Gen. Petraeus: No Iraq-Style Surge In Afghanistan

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — The commander of the U.S. Central Command said Friday that an Iraq-style surge cannot be a solution to the problems in Afghanistan.

Gen. David Petraeus, speaking before about 800 people at an event sponsored by the World Affairs Council, acknowledged that the situation in Afghanistan has been spiraling downward and is 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 are needed in Afghanistan, both military and especially civil to help build a stable government there.

"The 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," he said.

The U.S.-led invasion of Aghanistan ousted the Islamist Taliban regime in 2001, but the militant movement has regained control of large swaths of the country. U.S. 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'll 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, President Barack Obama ordered 17,000 more U.S. troops to bolster the record 38,000 American forces already in Afghanistan, a likely down payment on the request by ground commanders to double the U.S. force to 60,000.

But Petraeus said a large military surge like the one in Iraq would not work in Afghanistan because there is not enough infrastructure on the ground to handle one, and because it is 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."

Comments

[Luvial]

If drug money is funding the klilling of Americans, why has the US military refused to destroy or buy the poppy crop? If they cannot find them then try YouTube. The poppy field videos by US military have been posted for 8 years. What a joke Petraeus is and Obama's policy.

[Luvial]

Maybe Betrayus should explain why the Taliban are the enemies of the US. I know why they resist the US occupation and I know why they oppose our quisling puppet government in Afghanistan.

[qoosamba]

I think the criticism is misguided and that Obama and Petraeus are actually on the right path. He said that unlike Iraq, there would NOT be a surge. Moreover and most importantly, unlike anyone in the previous administration, he noted that:

"you also need to be building, and to develop, and to assist, and to help and to partner."

This is a HUGE change in policy from Iraq.

[LWkcma]

I've got the urge
The urge to SURGE

[breakingpoint]

Young Americans go off to far away lands fight and die for a few corporations who make big bank off the American tax payer. What a Racket.

Want to win in Afghanistan? Burn every poppy field to the ground, drop bags of rice, salt and sugar in strategic places. It's a better stratagem, safer and cheaper than what we're doing now.

Divide and conquer, just like the Democrats and Republicans do in the US

[HumeSkeptic]

Petraeus blamed the problems on a resilient "syndicate of extremists,"
---------
There you go!

We are fighting SOE in Afghanistan.

Our lying General Ptetroleus is a master at creating new groups, like AQ-I, out of thin air, then fighting and defeating them by throwing pizza boxes at them filled with hundred dollar bills.
.

[chaos4700]

I think you're hitting the nail on the head with your posts, here. In a way I feel bad for Petreus -- he's destined to become roomates with Colin Powell, metaphorically speaking, and I don't think he realizes that. Not that I have a whole lot of sympathy for either Powell or Petreus, considering.

[HumeSkeptic]

Iraq-style surge cannot be a solution to the problems in Afghanistan.
------------
That's largely because we're out of cash to bribe the insurgents, and the new President won't allow sending money to warlords in pizza boxes.
.

[jdmccl]

One word....cr­opdusting. Opium is the cash crop and Barry can't get rid of it anymore than Bush did. Funnel some of that racist cash Maxine Waters stole and get the next generation of Flying Tigers to do some dusting in A-10's

[johnie2xs]

These aren't even the people we want. These are just the people we pissed off.

Eight years. EIGHT YEARS!!!!! LET"S Get the F&ck OUT !!!!!

[1differentdrummer]

Today's MacArthur probably also has his eye on running for prez one of these days, too.

[buckeyedave]

I can't wait.

[longnow]

Which means the US is not going to pay 100,000 Afghans tribe leaders
and Imams 30 million a month to be nice. That is what "the surge" in Iraq
amounts to. I wonder why no one reports this simple fact of how we
got "peace with honor".

[SamKnause]

There is no peace with honor by paying your enemies to play nice. That is why they are not reporting it. It seems a lot of people in the U.S. are just fixated on wanting to be able to say we won. There is something very troubling about this mind set. We won what? We won at bankrupting this country, we won at killing thousands of our brave soldiers and ignoring them we they come home and really need our help, we won at rebuilding foreign countries and letting ours fall apart, we won at killing thousands of innocent people and destroying their country. I don't understand what we have won!!! I don't want to win. I didn't want to be playing the game to start with.

