US President Barack Obama on Thursday charged his reshaped national security team with managing a “new phase” in the long war in Afghanistan — the struggle to put Afghans in charge of their own security.
Obama nominated CIA Director Leon Panetta as secretary of defense, diplomat Ryan Crocker as ambassador to Kabul and chose Lieutenant General John Allen as the new Afghan war commander.
He also announced his choice of General David Petraeus, the mastermind of US strategy in Iraq and current NATO commander in Afghanistan, to be the new director of the CIA.
Photo: Reuters
“In Afghanistan, we’re moving into a new phase, transferring responsibility for security to Afghan forces, starting to reduce American forces this summer, and building a long-term partnership with the Afghan people,” Obama said.
Although Obama did not specifically mention an eventual US withdrawal from Afghanistan, his remarks were peppered with references to “transition” hinting at a White House desire to see a smaller US footprint in the troubled nation.
Praising retiring US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Obama referred to the fact that all US troops will leave Iraq this year, and an Afghan drawdown, on which he has insisted, will begin, albeit symbolically this year.
“Today, every American must know that because he helped to responsibly wind down the war in Iraq, we’re in a better position to support our troops and manage the transition in Afghanistan,” the US president said.
He introduced his new national security team one by one with remarks laying out the scope of their respective missions.
He said Panetta, a former army officer and respected Washington power player, would carry on Gate’s reform agenda of cutting hundreds of billions of dollars of unnecessary spending.
Petraeus was the architect of the successful surge strategy in Iraq and of US counterinsurgency tactics in Afghanistan. Obama predicted he would be similarly innovative in leading US covert espionage operations at a time when CIA operations have increasing synergy with US military missions.
Obama also had warm words for Gates, who he persuaded to stay on after former US President George W. Bush’s administration and then into extending his term.
“I am confident Bob Gates will be remembered as one of the finest defense secretaries in American history, and I will always be grateful for his service,” Obama said.
Panetta, who at 72 would be the oldest man to take up the post of US defense secretary and the first Democrat in more than a decade, may be one of the few men in Washington with the credentials and political weight to succeed Gates.
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