David+H.+Petraeus,+Central+Intelligence+Agency+Director

Home Small Wars Project Just Wars Essays Perspective Assignment Perspective on Afghanistan

David H. Petraeus Created By - Annie T. || This is General Petraeus with an Afghan army commander trying to come to an agreement, this is one of Petraeus's primary concerns ||
 * General Petraeus
 * General David Petraeus is “currently commanding forces in Afghanistan…he has commanded American forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan during key transitional periods.” (Tapper, Gen. David Petraeus Will Take Helm of CIA After Leon Panetta Moves to Pentagon). President Obama liked him enough that he asked him to move up to being in charge of the CIA. This position was held by (now) former CIA director Leon Panetta, and he was moved into the job of Defense Secretary. In order to jump positions like this, Congress was required to approve of it and after little deliberation they granted the men permission. **

Petraeus has always had an interest in war. He joined the military during the Vietnam War and has been involved ever since. He believes that the U.S. presence in Afghanistan is very important to our national-security. “…there is no question about why we went to Afghanistan. It’s because of 9/11. The attacks, of course, were planed in the al-Qaida camps that were in Afghanistan at the time that the Taliban controlled the majority of the country…We went there because of those attacks” (O’Hanlon, A Conversation on Afghanistan with General Petraeus). He believes that the United State’s main objective in Afghanistan should be to “ensure that Afghanistan does not once again become a sanctuary for al-Qaida or some other would-be transnational extremists” (O’Hanlon, A Conversation on Afghanistan with General Petraeus). Petraeus’s role in the war in Afghanistan is important to him because each of the decisions he makes effects everyone fighting in the war and even American citizens themselves. His job relies on whether these decisions pan out well and benefit the U.S. Because he has such a huge role in the war, his life has become chaotic with the constant traveling from the United States to Afghanistan and meetings with high officials. If the United States left Afghanistan all of the sudden, he could be out of a job. However since there are controversies with countries other than Afghanistan, he would most likely be placed in control of monitoring military efforts in those countries. = If General Petraeus was asked when the United States should leave Afghanistan, he would most likely say, “as soon as we are sure that they are not a threat to our national-security and can stand on their own.” Petraeus isn’t interested in wasting the United States time and money in Afghanistan. He just wants to make sure that once we leave, we won’t have to go back because of something we did not fix or ignored. Petraeus definitely wants to pull out the troops soon so that they can go to another area that needs our attention, but not until we are sure that Afghanistan is stable. =

Works cited:

[|http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/general-david-petraeus-cia-leon-panetta-pentagon-major/story?id=13470031#.Tw9K3mAZzBN]

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