Petraeus Cites 'Hard-Won' Progress in Afghanistan
(October 16, 2010) |
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| WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2010 – Though hard-won progress has
taken place in Afghanistan, it has been uneven, the
commander of U.S. and NATO forces there said.
In an Oct. 6 interview with Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Liz
Murray of American Forces Network Afghanistan in the Afghan
capital of Kabul, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus praised
servicemembers in Afghanistan, noting that they have seen
tough combat, but also are seeing results.
Overall, Petraeus said, a reversal in Taliban momentum has
taken place. “In certain very important areas such as
Kandahar, the enemy is responding to us rather than us
responding to the enemy,” he said. “There are attacks, but
we are the ones on the offensive, they are the ones
responding.”
Progress is coming in pockets, the general said, and the
goal is to connect those pockets over time. “Then with the
security in place, we've got to develop the economy [and]
develop governance,” he added.
It is important for the Afghan government to provide basic
services so its people see the future is brighter if they
support the Afghan government rather than revert to support
of the Taliban, Petraeus explained.
The bottom line is that for a counterinsurgency program to
work, servicemembers have to relate to the people, the
general said. “There's an old saying that ‘all politics are
local.' Well, so are all counterinsurgency operations,”
Petraeus said. “It comes down to that village, that valley,
that community.”
This requires servicemembers and civilians to get out and
meet the people face to face -- to invest the time to know
the elders and the technocrats of the area, the local
government leaders, the religious leaders and the
businessmen, Petraeus said, and to fully understand the
dynamics of local communities and resist rushing to
judgment.
“We have to be careful how we develop the relationships,” he
added, “and more importantly, how we reward individuals and
communities.”
An important aspect of this outreach to local communities is
the Afghan local police initiative, Petraeus said.
Sixty-eight sites for that effort have been approved, and
about eight to 10 per month will be added. The sites are in
locations where there are insufficient densities of Afghan
and coalition forces. “They are essentially community
watches with AK-47s,” he said. “We think these will
complement our operations in other areas.”
Special operations forces have been working with community
leaders to train these local police forces to defend their
villages from the Taliban, the general said, and the rapport
they have established in the villages has been tremendously
important to the effort in Afghanistan. “In some cases, they
have ‘flipped' communities who once even actively supported
the Taliban,” he said.
Noting that the strategy is in place and the last of the
U.S. surge troops have arrived in Afghanistan, Petraeus said
security gains have been made and he gave his frank
assessment of the gains in various areas.
Regional Command Southwest has seen continued progress in
security, but it has been at a cost. “The enemy is very much
fighting back, because we've taken control of sanctuaries
and safe havens that mean a great deal to him,” he said. “In
Marja, for example, which eight months ago was the center
for the illegal narcotics industry and a Taliban command and
control headquarters, now you see a high school opening for
the first time in six years.”
Other schools have opened, and men are volunteering to serve
in the police for the first time, Petraeus said. The
security gains, he added, have made it possible for gradual
improvements in governance and development.
“It's the same in varying degrees ... in the other districts
of central Helmand province,” Petraeus said.
Further east in Kandahar, major operations are going on
inside and outside the city. The battle in the Panjwai area
illustrates an increasingly important aspect of the fight,
Petraeus said. In Panjwai, the 101st Airborne Division's 2nd
Brigade Combat Team and the Canadian task force have been
joined by substantial numbers of Afghan soldiers and police.
The Taliban see the area as a safe haven and have laced it
with explosive belts, dug-in positions and mined houses
rigged to blow up. The Afghans are working well with the
coalition forces and are helping to “establish a security
bubble around Kandahar City and again take away areas of
importance to the Taliban,” the general said.
From Kandahar, coalition and Afghan forces are working along
Highway 1 -- the major road between Kandahar and Kabul --
and going after various pockets there. “They have done
substantial damage to the infiltrators of the Haqqani
network that come in from North Waziristan in Pakistan, and
done considerable damage to the mid-level Taliban fighters
and leaders in the southern areas as well,” Petraeus said.
As the national capital, Kabul is a security high-point. The
area has roughly 5 million people, and it's been quite
secure and stable in recent months, the general said. The
enemy has been trying to launch attacks in the capital but,
so far, Afghan intelligence and Afghan forces working with
International Security Assistance Force servicemembers have
been able to disrupt and defeat these efforts. “This is
important ... because Afghan forces are in the lead in
security in all but one district in Kabul,” Petraeus said.
“It's an example of what we'd like to do in more places in
the future.”
In the northern part of the country, German forces, along
with a brigade of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division,
are beginning operations to reduce insurgent influence. The
same is happening in Regional Command West, Petraeus said.
The general said the U.S. troops are the most experienced
and professional military America has ever had.
“Virtually all of our commissioned, warrant and
noncommissioned officers on the ground now have had at least
one tour in Iraq or Afghanistan, and many have had multiple
year-long tours,” he said. “There's an enormous reservoir of
experience and expertise. I see enormous versatility,
initiative, innovation, just sheer understanding or the
complexities of these operations, and also extraordinary
courage.”
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By Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Liz Murray and Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010
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