugar said.
Sen. Russell D. Feingold, D-Wis., asked Petraeus whether
stepped-up operations in Afghanistan could push militants into Pakistan,
putting pressure on the Pakistani military and destabilizing the country.
Petraeus said that the military was working to coordinate
operations with the Pakistanis. But he said there was a limit to how many
missions the Pakistani military could take on.
“You can only stick so many short sticks into so many
hornets’ nests at one time,” Petraeus said. “They have a very
impressive military … but again, there are limits on their capacity.”
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
