Statement of

General David H. Petraeus

on

The Posture of U.S. Central Command

Senate Armed Services Committee

March 16, 2010

Mr. Chairman, Senator McCain, members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on the situation in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Area of Responsibility and an opportunity to discuss CENTCOM’s strategy and priorities for the year ahead. 

US CENTCOM is, as you know, now in its ninth consecutive year of combat operations.  It oversees the U.S. efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq and the assistance to Pakistan, as well as a theater-wide campaign against al-Qaeda.  We are also, of course, working on numerous contingency plans.  And, we continue the effort to build partnerships throughout the area of responsibility (AOR), working in concert with our diplomatic colleagues as part of “Whole of Governments” approaches to help increase the capabilities of partner nations’ security forces.

Meanwhile, the conditions and dynamics that shape the security environment continue to evolve. 

Today, I’ll briefly discuss these developments and our ongoing missions, as well as some of the dynamics that shape activities in the CENTCOM AOR.

Afghanistan

First, Afghanistan.  As President Obama observed in announcing his new policy, “It is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.”  As he noted, these forces will provide “the resources that we need to seize the initiative, while building the Afghan capacity that can allow for a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan.”   Clearly, the challenges in Afghanistan are considerable, but success there is, as General McChrystal has observed, both important and achievable.  Our goals in Afghanistan – and in that region – are clear.  They are to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaeda and its extremist allies and to set conditions in Afghanistan to prevent reestablishment of trans-national extremist sanctuaries like the ones al-Qaeda enjoyed there prior to 9/11.  To accomplish this task, we are working with our ISAF and Afghan partners to improve security for the Afghan people, to wrest the initiative from the Taliban and other insurgent elements, to develop the Afghan Security Forces, and to support establishment of Afghan governance that is seen as legitimate in the eyes of the people. 

We spent much of the past year working to get the “inputs” right in Afghanistan:

• Establishing the structures and organizations needed to carry out a comprehensive civil-military campaign;

• Putting our best leaders in charge of those organizations;  

• Developing the right concepts to guide our operations –  a comprehensive campaign plan, the ISAF counterinsurgency guidance, and the tactical directive issued by General McChrystal;

• And providing the authorities and deploying the resources needed to achieve unity of effort and to implement the concepts that were developed.  These resources include the forces deployed in 2009 and the 30,000 additional U.S. forces currently deploying, 9,000 more forces from partner nations, additional civilian experts, and funding to enable our operations and the training and equipping of 100,000 additional Afghan Security Force members over the next year-and-a-half.  I should note that the flow of additional forces and associated equipment would not have been possible without your continued support, in general, and your support of our expeditionary military construction program, in particular.

With the “inputs” largely in place, we are now starting to see the first of the “outputs.”  Indeed, the recent offensive in central Helmand Province represented the first operation of the overall

civil-military campaign plan developed by ISAF and its civilian partners, together with Afghan civilian and security force leaders. 

Central to progress in Afghanistan will be developing the Afghan National Security Forces, an effort made possible by your sustained support of the Afghan Security Forces Fund.  Expansion of Afghanistan’s security forces is now underway in earnest in the wake of the Afghan and international community decision to authorize an additional 100,000 Afghan security force members between now and the fall of 2011.  This effort is facilitated considerably by the recent establishment of the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan, led by LTG Bill Caldwell.  And ISAF member nations are now working hard to field the additional trainers, mentors, partner elements, and transition teams to enable the considerably augmented partnering, training, and recruiting that are essential to the way ahead in this important area.

The civil-military campaign on which we have embarked in Afghanistan will unfold over the next 18 months.  And, as many of us have observed, the going is likely to get harder before it gets easier.  As we seek to expand security for the people and to take from the Taliban control of key areas, the enemy will fight back.  Moreover, we are not likely to see the kind of dramatic reduction in violence that we saw about 6 months into the surge in Iraq – in part because the levels of violence in Afghanistan are nowhere near those of Iraq at the height of the sectarian violence, though they clearly are at levels that make progress in certain areas very difficult.  In any event, 2010 will be a difficult year, a year that will see progress and a reversal of the Taliban momentum in important areas, but also a year in which there will be tough fighting and periodic setbacks.  

Pakistan

We have seen important change in Pakistan over the past year.  During that time, the Pakistani people, political leaders, and clerics united in recognizing that the most pressing threat to their country’s very existence was that posed by certain internal extremist groups – in particular, the Pakistani Taliban.  Pakistani citizens saw the Taliban’s barbaric activities, indiscriminate violence, and repressive practices in the Northwest Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and even in some of Pakistan’s so-called “settled areas.”  And they realized that the Taliban wanted to take Pakistan backward several centuries, not forward.

