Continued Focus in Afghanistan

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since my last blog, including trips all over the NATO world. As regular followers of both US and NATO security interests, I’m sure you already know what a busy couple of weeks it has been.

Navy Adm. James Stavridis, Gen. Dave Petraeus and NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen meet at NATO

Army Gen. Dave Petraeus took command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Sunday, the 4th of July. In his new capacity, he reports to the Secretary General, Anders Rasmussen, via my headquarters.

Given that Dave and I have a close working and personal relationship going back over a decade, this is a good partnership to which I look forward.

Just prior to taking command, General Petraeus was in Brussels to address the NATO political leadership at the North Atlantic Council (NAC).

Gen. Dave Petraeus gives briefing at NATO headquarters in Belgium.

It was good to touch base with him in person before he headed to Kabul. Secretary General Rasmussen and Chairman Di Paola met with him individually, as well. He also spent time with German General Ramms of Joint Force Command Brunssum.

As has been discussed at length in the media and beyond, General Petraeus has been heavily involved in the Afghanistan mission prior to his appointment as Commander, ISAF, and there will not be significant changes to the strategy. We continue to focus our efforts on security, development and governance of Afghanistan.

Let’s take just a moment to revisit the main goals in Afghanistan for the remainder of 2010:

We will look into the expansion of security; the performance of the Afghan national security forces and their growth, not only in terms of numbers but also in capacity; and we will look into complementary activities in terms of governance and the delivery of basic services.

These activities are aimed at creating the conditions for an eventual transition to Afghan lead. I want to emphasize again that this will be a conditions-based process and we will do what it takes to prepare our Afghan partners to take control of their own security and governance.

As I say frequently, we won’t deliver security in Afghanistan solely from the barrel of a gun. We need to do four fundamental things:

Adm. James Stavridis, Gen. Dave Petraeus, and German Gen Egon Ramms at Joint Force Command Brunssum

- Protect the people of Afghanistan
- Conduct effective strategic communication
- Balance civil and military activity
- Train the Afghan Security Forces

In addition to focusing on Afghanistan, the past few weeks have been full of meetings and important discussions with civilian and military leaders in Turkey, New York, Luxembourg, Canada and – this week – Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. I’ve been to almost 40 countries in this first year.

I’ll try to catch my breath in the next week or so and get back to you soon!

Admiral James Stavridis
Commander, U.S. European Command and
Supreme Allied Commander Europe