Petraeus undertakes war strategy review

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus is developing an assessment for strategy for Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and surrounding regions, military officials say.

The assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, where Petraeus will oversee military operations as the head of U.S. Central Command starting Oct. 31, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The review formally begins in November, but experts and military officials involved in the reassessment told the newspaper that Petraeus already is focusing on government-led reconciliation of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as leveraging diplomatic and economic initiatives with regional countries influential in the war.

The review comes as Petraeus, who led an effort credited with dramatically reducing violence in Iraq, faces expectations that he will find a similar way to stem escalating violence and casualties in Afghanistan, the Post said.

Petraeus, however, is trying to dampen expectations of a repeat performance, saying during a meeting with Post editors and writers the Afghanistan effort "is going to be the longest campaign of the long war."

The assessment team's mission includes other government agencies and nations in the planning to "mitigate the risk of over-militarization of efforts and the development of short-term solutions to long-term problems," the Post said.

Some experts questioned whether Petraeus will have the authority to carry out such a sweeping strategy because he "is not in charge of our diplomacy. He can't decide whether we try to form an international contacts group on Pakistan," said Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University.