The commander of the US Central Command said that an Iraq-style surge could not be a solution to the problems in Afghanistan.
General David Petraeus, speaking on Friday before about 800 people at an event sponsored by the World Affairs Council, acknowledged that the situation in Afghanistan has been spiraling downward and was likely to get worse before it gets better.
In a speech that also touched on issues ranging from the nuclear threat in Iraq to pirates off Somalia, Petraeus said more resources were needed in Afghanistan, both military and civilian, to help build a stable government there.
“The [US] secretary of defense and I are among the biggest champions with members of Congress for increasing the resourcing for the State Department and the Agency for International Development,” Petraeus said.
The US-led invasion of Aghanistan ousted the Islamist Taliban regime in 2001, but the militant movement has regained control of large swaths of the country. US and NATO forces have been unable to reverse the gains.
Petraeus blamed the problems on a resilient “syndicate of extremists,” financing from the drug trade, safe havens in Pakistan and frustration with the slow development of the country’s fledgling government.
“We must help our Afghan partners create the breathing space that [will] allow the people to stand up for themselves as the Iraqi people did during the awakening movements there,” he said. “That also will allow the government to begin working for its people and begin providing essential services, instead of just struggling to survive.”
Last month, US President Barack Obama ordered 17,000 more US troops to bolster the record 38,000 US forces already in Afghanistan, a likely down payment on the request by ground commanders to double the US force to 60,000.
But Petraeus said a large military surge like the one in Iraq would not work in Afghanistan because there was not enough infrastructure on the ground to handle one, and because it was imperative that Afghans not view coalition forces as conquerors.
“You do need to tenaciously pursue the enemy and the extremists,” Petraeus said. “But you also need to be building, and to develop, and to assist, and to help and to partner.”
Meanwhile, an overnight raid conducted by US coalition troops and Afghan special forces killed five militants during a mission against the leader of a roadside bomb-making cell south of Kabul, a US spokesman said yesterday.
However, a spokesman for the governor of Logar Province said five civilians were killed in the operation.
US spokesman Colonel Greg Julian denied that claim and said militants fired on the combined force after US and Afghan troops ordered them to surrender.
“They were five armed militants that fired on a joint force ... when they went in to get a targeted individual,” Julian said. “They called them out when they arrived and these guys came out shooting and were killed in the process.”
The fact that Afghan special forces were on the raid is a significant step that helps insulate the US military against charges of killing civilians. Afghan troops typically have not taken part in such operations.
After angry condemnations by Afghan President Hamid Karzai the last several months over the issue of civilian deaths, the US recently agreed to put Afghan forces on all of its missions, including sensitive overnight raids conducted by US Special Operations Forces.
Meanwhile, security in Afghanistan has deteriorated and may worsen this year in the face of a renewed Taliban insurgency, the UN chief said in a report published on Friday.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his latest report to the Security Council on UN activities in Afghanistan that this year would be a critical year. He said there were reasons for medium-term optimism.
“The government, security forces and population of Afghanistan, along with its international partners, face a critical test in 2009,” the report said.
“Security has continued to deteriorate. The results of government and international aid efforts have fallen short of popular expectations as Afghans suffer the effects of drought and a global rise in food prices,” it said.
Violence is at its highest level in Afghanistan since US-led forces toppled the Taliban.
Ban’s report said the rule of law in Afghanistan was “insufficiently institutionalized” and abuses were not taken as seriously as they should be. He also referred to reports of rampant corruption in the government.
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