With the support of Pakistan’s people and leaders, the Pakistani military has carried out impressive counterinsurgency operations over the past 10 months.  The Army and the Frontier Corps have, during that time, cleared the Taliban from Swat District – which I visited three weeks ago – and from other areas of the Northwest Frontier Province, as well.  Now they are holding, building, and beginning to transition in those areas.   They have also carried out impressive operations in South Waziristan, home to the former Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the extremist elements that assassinated Benazir Bhutto and blew up thousands of innocent Pakistanis and security force members in recent years.  And they have carried out good operations in some other areas of the FATA, as well, including in Bajaur Agency.

These latter operations have been carefully coordinated with ISAF forces in Regional Command-East, and that coordination enabled RC-East elements to engage extremists who fled Pakistani operations and crossed the Durand Line into Afghanistan. 

In short, Pakistani forces have been carrying out an impressive campaign. And the Pakistani forces and people have suffered tough losses during the course of it.  We recognize the need for considerable assistance to Pakistan as they continue their operations, and we will continue to work with Congress in seeking ways to support Pakistan’s military.

Our focus has, in fact, been on supporting the Pakistani forces.  We are providing various forms of assistance, but it is the Pakistanis who are doing the fighting on the ground.  Our task – as Secretary Gates has observed – has to be to show that we are going to be a steadfast partner, that we are not going to do to Pakistan what we’ve done before – such as after “Charlie Wilson’s War” – when we provided a substantial amount of assistance and then left precipitously, leaving Pakistan to deal with a situation we’d helped create.  It is therefore important that we provide a sustained, substantial commitment.  And that is what we’re endeavoring to do, with your support.  The Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill does that by providing $1.5 billion in economic assistance per year for five years.  The provision of Coalition Support Funding, Foreign Military Financing, the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Fund, and other forms of security assistance provide further critical assistance for Pakistan’s security forces.  All together, this funding and our assistance demonstrate America’s desire to strengthen this important strategic partnership and help our Pakistani colleagues. 

Iraq

In the three years since the conduct of the surge, security in Iraq has, of course, improved significantly.  Numbers of attacks, violent civilian deaths, and high-profile attacks are all down by well over 90 percent from their highs in 2006 or 2007.  With the improvements in security has also come progress in a variety of other areas – in the repair of infrastructure damaged during the violence, in the provision of basic services, in attracting international investment, and even in various social and political areas.  The conduct of the elections on 7 March, during which an impressive turnout of Iraqi voters defied al-Qaeda attempts to intimidate them, provided the latest example of Iraq’s progress since the sectarian violence of 2006 and 2007 ripped apart the very fabric of Iraqi society. 

As always, however, the progress in Iraq is still fragile.  And it could still be reversed.  Iraq still faces innumerable challenges, and they will be evident during what will likely be a difficult process as the newly elected Council of Representatives selects the next Prime Minister, President, and Speaker of the Council and seeks agreement on other key decisions as well.

Our task in Iraq is to continue to help the Iraqi Security Forces, in part through the Iraq Security Forces Fund, as we continue to draw down our forces in a responsible manner.  This task has been guided, of course, by the policy announced by President Obama about a year ago.  Since that announcement in March 2009, we have reduced our forces in Iraq by well over 30,000 to some 97,000, and we are on track to reduce that number to 50,000 by the end of August, at which time we will also complete a change in mission that marks the transition of our forces from a combat role to advising and assisting Iraqi Security Forces. 

Rest of the AOR

As we draw down our forces in Iraq and increase our efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, we must not lose sight of other developments in the CENTCOM AOR.   I want to highlight the developments in two countries, Yemen and Iran.

In Yemen, we have seen an increase in the prominence of al-Qaeda as it exploits the country’s security, economic, and social challenges.  The threat to Yemen, to the region, and, indeed, to the U.S. homeland posed by what is now called “al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” (AQAP) has been demonstrated by suicide bombers trying to carry out operations in Yemen’s capital, by the attempt to assassinate the Assistant Minister of Interior of Saudi Arabia, and by the attempted bombing of the U.S. airliner on Christmas Day. 

In fact, a number of us have been increasingly concerned over the past 2-1/2 years by the developments we have observed in Yemen.  And last April, I approved a plan developed, in concert with our Ambassador in Yemen, US intelligence agencies, and the State Department, to expand our assistance to key security elements in Yemen.  With Yemeni President Saleh’s approval, we began executing that plan last summer, and this helped strengthen the capabilities demonstrated by the Yemeni operations that were carried out against AQAP in mid-December and that have been executed periodically since then.  And with your support, we are working toward expanded, sustained levels of assistance in Yemen.   In fact, our efforts in Yemen should be seen not just as part of our overall counter-terrorist campaign, but also as part of what might be termed “Preventive Counterinsurgency Operations” – for our efforts not only help develop key security forces in Yemen, they also contribute to the overall effort to help Yemen deal with challenges that could become much more significant if not dealt with early on.

