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Petraeus backs US strategy

Top general shares Karzai's concern about cross-border threats

  • AP
  • Published: 00:00 September 1, 2010
  • Gulf News

General David Petraeus
  • Image Credit: AP
  • General David Petraeus, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force and US forces in Afghanistan, speaks to the media at his office in Kabul on Tuesday.

Kabul: President Hamid Karzai's recent complaints that international forces should focus on militant leaders hiding in neighbouring Pakistan instead of Afghan villages doesn't mean the government no longer supports the US war strategy, the top Nato commander said yesterday.

General David Petraeus said he shared Karzai's concern about threats across the border in Pakistan but said the Pakistanis deserve credit for waging what he described as an "impressive counterinsurgency campaign" during the past 18 months.

The Karzai government has been increasingly vocal in recent days about the need to destroy Taliban and Al Qaida sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Afghan National Security Adviser Rangin Dadfar Spanta has argued that US support of Pakistan amounts to nurturing the terrorists' "main mentor" and that the Afghan people are no longer ready to "pay the price for the international community's miscalculation and naivety".

"Given the very clear linkage between attacks on Afghan soil by individuals who have come from Pakistan and are commanded and controlled from Pakistan, I think President Karzai and Dr Spanta have very legitimate concerns," Petraeus said. Still, he added, the Pakistani government has continued to "squeeze the locations in which these individuals have safe haven sanctuary, recognising that more work needs to be done".

In a wide-ranging interview, Petraeus also said that Karzai's efforts to reconcile with top Taliban leaders are "beyond the surface, but they are certainly in the early stages".

"He is the one who is pursuing this, but there have been some ways that we have facilitated some of the contact," Petraeus said.

The general said it's natural that the Afghan government wants to take more of a lead role in the handling of its own national affairs. He said he's seeking clarification on the blunt criticism from Afghan governmental officials, but does not think the comments reflect diminished Afghan support for his counterinsurgency strategy.

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