General David Petraeus, Commander of the US Central Command, on Tuesday refuted reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has lost confidence in the American and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces to succeed in Afghanistan.
"I do not, Senator," General Petraeus told lawmakers in response to question from Senator John McCain at a Congressional hearing.
"Well, do you agree with the comment of President Karzai's former intelligence chief that Karzai has lost confidence, in the ability of the United States and NATO to succeed in Afghanistan, General?" McCain asked.
"Again as I mentioned earlier, in fact, we just did a video teleconference, the weekly video teleconference with General McChrystal. He spent the bulk of Sunday with President Karzai, in the process of conducting the shura council, in Kandahar, going to and from with him as well," Petraeus said.
"In that process, there was certainly no sense on General McChrystal's part, nor on those of the others who were with him, that there was a lack of confidence in the United States commitment to Afghanistan," he said.
Responding to another question, Petraeus said he expects conducive conditions in Afghanistan by next year so as to start drawdown of troops from the country in July 2011, as announced by US President Barack Obama in December last year.
"We are assuming that we will have those kinds of conditions that will enable that by that time in July 2011. That's the projection. And that is what again we have supported," he said.
In his opening remarks, Petraeus said the deployment of the 30,000 additional US forces announced by Obama last December and their equipment is slightly ahead of schedule.
"Nearly 21,000 of the additional 30,000, as of the latest numbers, are now in Afghanistan, and by the end of August all the additional US forces will be on the ground except for a headquarters that is not required until a month or so later," he said. Meanwhile, the efforts to increase the size and capability of the Afghan National Army and police are also now on track, though there clearly is considerable work to be done in that critical area and to sustain the gains that have been made recently in recruiting and attrition, he said.
