General Petraeus’ Afghan mission is doomed – Kabul analyst

The newly-appointed US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, is in Brussels to brief NATO officials on his plans for strategy in the conflict.

He is expected to meet Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and address the North Atlantic Council before heading to Afghanistan to take up his new role.

Russia's envoy to the alliance, Dmitry Rogozin, says it shouldn't make any real difference to the campaign.

“I don't think General Petraeus will alter McChrystal's strategy. It was outlined a long time ago and is not going to change. The replacement of the commander of the allied forces in Afghanistan has no influence on the campaign's strategy,” he told RT.

Meanwhile, a US Congress panel has cut off almost US$4 billion in aid to Afghanistan's government, after claims that corrupt officials are moving the money out of the country. Political analyst Dr Habib Hakim from Kabul doubts that the situation with corruption can be resolved quickly, because the matter is really complicated and the security situation is getting worse day by day as “Taliban insurgents are getting power in Afghanistan”.“Based on the reality in Afghanistan, I do not think that General David Petraeus can improve the security situation in Afghanistan and can defeat Taliban to restore peace and stability,” he said.

“The Taliban are confident that finally they will win the war in Afghanistan due to increase of NATO casualties in Afghanistan and due to the concern over the Afghan war in EU and inside the US,” predicted Dr Habib Hakim.

Concerning the ways to root out the Taliban, Lindsey German from the Stop the War coalition thinks there is only one solution to stop it: “allow the Afghans to decide what government they want.”

“Now they may choose the government that many people in the West do not much like. But in the end of the day there should be their rights as sovereign country,” she said.

Lindsey German also stressed that “support for the Afghan war is very weak in UK and very weak in Europe and Germany.”

“Only last week, polls showed 80 per cent want the troops out, the most recent polls in Britain showed that around three quarters of people want the troops out by the end of the year,” she added.

The war in Afghanistan is becoming more and more unpopular among people in Britain, according to German, “and they are saying ‘Why do we have 20 billion pounds to spend on this war when we do not have money on things that people might want in this country?’”