Petraeus Says Afghan Raids on Rebels Exceed Iraq Pace
U.S. Army General David Petraeus
Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
U.S. Army General David Petraeus said special operations have increased in the past week or two “in part because of some key detainees who have been very helpful with what they’ve provided about their organizations.”
U.S. Army General David Petraeus said special operations have increased in the past week or two “in part because of some key detainees who have been very helpful with what they’ve provided about their organizations.” Photographer: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
U.S. Army General David Petraeus, the top coalition commander in Afghanistan, said special forces operations against militants there are about four times more frequent than at the peak of the Iraq War.
“We are at the absolutely highest operational tempo,” said Petraeus, who replaced General Stanley McChrystal as commander of the U.S.- and NATO-led forces in Afghanistan two months ago. Operations have climbed in the past two weeks, he said.
In the past 24 hours, eight raids netted three targeted individuals and may have nabbed four more still to be confirmed, Petraeus told reporters traveling with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen in the Afghan capital, Kabul, today.
Special units, which draw on intelligence to target and capture or kill militant leaders, conducted 4,002 missions in Afghanistan during the three months ended Aug. 30, an average of more than 40 a day. At the height of the “surge” of troops in Iraq, forces conducted about 10 a day, Petraeus said.
The coalition of 47 nations is counting on the strikes to persuade more Taliban and other militants linked with al-Qaeda to give up the fight and speed a handover to Afghan control. The missions supplement fighting by regular forces to secure territory and re-establish civilian control as the last of a planned increase of foreign troops arrive in the conflict zone.
‘Deliberate’ Campaign
“There are certain locations that we’ve been surprised to see what’s been achieved, and then there clearly are some other areas where we’re not as far along as we expected,” Petraeus said. “The truth is that’s about standard for any one of these kinds of deliberate campaigns.”
Petraeus indicated that military pressure on the insurgents may now be sufficient for nascent reconciliation talks. Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have said the opponents aren’t yet under enough strain to give the coalition the upper hand in negotiations.
“There have been some very high-level contacts,” Petraeus said, adding that, while the U.S. hasn’t participated in meetings, it knows what’s going on. “There’s a reason that people sought those contacts.”
Special operations have increased in the past week or two “in part because of some key detainees who have been very helpful with what they’ve provided about their organizations,” the commander said.
Uzbek Militant
In the most recent 24-hour period, one of the targeted individuals was killed and the others were detained.
The operations at times prompt protests by local or higher- level Afghan officials. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he will investigate allegations that a candidate for parliamentary elections scheduled for this month was struck in an attack yesterday morning in the northern province of Takhar.
Petraeus said the air strike killed Mohammed Amin, the most senior Afghan member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The coalition also believes a “fairly senior Taliban leader” was killed in the same strike.
“We’re sorting out with the Afghan government who else may have been injured,” the commander said. “But the strike hit precisely the vehicle that he was in.”
Biggest Breakthroughs
The biggest breakthroughs in recent weeks involve the Haqqani network and the Taliban in the southern part of the country, Petraeus said. The U.S. is leading a gradual offensive to retake control from the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar.
Petraeus cited a “failed operation” by the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, linked with the Taliban, in which 31 assailants were killed and five more wounded.
“The leader of the operation was killed as he tried to drive back to Pakistan,” Petraeus said. “Two more ground-force commanders were subsequently detained in the next 24 hours.”
Petraeus, who most recently served as commander of U.S. forces in the broader Middle East and Central Asia, said the stepped-up pace of such missions is possible because he and McChrystal tripled the number of troops and support personnel such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance specialists. They also added helicopters and other aircraft used in the strikes.
The special-mission units are made up of forces from the U.S. and other coalition nations as well as Afghans who sometimes participate in the strikes and at other times coordinate with their foreign partners.
Training Afghans
Training of Afghan soldiers and police officers has increased and improved this year, said Lieutenant General William Caldwell, the commander in charge of training Afghan forces.
The Afghan National Police has about 109,000 officers trained and the army has 134,000 personnel, ahead of goals that had been set for October. The coalition plans to have a total of 304,000 in the two forces by late next year.
With the Afghan ministries of defense and interior, the U.S. and its partners have improved recruitment and retention, overhauled the content of training, set standards and increased pay to professionalize the forces. They’ve also offered basic necessary services from literacy courses to eye exams, Caldwell said.
“The units that are going out today are superior to anything that went out before,” he said.
Still, the pressure is on and attrition remains high.
To meet the goals for the size of the forces as set for next year, the coalition and new Afghan trainers will have to produce as many soldiers and police officers in the next year as it did in the past eight years, Caldwell said.
“The larger the force, the more attrition you have,” he said. “Our mission is not one that’s done by next October. It’s one that takes time.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Viola Gienger in Kabul via vgienger@bloomberg.net
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