Petraeus: Afghan 'Surge' to Target Terrorist Leaders

General, how much will be counter-terror and how much counterinsurgency?

PETRAEUS: Well, there's no question that counterterrorist operations are a component of counterinsurgency, and, in fact, those will not only continue. They will be augmented as well. You have to kill or capture the key leaders, the irreconcilables in such an endeavor.

Story, transcript, video below:

Petraeus: Afghan 'Surge' to Target Terrorist Leaders
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2009 - Tens of thousands of additional U.S. forces slated for deployment to Afghanistan will be employed to target and eliminate terrorist leaders and assist the Afghan government to better safeguard and provide a brighter future for its people, the commander of U.S. Central Command said today.

President Barack Obama last night announced the deployment of 30,000 extra U.S. forces to Afghanistan over the next several months, which would bring the total U.S. troop strength there to about 100,000.

Officials are finalizing plans as to exactly where in Afghanistan the additional troops will be deployed, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus told John D. Roberts today on CNN's "American Morning" television news program. The Afghanistan-bound troops will be deployed to secure the most important elements of the Afghan population, while also securing lines of communication and enabling the training of additional Afghan military and police so that they can eventually assume the security mission, the general said.

Concurrently, he added, counterterrorist operations against Taliban and al-Qaida operatives will be ramped up. "You have to kill or capture key leaders, the irreconcilables, in such an endeavor," Petraeus said.

Meanwhile, he added, efforts to engage and provide better security and economic opportunity for the Afghan people will be increased "so that local individuals don't have to choose sides to go with the Taliban because they're threatened or because it's the only way they can earn a living for their family."

The organization of local community defense cells also is part of the revised Afghanistan strategy, the general said.

Roberts asked Petraeus -- the architect of the successful U.S. military surge of forces that turned the tide in Iraq -- if any lessons learned from the Iraq experience might be applied during the new 'surge' into Afghanistan.

"Well, I think any time you try to apply lessons from one situation to another," Petraeus replied, "you have to be keenly aware of the differences, of the context in which those lessons will be applied."

Obama earlier this year ordered the deployment of more than 20,000 extra U.S. troops to Afghanistan, including 4,000 trainers for Afghan soldiers and police, bringing the current total number of U.S. forces there to about 68,000. Those troops provided "the kind of density to where you can carry out strategies that can capitalize on the lessons that we did bring back from Iraq," Petraeus said, including experience in population protection, community outreach, and reconciliation of former members of the insurgency.

The upcoming deployment of another 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan will be welcomed by its citizens "if we, indeed, are seen by the Afghan people to be helping them realize a better future for themselves and their families," Petraeus said.

Meanwhile, efforts to convince Taliban insurgents to make peace with the Afghan government already are bearing fruit, Petraeus said. After the recent killing of a senior Taliban commander in western Afghanistan's Herat province, for example, his fighters renounced violence and departed the insurgency, the general noted. However, he cautioned, "irreconcilables" who "never will support the new Afghanistan have to be killed, captured or run off."

Roberts asked Petraeus if reports of corruption within some elements of the Afghan governmental bureaucracy would impair the war effort there. Citing Afghan President Hamid Karzai's recent second-term inauguration address, Petraeus said the newly elected Afghan leader "had some very important language in it about tackling corruption, about government serving its people rather than preying on them."

Petraeus said he is buoyed by news of recent arrests and detentions of "certain fairly senior Afghan government officials" in the country's border forces and in some ministries.

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ROBERTS: There's mixed reaction this morning on Capitol Hill to President Obama's decision to send another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, but what about reaction from top military commanders? Can 30,000 really turn the tide, and how will the war strategy change?

Joining me now is General David Petraeus. He is the commander of the U.S. Central Command, better none at CentCom. He was also the architect of the surge strategy in Iraq. General, great to see you. Thanks for taking the time this morning.

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Good to be with you, John. Thanks.

ROBERTS: So 30,000 troops going to Afghanistan. Folks at home might say where are they going, how will they be deployed to maximize effectiveness?

