![]() "I am concerned that levels of funding for our State Department and USAID partners will not sufficiently enable them to build on the hard-fought security achievements of our men and women in uniform," he said. However, he warned that the successes so far were "fragile and reversible" and that adequate funding was necessary to avoid jeopardising military gains to date. In other words - if the US can succeed in Afghanistan, it will change the regional security equation throughout South Asia in its favour. US success in Afghanistan, she said, would be a "calculus-changing event" among actors in the region who "have been hedging". Next to Gen Petraeus sat Michele Flournoy, Under Secretary of Defense. In the face of such pronounced public scepticism, the American military establishment still sees the stakes as very high. And yet nearly two-thirds of Americans - according to the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll - see the war as "not worth fighting". Plans to begin the handover to the Afghan security forces this summer, and to complete it by the end of 2014, are on track.Īs always his demeanour was calm, his attention to detail remarkable. His message to the Senate Armed Services Committee: events in Afghanistan are slowly turning in favour of the US, its allies, and the Kabul government. Gen David Petraeus is reprising his role as saviour of troubled expeditionary wars. "We believe that we will be able to build on the momentum achieved in 2010, though that clearly will entail additional tough fighting," he said. He said he was optimistic about the course of the fight going forward, after the coalition's recent military successes. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen Petraeus said that the Taliban's momentum "has been arrested in much of the country and reversed in a number of important areas". Gen Petraeus took over command of US forces in Afghanistan after Gen Stanley McChrystal was asked to step down in June 2010. US forces in Afghanistan number 97,000, alongside 45,000 from Nato allies. He said progress so far meant officials could recommend shifting some control to the Afghan forces in the spring. Gen David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, was giving his first formal assessment to Congress since taking over the role last June. The US commander in Afghanistan has said the Taliban's momentum has been halted in key areas, keeping the US on course to start withdrawing in July. Battleground Kunduz: The city the Taliban seized.
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