The question is always how you get the number of troops needed. They do not have to be coalition forces. We also have to expand the training program for the Afghan National Army and the national police, in particular. and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has already announced support for a significant increase in the Afghan army.
David PetraeusThere has, indeed, been very substantial progress in Iraq over the past year - violence is down by 80 percent, civilian deaths by about the same, and so on.
David PetraeusThis cannot be the United States being the air force for Shia militias, or a Shia on Sunni Arab fight.
David PetraeusFighting in cities is a totally different endeavor than obviously fighting out in the open.
David PetraeusIraq has gone from being on the brink to being on the mend, and it clearly has some big advantages.
David PetraeusPresident Obama has said that our aspirations should be realistic. We are not going to turn one of the poorest countries in the world, that was plunged into 30 years of war, into an advanced, industrialized, Western-style democracy. What we want to achieve is Afghanistan's capacity to secure and govern itself.
David Petraeus