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Fight in Afghanistan to turn east: Petraeus
The outgoing commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan says the focus of the war will shift in coming months from Taliban strongholds in the south to the eastern border with Pakistan where insurgents closest to al-Qaeda and other militants hold sway.With a new job pending as the CIA director, General David Petraeus said on Monday that by the northern autumn, more special forces, intelligence, surveillance, air power will be concentrated in areas along Afghanistan's rugged eastern border with Pakistan. There will be substantially more Afghan boots on the ground in the east and perhaps a small number of extra coalition forces too. "There could be some small (coalition) forces that will move, but this is about shifting helicopters - lift and attack. It's about shifting close-air support. It's about shifting, above all, intelligence, surveillance and recognisance assets," he said. The US-led coalition has concentrated most of its troops and attention in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan. That's where the majority of the more than 30,000 US reinforcements were deployed last year. Posted by: tipper 2011-07-05 |
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