Petraeus won’t alter strategy, officer says

June 27, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan

America’s top military officer assured President Hamid Karzai on Saturday that newly chosen NATO commander Gen. David Petraeus would pursue the policies of his ousted predecessor, whom the Afghan leader warmly praised for reducing civilian casualties.

Karzai’s emphasis on preventing civilian deaths and injuries could make it difficult for NATO to relax rules of fighting that some U.S. troops say give the battlefield advantage to the Taliban. For now, however, no changes have been proposed, said a spokesman for visiting Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

During a 45-minute meeting with the Afghan leader, Mullen explained the events that surrounded President Barack Obama’s decision to dismiss Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of both U.S. and NATO forces. McChrystal resigned after he and his aides were quoted in Rolling Stone magazine making disparaging remarks about top Obama administration officials guiding the civilian mission in the war.

Mullen also met with U.S. Embassy officials and had a video teleconference with regional commanders in the field. To both sides, Mullen stressed the importance of a good “lash up” between often strained civilian and military efforts to beat back a resurgent Taliban and extend the Karzai government’s control beyond Kabul.