By Alison Vekshin Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) — General David Petraeus , the top U.S. commander in the Middle East and Central Asia, said U.S. losses in Afghanistan will be “tough” and the U.S. presence there is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. These types of military offensives “are hard, and they’re hard all the time,” Petraeus, 57, said today in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. “We’re there for a very, very important reason and we can’t forget that,” Petraeus, who heads U.S. Central Command , said. “We’re in Afghanistan to ensure that it cannot once again be a sanctuary for the kind of attacks that were carried out on 9/11.” An offensive by 15,000 Afghan and NATO troops, including U.S. Marines and Afghan and British forces, in southern Afghanistan is seeking to wipe out a Taliban stronghold whose opium crop has helped fund the guerrilla movement. It is the biggest operation against the Taliban since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 attacks. While the Taliban forces are “a bit disjointed,” they are “formidable,” Petraeus said. “There’s still fighting going on, without question.” At least 13 NATO troops, one Afghan soldier, 16 civilians and about 120 insurgents have been killed during the fighting, according to news reports including the Associated Press and Voice of America. Petraeus said the joint Afghan-North Atlantic Treaty Organization operation in southern Afghanistan is the first step in a 12- to 18-month campaign. He called the battle in Marjah, a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan’s Helmand province and one of the country’s biggest opium-producing areas, “the initial salvo.” Major Combat Test The offensive is the first major combat test of President Barack Obama ’s Afghan policy of sending in reinforcements to reverse Taliban territorial gains, protect civilians and train Afghan forces to start taking over parts of the country in July 2011. The next stage will be to “roll eastwards into Kandahar,” British Major General Nick Carter, the top coalition commander for the area, said Feb. 18. More U.S. and other troops are scheduled to come into Afghanistan from March onward as part of the surge, and additional Afghan security forces coming available every week will aid that next push. The Taliban and “other extremist elements” are fighting back in Marjah, Petraeus said today, comparing the offensive with the U.S. troop surge in Iraq. The al-Qaeda terrorist network is a “thinking and adaptive enemy” and the U.S. has to maintain pressure on it everywhere, Petraeus said. “This is an enemy that is looking for any opportunity to attack our partners and, indeed, our homeland,” Petraeus said. Nuclear-Armed Iran A nuclear-armed Iran is “certainly a ways off,” Petraeus said. The U.S., its European allies and United Nations inspectors suspect Iran is using its uranium enrichment program to build a nuclear bomb. The U.S. wants more UN sanctions aimed at halting the program, which Iran, with the world’s second-biggest oil and natural gas reserves, says is for peaceful uses such as power generation. After a year of trying to handle the issue diplomatically by engaging Iranian officials, the U.S. and other countries will pursue a “pressure track” to express concerns about its nuclear activities, Petraeus said. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Petraeus declined to respond to a question on whether he supports repealing the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows gays to serve as long as they don’t reveal their sexual orientation. He said he would answer the question when he testifies before Congress “if asked at that time.” Petraeus said he’s “not sure” whether U.S. troops care about the sexual orientation of their colleagues, and he supports the Defense Department’s plan to review the policy. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell , 72, rejected claims by former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney that Obama has made the U.S. less safe. “The nation is still at risk,” Powell said today on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “But to suggest that somehow we have become much less safer because of the actions of the administration, I don’t think that’s borne out by the facts.” — With assistance from Viola Gienger in Washington and Eltaf Najafizada in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. Editors: Ann Hughey , Joe Sabo . To contact the reporter on this story: Alison Vekshin in Washington at avekshin@bloomberg.net
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General Petraeus Says U.S. Combat Losses in Afghanistan Will Be `Tough’
