Petraeus Builds a Case for Success in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of American and NATO forces here, began his campaign Sunday to convince an increasingly skeptical public that the American-led coalition can still succeed, saying he had not come to Afghanistan to preside over a "graceful exit."
In interviews with The New York Times, The Washington Post and "Meet the Press," General Petraeus said American and NATO troops were making progress on a number of Afghan fronts, including routing Taliban insurgents from their sanctuaries, reforming the Afghan government and preparing Afghan soldiers to fight on their own.
General Petraeus, who took over last month after Gen. Stanley McChrystal was fired by President Obama, said he believed he would be given the time and material necessary to prevail here. He expressed that confidence despite the fact that nearly every phase of the war is going badly -- and despite the fact that the American public has turned against it.
"The president didn't send me over here to seek a graceful exit," the general said from his office at NATO headquarters in downtown Kabul. "My marching orders are to do all that is humanly possible to help us achieve our objectives."
General Petraeus' public remarks, his first since taking over leadership here, highlight the extraordinary difficulties, both military and political, that loom in the coming months. American soldiers and Marines are dying at a faster rate than at any time since 2001. The Afghan in whom America has placed its hopes, President Hamid Karzai, continues to preside over one of the most corrupt governments in the world.
And perhaps most important, President Obama has promised to begin drawing down American forces by July 2011. The president's deadline -- which included no troop numbers -- has spawned confusion among allies and enemies alike, with some concluding that the United States, after nine years of war, is intending to leave.
President Obama's deadline has ignited a debate inside the American government itself, with military commanders preparing to ask the White House to keep the withdrawals to a minimum. In the past, General Petraeus has stated publicly his agreement with the deadline, but on "Meet the Press" on Sunday he appeared to leave open the possibility that he could recommend against any withdrawal at that point.
In his interview with The Times, General Petraeus also suggested that he would resist any large-scale or rapid drawdown of American forces. If the Taliban believes it, he said, then they are mistaken. "Clearly the enemy is fighting back, sees this as a very pivotal moment, believes that all he has to do is outlast us through this fighting season," Gen. Petraeus said. "That is just not the case."
The public campaign begun Sunday by General Petraeus echoes the similarly high-profile efforts he undertook at the bloodiest phase of the war in Iraq. In early 2007, joining with a group of defense intellectuals and retired generals, General Petraeus asserted that the anarchic situation in Iraq could be stabilized with an infusion of tens of thousands additional American troops.
Then-President Bush endorsed the effort and chose Gen. Petraeus to lead it. And, to the surprise of many, the campaign, known as "the surge," helped bring about a dramatic drop in violence in Iraq that has largely held to this day. During the surge, , he skirted the traditional lines separating the military and political worlds, testifying before Congress and speaking almost weekly to President Bush.
General Petraeus has taken a lower public profile since President Obama's inauguration. His efforts on Sunday -- which will continue with more interviews in the coming days -- mark his first efforts to convince the American people that his efforts and those of the 100,000 American soldiers and Marines deployed here can succeed.
In the interview, General Petraeus said that it was only now, in the last few weeks, that the campaign plan drawn up by him, Gen. McChrystal and others has been perfected and given the resources it requires. The real fight, he said, can now begin.
"For the first time, at the end of August, sometime in September, we will have the inputs about right," he said. "We will have what we have been working to put in place for the last year and a half on the ground and operating."
By Dexter Filkins
New York Times