[rockinrod]

Word!

[johnie2xs]

They just refer to it as the "awakening", so that you won't
realize that the whole war was a crock. Unless you're Halliburton, and then it's a good payday.

[mcantwell]

What's up with the moderation?

[SamKnause]

I don't know it is taking forever and there not posting a lot of stuff for some reason.

[oldgeek1]

Few roads, rough terrain, no infrastructure, no place to house a large amount of troops with the same problem in Iraq, no real enemy that you can spot. The Russians, who are not as nice as us, realized that was not a place where they could succeed. Bomb the heck out of the suspected sites but get the troops out.

[LorettaSingbiel]

We're mired in this mess BECAUSE "The Decider" declared Saddam Hussein MORE "wanted dead or alive" than Osama Bin Laden!

Invading a sovereign country that had NOTHING to do with our being attacked on 911 ... PRICELESS!!!

HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of OUR tax dollars earmarked to Pakistan, to enable Musharaf to extend HOSPITALITY, instead of HOSTILITY, "to a resilient syndicate of extremists" ... PRICELESS!!!

And yet ... we CAN'T afford to provide ALL our citizens with healthcare??? ... PRICELESS!!!

Senator John Warner: "Does the [Iraq war] make America safer?" Petraeus: "I don't know, actually. I have not sat down and sorted in my own mind."

WE THE PEOPLE voted for OBAMA to sort it out ... and ... GET OUR TROOPS OUT of The Middle East ...

[Dredd]

That is because there are not enough people in one place to take care of all of them at once.

Gives new meaning to Poppycock and peace for oil doesn't it?

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/03/oil-for-peace.html

[mcantwell]

To each his own opinion, but I do not trust Petraeus or Odeirno. They are Bush loyalists and I feel they have been undermining our President with convenient 'leaks' to news publications, and will continue to undermine our President as the draw down to Iraq approaches. The military industrial complex is out of control and needs to be reigned in.

[rustygriswold]

"but I do not trust Petraeus or Odeirno."

You do not trust anyone who loves and defends the USA, that is why you love Obama and all the others that wanted to wave the white flag of surrender and leave the battlefield in defeat.

[mcantwell]

More ignorant Rushbublican Talking Points. As far as you grasping for straws with nasty personal attacks, I come from a military family as did my husband, where my father served honorably for 30 years, and fought several tours in Vietnam and lost many close friends. How about you jerk?!

[levibatgirl]

Your hero chickenhawk waved the white flag and signed SOFA before he retreated back to texas. I wonder was he planning on paying off insurgents indefinitely cause that is what quieted things down?

You are a childish cheezeball and a chickenhawk yourself.

[1differentdrummer]

Okay, have you skipped your meds again? This type of raving can be avoided by taking them regularly.

[johnie2xs]

People like you use this reasoning out of desperation, and ignorance. My guess would be, by the structure of your complaint, that you're a little heavy on the ignorance side.
The screed you use is right out of Right Wing Radio, thus it would be fair to assume that your background reading is minimal. You're just parroting.

To explain the situation would take far too long. Let me just say this; These are not the people who attacked us. We invaded their country and are now fighting the wrong people. We want to set up a government they do not want. (Kind of like your friends who want to create a theocracy in this country.) We need to leave and save a bunch of lives and money. Unless you want to volunteer, that is.

[NotesFromME]

Simplistic jingoistic comments from a simple mind. Those of us on the Left love our country, and many of us have served honorably in the US military. (Remember, the Bush Administration was made up largely of draft dodgers like Rumsfeld and Cheney who had "better things to do" when there was a war. W joined up knowing he would never have to go to Vietnam, and jumped a waiting list to get in because his father was a congressma­n.)

A patriotic American would never have gone into Iraq without a plan as to what to do once they got there, or gone in against international law. They would also never have sent in troops without adequate vehicles, equipment, or body armor to fight the wrong type of war that only got thousands killed. A patriotic American would have respected our Bill of Rights, legal traditions, and the treaties we have signed and never would have instituted the systematic abuse of prisoners or detention without trial. A patriotic American would never have short changed the VA, or refused to treat combat veterans who had "pre-exising" mental problems (and then tried to get their enlistment bonuses back.) All of those things happened under the "flag waver's" watch, and they will burn in hell for what they did to our troops.