28 Aug., 2010 - Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the International Security Assistance Force, and Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, meet with member of the Afghan press Saturday in Kabul.

By U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. LuCelia Ball
ISAF Public Affairs Office

KABUL, Afghanistan (Aug. 28) – Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, and U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the International Security Assistance Force commander, addressed Afghan media today during a media round table at the Government Media and Information Center here.

This was Petraeus’ first time addressing the Afghan media as the ISAF commander.

The ambassador opened his comments by offering well wishes during the observance of Ramadan.

“General Petraeus and I are here today to highlight our civilian-military efforts to support our Afghan partners,” said Eikenberry. “We’re committed to helping the Afghan government build a more stable, prosperous and secure country.”

“We have seen a set of very impressive successes in recent months: President Karzai’s visit to the U.S. in May, followed by the consultative Peace Jirga and the enormously successful Kabul Conference,” said Eikenberry. “Now looking ahead, we’re all focused together on the upcoming Parliamentary elections and the key test will be the satisfaction of the Afghan people with the progress that’s going to come from their hard work as they approach the elections – their incredible reputation for perseverance and their indomitable spirit.”

Petraeus also offered the Afghans best wishes during the Ramadan time of celebration.

“As you know, I intentionally did not engage the press -- Afghan and international -- during my first month and a half in Afghanistan so that I could get to know the issues and assess where things stood for myself firsthand,” he said. “We began engagement about a week ago, and it’s great to now be with all of you to discuss the partnership between civilian and military, between international and Afghan, as we seek to achieve important objectives together.”

Petraeus remarked that all of them shared a common vision and common objectives.

“[We all want] a secure, stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan -- a country that can secure and govern itself, provide for its people and ensure that it does not once again become a sanctuary for Al Qaida or other transnational extremists,” he said.

He also spoke about the effort that ISAF and U.S. forces, along with U.S. and international civilian partners, have expended.

“[We] have worked hard to get the inputs right in Afghanistan, to put in place the organizations, the leaders, the concepts, and above all, the resources needed to carry out the kind of comprehensive civil-military campaign that is needed here in Afghanistan,” said Petraeus.

During the past year and a half, U.S. Forces in Afghanistan have tripled in size, growing from approximately 30,000 to nearly 100,000 by the end of this month. U.S. civilian numbers in the country have tripled during that same time, and additional funding has been provided to enable the growth of 100,000 additional Afghan National Security Forces. Increases have also been provided by the non-U.S. troop contributing nations and also by their civilian components.

“Now we are working on capitalizing on getting the inputs right, seeking to turn them into outputs, together of course, with our Afghan partners,” he said. “And despite innumerable challenges on the security, governance and economic fronts, we have seen some important initial gains. They have been slow and uneven, but they are there in places like Helmand, where the six central districts are more secure, to be surer than they were six months ago, and where in fact, voter registration took place in Marjah this past month.”

He also spoke of a recent visit to Now Zad, in Helmand Province. The city had a population of nearly 30,000 before the Taliban presence and shrunk to nearly no people during their control.

“It now has about 10,000 people back in it; the four shops under the Taliban have expanded to 200 shops in the bazaar, and the security bubble around it has increased,” said Petraeus. “But there’s a lot more work to be done.”

The general said that the focus is now expanding and shifting more to Kandahar City and Kandahar Province, where operations have embarked in what will be a deliberate campaign over the next few months.

“Joint operations by Afghan and international forces are also increasing in the east, where the effort has focused on the Haqquani Network, which of course has some sanctuaries in north Waziristan and which has tried to carry out attacks in Kabul that have been disrupted by joint operations,” said Petraeus.

He praised the efforts of the Afghan National Security Forces in recent operations, singling out those in Kabul.

“I’m occasionally asked by journalists from outside Afghanistan, ‘when will the Afghan forces take the lead in security?’,” he said. “And I say they already have, in at least one-sixth of the country, right here in Kabul City -- a city of some five million in which the Afghan security forces have the lead in all but one of the districts -- and where they have done an impressive job most recently in ensuring security during the Kabul Conference, during the Afghan Independence Day and during a variety of other activities.” As for the coming months,the general described close work with Afghan partners in pursuit of further progress in the previously mentioned areas and also in areas in the north and northwest, where the Taliban over the course of the last year or two has created security concerns. “And we will together support our civilian partners, Afghan and international, in the efforts to enable further development in the areas of governance, basic services, economics, the rule of law and so forth,” he said. The general said he was honored to command ISAF and U.S. forces in Afghanistan during at a critical time in the country and concluded with a message to the people of Afghanistan. “The past two months in Afghanistan have reconfirmed for me the great admiration that I hold for the Afghan people, who have seen so much war but who continue to strive and work for peace; who are very industrious; who are innovative, and above all, who are extremely hard working. It’s an honor to be a part of this time in Afghan history,” he said.