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Petraeus: Afghan surge not like Iraq's

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan will take longer to produce results than the surge in Iraq, the top U.S. commander in the region says.

Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, told Monday's New York Times in Tampa, Fla., that unlike the 2007 Iraq surge, which resulted in violence falling sharply within months, it would be "difficult" to predict the injection of 30,000 fresh troops into Afghanistan would produce similarly speedy results.

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"I have not assessed that Afghanistan could be turned as quickly as Iraq was turned -- that it will be difficult to assemble all the same factors that we were able to bring together in Iraq to reduce the violence as rapidly," said Petraeus, who commanded U.S.-led forces in Iraq during that surge.

Petraeus told the Times, "It will get harder before it gets easier and that will result from offensive operations intended in Helmand (province) and others to take away Taliban sanctuaries and safe havens."

The newspaper said the first Marine Corps elements of the surge announced by President Barack Obama last month have arrived in Helmand, while an Army battalion is now in the process of deploying.

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