Afghan violence, turmoil to rise

US: Violence in Afghanistan will likely climb in the short-term, along with internal government turmoil, U.S. General David Petraeus told Congress on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to reserve judgment for a full year on President Barack Obama’s new war strategy.

Petraeus, who as head of US Central Command is in charge of drawing down forces in Iraq and overseeing a new surge of 30,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said he expected increased fighting in Afghanistan in the spring and the summer.

He also said the Afghan government’s expected moves to combat corruption likely would result in “greater turmoil within the government as malign actors are identified and replaced.”

“It will be important, therefore, to withhold judgment on the success or failure of the strategy in Afghanistan until next December, as the president has counseled,” Petraeus said.

Petraeus, who in his previous role as the top Iraq commanderxsurge of forces in 2007 that was credited with helping pull that country back from the brink, cautioned that progress in Afghanistan would not be as quick as in Iraq. “Achieving progress in Afghanistan will be hard and the progress there likely will be slower in developing than was the progress achieved in Iraq,” Petraeus said. Washington, Thursday, Reuters