The Commander of the U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus, said the U.S. has long been considering Egypt as an important strategic partner. After being welcomed by President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo yesterday, he said all members of the U.S. Armed Forces appreciate the strong military cooperation between the two countries, describing his talks with President Mubarak as constructive and important.
He added that the talks focused on the current regional security issues including the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran as well as ways to fight piracy and the smuggling of weapons to extremist violent organizations.
Petraeus stressed that cooperation with Egypt and other countries in the region helps to push forward the common goals of peace and security in the region. He also said Washington looks forward to boosting its relations with Cairo over the next few years and working with it to solve a wide range of issues of common concern. Petraeus was asked about the possibility that the United States may adopt a new military policy in the Middle East, especially in light of the current instability in Iran after the Iranian presidential elections. He said the U.S. is continuing to follow the developments in Iran and referred to a conference hosted by Washington last week in which some issues were discussed. On top of these issues came building regional security through various programs, such as facing piracy in the seas as well as carrying out sea and air military exercises, programs to exchange military student missions and programs with Egypt and the Arab countries such as producing tanks. Petraeus touched on Iran's role in Iraq, pointing out that Iran has continued to arm, finance and train the operations of some extremist elements inside Iraq to bring about security problems there. He said it is possible to achieve Iraq's hopes to have constructive relations with Iran over time, based on mutual respect and respect for the other's sovereignty rather than a relation in which one party harms the other's security. He was then asked about what U.S. forces have achieved in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan since it waged its war on terror in 2001. With regard to Iraq, the U.S. Commander said few attacks (between 10 and 15) have taken place over the past six months. He said this is a relative decline compared to the previous rate, as 60 to 100 acts of violence took place in a period of 19 months.
He added that in spite of the declining levels of violence, there are still tough security and political challenges as well as social and financial issues to be solved. However, he said he was confident Iraqi security forces would be able to live up to their tasks and responsibilities. As for Afghanistan, Petraeus explained that the security situation there has been deteriorating over the past two years, noting that 10% of the country has been the scene of 7% of the acts of violence, due to the operations launched by the Taliban and other organizations linked to extremist elements in the tribal areas. He then affirmed that the U.S. is doubling the number of its troops on the ground, the number of civilian experts there as well as NATO forces operating in Afghanistan.