PETRAEUS: Well, we're not going to lay at the operational campaign plan here this morning, but they'll be deployed to secure the most important elements of the Afghan population, the lines of communication, and enable the training and development of Afghan security forces and the Afghan authorities who need to take over more and more of their people's own needs.

ROBERTS: General, how much will be counter-terror and how much counterinsurgency?

PETRAEUS: Well, there's no question that counterterrorist operations are a component of counterinsurgency, and, in fact, those will not only continue. They will be augmented as well. You have to kill or capture the key leaders, the irreconcilables in such and endeavor.

But you also want to provide greater security for the population so that local individuals don't have to choose sides to go with the Taliban because they're so threatened or because it's the only way they can earn a living for their family.

And so there has to be outreach at local levels, community defense initiatives will be among the components of the overall comprehensive effort that will go forward.

ROBERTS: And as we mentioned, general, you were the architect of the surge strategy in Iraq, also talking about community protection, you designed that whole thing as well. How many of the lessons learned in Iraq can be applied to Afghanistan, because while there are similarities, they are also very different places?

PETRAEUS: Well I think any time you try to apply lessons from one situation to another, you have to be keenly aware of the differences, of the context in which those lessons will be applied.

And we've spent a great deal of recent months to get the kind of nuanced understanding in local areas and the additional forces that have already flown in this year have enabled us in certain of those areas to provide the kind of density to where you can carry out strategies that can capitalize on the lessons that we did bring from Iraq about securing the population, about reaching out to it, about reconciling, reintegrating the reconcilables is the term in Afghanistan, and so for.

ROBERTS: Some Democratic lawmakers, general, have made the argument that just the very presence of American forces in Afghanistan is aggravating factor, has turned the Afghan population against us, and that increasing the number of troop there's will only make the situation worse. What do you say to that argument?

PETRAEUS: Well, I'd say that it depends on our actions. If we indeed are seen by the Afghan people to be helping them realize a better future for themselves and their families, then they will welcome that. If we are helping to improve security, to make their lives better, then they will support not just us but the Afghan authorities, Afghan forces, and the new Afghanistan. But the contrary is true as well.

ROBERTS: Right. General, you mentioned the irreconcilables among the Taliban. And part of this strategy is with those who are reconcilable to try to peel them away, what I would imagine be lower level Taliban, the so-called economic Taliban, you mentioned people who are fighting just to try to put food on the table.

Can you, do you believe, in Afghanistan create a similar environment as you did in Iraq in the Sunni provinces with the so- called Sunni awakening?

ROBERTS: Well, it's different. This will be more of a village or valley awakening, we suspect. There won't be the larger tribal confederations we don't believe that we were able to achieve over time in Iraq after supporting the early, very small elements that wanted to reject in that case Al Qaeda in Iraq.

But there are already cases. Very recently a senior Taliban figure in Harat (ph) province in the west was killed. Dozens of his fighters came in from the cold, if you will, renounced violence, as the words from the president's speech last night, that we will deal with individuals willing to renounce violence.

That is how you, one of the ways in which you do, in fact, end these kinds of wars, as we saw in Iraq and as we've seen in a number of other historical case.

But make no mistake about it, there are also very clearly irreconcilables. These are never going to support the new Afghanistan, and they have to be killed, captured, or run off.

ROBERTS: Another big piece of the strategy is going to be partnering with good governance. Do you have any confidence that the Karzai government can be an effective partner in this strategy?

Tom Friedman of the "New York Times" writes in a column today, he says, quote, "How do we succeed with such a tainted government as our partner?"

PETRAEUS: Well, there's no question that that will be one of the long poles in the tent, if you will, in the way ahead. President Karzai's inaugural speech had some very important language in it about tackling corruption, about government serving its people rather than preying on them.

There have in fact in recent weeks been some arrests, detention of certain fairly senior Afghan officials in the border forces and in some of the ministries.

So our every effort will be to reinforce that, to support it, encourage it, needless to say, and then to applaud it when it takes place.

ROBERTS: General David Petraeus, CentCom commander, good to catch up with you this morning, sir. Thanks for taking the time. We sure appreciate your time.

PETRAEUS: Pleasure, John.

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