General Petraeus turns over command in Afghanistan

Gen. Petraeus turns over command in Afghanistan

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan

Gen. David Petraeus handed over command of the Afghan war to Marine Gen. John Allen on Monday as the U.S. and its international partners prepare to withdraw over the next few years.

Petraeus, widely credited with turning the tide in Iraq, left to take over the CIA with his signature counterinsurgency strategy having yet to deliver a safer Afghanistan or push the Taliban to reconcile with the country’s Western-backed government.

Allen is known for helping turn Sunni insurgents against al-Qaida in Iraq in one of that war’s most pivotal stages. In Afghanistan, he will be tasked with overseeing the start of the American troop withdrawal this month even as insurgents step up the violence and attacks on high-profile Afghans, including the assassination last week of President Hamid Karzai’s powerful half-brother and the slaying of a close Karzai aid Sunday.

Allen said the draw down of U.S. forces and the transition of some areas to Afghan control this week does not mean international forces are easing up in their campaign to defeat the Taliban insurgency, though he acknowledged the fight won’t be easy.

“It is my intention to maintain the momentum of the campaign,” Allen said at the hand-over ceremony in the Afghan capital. “There will be tough days ahead. I have no illusions about the challenges.”

Allen, who takes command of about 130,000 U.S. and NATO troops, has said he supports President Barack Obama’s plan to withdraw a third of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan by next year.

But Allen told a Senate hearing last month that the schedule set by Obama was more aggressive than the military had anticipated. Obama did not set a minimum number of troops to be pulled out this month, but required only that 10,000 be gone by the end of the year and that an additional 23,000 be back home by September 2012.

As it draws down, the U.S. is hoping for results from an ambitious and costly multibillion dollar plan to build the Afghan security forces.

All foreign combat forces are set to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, and Allen has said he hopes the draw down will impress on Afghan leaders that they must urgently grow the number and capabilities of their own security forces to take over.

The Afghan government plans to have 305,000 trained soldiers and policemen by this October with a goal of just under 400,000 by the time foreign combat troops leave.

There have been fears in Afghanistan that the U.S. decision to draw down could lead to a precipitous withdrawal of other foreign troops.

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said he hoped Petraeus’ appointment to the role of CIA director will temper calls for a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces and funding.

“His broad intellect, his unmatched experiences and knowledge of the ground realities will make him a counterbalance to all those shortsighted, politically inspired isolationists and the groups of Beltway bandits and U.S. national-security councils,” Wardak said.