KABUL – The nine-year war in Afghanistan has reached a critical stage, according to US general David Petraeus, as he formally took command yesterday of the 150,000-strong Nato-led force fighting a growing Taliban insurgency.
“We are engaged in a tough fight. After years of war we have arrived at a critical moment,” Gen Petraeus told guests at a change-of-command ceremony at the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) headquarters in Kabul.
“We all recognise the threat that the Taliban, al-Qaeda and the other associated syndicate of extremists pose to this country, this region and to the world,” he said.
Gen Petraeus was last week appointed to lead all foreign forces in Afghanistan after his predecessor, Gen Stanley McChrystal, was dismissed for insulting remarks he and aides made about the US administration in a magazine interview.
The shift comes at a time when the Taliban is at its strongest since being overthrown in 2001, and with Isaf casualties mounting daily. Suicide bombers and insurgent fighters also attacked a US aid contractor’s office in northern Kunduz last week, killing five people and wounding dozens more.
Gen Petraeus, wearing camouflage fatigues and speaking near a marble column dedicated to Isaf troops killed in the Afghan campaign, told senior commanders and several Afghan ministers that his appointment signalled a change in command, not strategy.
Despite last month being the bloodiest yet for international troops, he said gains were being made in the increasingly difficult war, and a push by insurgents had been expected ahead of an offensive by US and Nato troops on Taliban strongholds in the south.
“Nothing has been easy in Afghanistan,” he said. “However, we can all take heart from the progress that has been made on the security front and beyond.”
Gen Petraeus landed in Kabul on Friday after his appointment was confirmed by the US Senate, and the US House of Representatives approved $33 billion (€26.3 billion) in funding for a troop surge he hopes will turn the tide of the war.
The surge will bring to 150,000 the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan just as a new strategy takes root. It entails tackling the Taliban in the south while relying on the government to simultaneously improve local governance and development.
“We must demonstrate to the Afghan people and to the world that al-Qaeda and its network of extremist allies will not be allowed to once again establish sanctuaries in Afghanistan,” he said, calling again for unity between the government and international forces.
Gen Petraeus accepted Isaf and US command flags under tight security. He was watched over by rooftop snipers as several top commanders arrived in a convoy of helicopters for a mostly low-key ceremony held on America’s Independence Day.
His appointment could be a last throw of the dice for Washington to end an increasingly costly conflict that is draining western budgets as western states emerge from one of the worst global recessions in history.
Nearly 1,900 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan since the Taliban was overthrown in 2001, including more than 100 last month, the deadliest since the war began.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s main opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, said the Pakistani government should negotiate with Taliban militants to ease the security crisis.
Mr Sharif was speaking two days after suicide bombers killed 42 people at a Sufi shrine in Lahore. – (Reuters, PA)