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KABUL: Top NATO commander in Afghanistan Gen David Petraeus said on Tuesday that he shared Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s concerns about threats from across the border in Pakistan, but added that Pakistanis deserved credit for waging an “impressive counterinsurgency campaign” during the past 18 months.
“Given the very clear linkage between attacks on the Afghan soil by individuals who have come from Pakistan and are commanded and controlled from Pakistan, I think President Karzai has very legitimate concerns,” Petraeus said, referring to growing calls by the Afghan government in recent days about the need to destroy Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan.
However, Petraeus added that the Pakistani government had continued to “squeeze the locations in which these individuals have safe sanctuary, recognising that more work needs to be done”.
In a wide-ranging interview, Petraeus also said that Karzai’s efforts to reconcile with top Taliban leaders are “beyond the surface, but they are certainly in the early stages”.
He said he was seeking clarification on blunt criticism from Afghan government officials, but did not think the comments reflected diminished Afghan support for his counterinsurgency strategy.
“Over time, I think it is very understandable - as was the case in Iraq as well - to see our host nation partners want to take the lead, want to be more prominent,” he said.
Taliban footprint: He also acknowledged that the Taliban were expanding their footprint across the country even as international forces close in on their traditional southern strongholds.
Petraeus said a sharp rise in attacks on foreign troops showed the Taliban were feeling threatened, but said there needed to be political as well as military action to wipe out the “industrial-strength insurgency”.
Petraeus said that Taliban guerrillas still retained the initiative in some parts of Afghanistan despite recent successes by coalition forces. Petraeus said NATO forces had reversed some of the gains the Taliban had made in recent years in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar and around Kabul.
He said the insurgents were fighting to take back the market town of Marjah in Helmand province. agencies
“Given the very clear linkage between attacks on the Afghan soil by individuals who have come from Pakistan and are commanded and controlled from Pakistan, I think President Karzai has very legitimate concerns,” Petraeus said, referring to growing calls by the Afghan government in recent days about the need to destroy Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan.
However, Petraeus added that the Pakistani government had continued to “squeeze the locations in which these individuals have safe sanctuary, recognising that more work needs to be done”.
In a wide-ranging interview, Petraeus also said that Karzai’s efforts to reconcile with top Taliban leaders are “beyond the surface, but they are certainly in the early stages”.
He said he was seeking clarification on blunt criticism from Afghan government officials, but did not think the comments reflected diminished Afghan support for his counterinsurgency strategy.
“Over time, I think it is very understandable - as was the case in Iraq as well - to see our host nation partners want to take the lead, want to be more prominent,” he said.
Taliban footprint: He also acknowledged that the Taliban were expanding their footprint across the country even as international forces close in on their traditional southern strongholds.
Petraeus said a sharp rise in attacks on foreign troops showed the Taliban were feeling threatened, but said there needed to be political as well as military action to wipe out the “industrial-strength insurgency”.
Petraeus said that Taliban guerrillas still retained the initiative in some parts of Afghanistan despite recent successes by coalition forces. Petraeus said NATO forces had reversed some of the gains the Taliban had made in recent years in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar and around Kabul.
He said the insurgents were fighting to take back the market town of Marjah in Helmand province. agencies