General Petraeus faces a daunting task in Afghanistan
GENERAL David Petraeus, who was credited with turning around the Iraq war, has taken over the responsibility of the commander of the United States-led NATO forces in war-ravaged Afghanistan following the sacking of General Stanley McChrystal for insubordination. The general lost no time in arriving in Kabul following his appointment by President Barack Obama and subsequent approval by the Senate. He has also paid a visit to Pakistan and held talks there with key figures since that country is also inextricably linked with the Afghan tangle in many ways. Afghanistan is the most intractable international crisis for the United States as Washington is directly involved with the long-running war there against the radical Islamist 'Taliban', whom the American forces toppled from power in the aftermath of 9/11. Osama Bin Laden was then living in the Afghanistan with the support and close collaboration of the Taliban government. The then president George Bush did the right thing when his administration militarily removed the Taliban from the helm in Kabul and looked for Osama Bin Laden, who mysteriously is still at large. Osama remains a kind of a mirage with conflicting news regarding his whereabouts. Some say he is already dead, but it is generally believed that he is hiding in the difficult rugged mountains on the Afghan-Pakistan border while the Americans and its allies are sparing no efforts to nab him. The search for Osama continues as he manages to remain elusive. The Talibans were in total disarray after the US-led operation and only its remnants were somewhat active in the far-flung areas especially in southern Afghanistan. However, over the years they gained strength and for the last three/four years have once again become a force to reckon with, causing considerable headache for Washington. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which has troops from NATO and other countries, has been battling the Taliban and had considerable success in recent times. However, the fact remains that the battle is far from over and the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai and his patrons the United States and its allies seem to be still a long way from the cherished objective: the total dismantling of the radical Islamic opponents. Washington has of late decided to increase its strength by another 30,000 soldiers, who have already started arriving in the country, in a bid to fully crush the resistance. This brings the total number of foreign troops in the embattled nation to nearly 1,50,000. A change of guard in the form of a new commander of the foreign troops was sudden and least expected at this critical time and this owes mainly to issues not much related with the battle scenario. General Stanley McChrystal was doing a reasonably good job in the eyes of Washington and its allies as far as the situation in the war-front was concerned. The problem came somewhat as a lightning bolt when some of his remarks in a newspaper interview were seen by the authorities in Washington as totally reprehensible and outrageous. Talking about the Afghan war, he and some of his associates referred to some of their government officials back in the United States as "clowns" and directly made disparaging comments about Vice-president Joe Biden. By connotation, President Obama himself was not also spared. This came as a big surprise to the administration for understandable reasons and not unexpectedly, he was summoned to explain the conduct. Even though the general apologised, the president could not be lenient on such a highly sensitive issue and what followed was simply the obvious. He was replaced by his senior General David Petraeus in the midst of a furore about the civilian-military authority in the Afghan war. The new commander is an Iraq-war veteran, known for his vast knowledge of counter-insurgency strategy, and many think that he will be able to discharge his new job with a great degree of efficiency. However, one must not lose sight of the fact that his predecessor was not removed for shortcomings or failures in the battlefront as such, but for objectionable remarks against the higher authorities. But this has also to be remembered that the development came somewhat as a damper to the foreign troops, particularly the Americans, since it involved political and military leadership. According to some reports, the troops in Afghanistan cannot remain fully oblivious to such a development and its fallout. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who had tremendous confidence in the ability of General McChrystal, was unhappy with the actions taken against him and this points to adverse reactions to the entire episode of the Afghan government. However, Karzai has also acknowledged that it was a case of insubordination that is unacceptable and wished the new commander success. General Petraeus certainly needs to heal the discouragement within his troops because of the abrupt removal of his predecessor, as greater cohesion is now required to fight the opponents more decisively. He has also to build solid rapport with the Afghan government as well as troops of other countries. The new commander has a mandate to finish the Afghan war as early as possible since the duration of the war is seen by many in the United States and allies, particularly Britain, as unexpectedly long and costly both in terms of loss of human lives and materials. General McChrystal was under mounting pressure to quicken completion of the task by eliminating the Talibans, who are refusing to give up and are fighting the foreign troops in their several strongholds. The deaths of foreign troops are causing a lot of anguish in their respective countries and the month of June was one of the deadliest in terms of casualties. Evidently, the US and the allies cannot afford such losses for too long even though they have to absorb the damages as well. General Petraeus is definitely conscious of the ground realities and have to make the final push, which is certainly a daunting task. He is emboldened with larger troops, but is under pressure to deliver the results. Only time will tell how far he will be successful in attaining his goals in the given precarious situation in Afghanistan.
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