General Petraeus's next challenge | Petraeus's next war | The Economist

General Petraeus's next challenge | Petraeus's next war | The Economist: "Petraeus's next war

Oct 2nd 2008
From The Economist print edition
After success in Iraq, can America’s favourite general win in Afghanistan?

AFP The general plots his next squeeze

IN LESS than two years General David Petraeus has become the most admired American general of recent times. His success in overseeing America’s military surge in Iraq, reversing the country’s descent into a sectarian bloodbath, has earned him praise from both contenders in America’s presidential race. He is a “great general” in the view of John McCain, and has “done a brilliant job” according to Barack Obama. Given his intelligence, ambition and deft handling of the media, the general is talked of as a possible future president.

First, though, he has some more soldiering to do. As he has left Iraq to take over Central Command later this month, presiding over operations from Egypt to Afghanistan, his views will do much to shape the course of the “war on terror” under the next president. He faces a persistent question: can his Iraqi success be replicated in Afghanistan?

As security has improved in Iraq, it has worsened in Afghanistan. And as the surge of forces comes to an end in Iraq, there are calls for a similar one"