Petraeus on Afghanistan and Iraq

Everyone's favorite general, David Petraeus of CENTCOM (formerly commander of U.S. forces in Iraq), has written a letter to the soldiers under his command - his first since he assumed control of CENTCOM in October - in which he outlines some of the challenges facing his area of responsibility, which includes Afghanistan and Iraq. While acknowledging progress made in both countries and referencing upcoming troop reductions in Iraq, Petraeus was cautious in his assessment and listed a number of remaining challenges. His evaluation of Afghanistan was particularly blunt:

"The Taliban and other elements that make up the extremist "syndicate," aided by groups operating from sanctuaries outside Afghanistan, have significantly increased the levels of violence in Afghanistan and contested control of important areas in the country. Slowly-developing Afghan governmental institutions have been challenged by the security situation and have yet to achieve the necessary levels of competence, integrity, capacity, and legitimacy."

The first of these two sentences is a reference to Pakistani support for the Taliban (see recent post on Thomas Barfield), while the second is an allusion to the growing consensus among U.S. and international observers (the Afghans have known it for a long time) that the Karzai government, tainted with corruption, incompetence, and links to the drug trade, has ceased to be a credible partner in the effort to rebuild the country. President-elect Obama's apparent willingness to place greater conditionality on U.S. foreign assistance, which I referenced in a previous post, could begin to shift this dynamic. The NYT is reporting that Petraeus's letter is expected to be followed by the release of a more comprehensive report, currently being researched, in February.