Iran poses the major state-level threat to regional stability in the CENTCOM AOR.  Despite numerous UN Security Council Resolutions and extensive diplomatic efforts by the P5+1 and the IAEA, the Iranian regime continues its nuclear program.  Indeed, Iran is assessed by many analysts to be engaged in pursuing a nuclear weapons capability, the advent of which would destabilize the region and likely spur a regional arms race.  The Iranian regime also continues to arm, fund, train, equip, and direct proxy extremist elements in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza – and, to a lesser degree, in Afghanistan.  It continues significant intervention in the domestic politics in each of those locations, as well. 

The Iranian regime’s internal activities are also troubling as its violent suppression of opposition groups and demonstrations in the wake of last year’s hijacked elections has made a mockery of the human rights of the Iranian people and fomented further unrest.  Those internal developments have also resulted in greater reliance than ever on Iran’s security services to sustain the regime’s grip on power.

Critical Mission Enablers

Having discussed the developments in these countries, I’d now like to explain the importance of two key enablers in our ongoing missions and to raise an additional issue. 

Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP)

The Commander’s Emergency Response Program, or CERP, continues to be a vital tool for our commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Small CERP projects are often the most responsive and effective means to address a local community’s needs.  And, where security is challenged, CERP often provides the only tool to address pressing requirements. 

In the past year, we have taken a number of actions to ensure that we observe the original intent for CERP and also to ensure adequate oversight for use of this important tool.  I have, for example, withheld approval for projects over $1M at my level (and there has only been one such project since late last September).  In the past year, we’ve asked the Army Audit Agency to conduct audits of the CERP programs in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We have established guidelines for the number of projects each CERP team should oversee.  And we have coordinated with the military Services to ensure adequate training and preparation of those who will perform functions connected with CERP in theater, while we have also established procedures to take cash off the battlefield.  Beyond that, the Department of Defense is currently performing an internal assessment and undertaking additional initiatives.  

With the force increases in Afghanistan, CERP funding priority has shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan.  We pledge to continue aggressive oversight of the CERP program as this shift takes place.  In addition, we will continue to seek innovative mechanisms and authorities to allow for greater cost-sharing and to spur the development of similar counterinsurgency tools by coalition and host nation partners. 

Information Operations

In the past year, CENTCOM has pursued several initiatives to improve our capabilities in the information domain, and we have coordinated these actions closely with the State Department’s Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, Judith McHale.

This past year, we made significant headway in improving our ability to counter adversary information operations – including establishing a full-fledged Joint Information Operations (IO) Task Force in Afghanistan.  Nonetheless, we still have a long way to go, and we desperately need to build the capabilities of a regional IO Task Force to complement the operations of the Task Force that has done such impressive work in Iraq and the one that is now beginning to do the same in Afghanistan.

In the broader CENTCOM AOR, Operation Earnest Voice (OEV) is the critical program of record that resources our efforts to synchronize our Information Operations activities, to counter extremist ideology and propaganda, and to ensure that credible voices in the region are heard.  OEV provides CENTCOM with direct communication capabilities to reach regional audiences through traditional media as well as via websites and regional public affairs blogging.  In each of these efforts, we follow the admonition we practiced in Iraq, that of trying to be “first with the truth.”  Full and enduring funding of OEV and other DoD information operations efforts will, in coordination with State Department initiatives, enable us to do just that and, in so doing, to communicate critical  messages and to counter the propaganda of our adversaries. 

Activities in Cyberspace

Cyberspace has become an extension of the battlefield and we cannot allow it to be uncontested enemy territory.  Indeed, in the years ahead, extremist activities in cyberspace will undoubtedly pose increasing threats to our military and our Nation as a whole.  DOD and other elements of our government are, of course, working to come to grips with this emerging threat.  Clearly, this is an area in which we need to develop additional policies, build capabilities, and ensure adequate resources.  I suspect, in fact, that legislation will be required over time, as well. 

Within DOD, the establishment of the US Cyber Command proposed by Secretary Gates represents an essential step in the right direction.  This initiative is very important because extremist elements are very active in cyberspace:  they recruit there, they proselytize there, they coordinate attacks there, and they share tactics and techniques there.  We have to ask ourselves if this is something that we should allow to continue.  And, if not, then we have to determine how to prevent or disrupt it without impinging on free speech.  

Conclusion

There are currently over 210,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen serving in the CENTCOM AOR.  Day after day, on the ground, in the air, and at sea, these courageous and committed troopers perform difficult missions against tough enemies under the most challenging of conditions.  Together with our many civilian and Coalition partners, they have constituted the central element in our effort to promote security, stability, and prosperity in the region. 

These wonderful Americans and their fellow troopers stationed around the world constitute the most experienced, most capable military in our Nation’s history.  They and their families have made tremendous sacrifices, and nothing means more to these great Americans than the sense that those back home appreciate their service to our country.  

In view of that, and on behalf of all those serving in the CENTCOM AOR, I want to take this opportunity to thank the American people for their extraordinary support of our men and women in uniform.  And I also want to take this opportunity to thank the members of Congress for their unwavering support and abiding concern for our troopers and their families.  Thank you very much.