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KABUL — U.S. military commanders seeking more troops and better equipment for the fight in Afghanistan were making their case at the top Tuesday, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates got a firsthand look at a war that has not gone as planned.
Gates says he wants more money next year to pay for better surveillance technology and equipment to hunt insurgents in Afghanistan and networks that plant roadside bombs. He was also seeing Afghan government officials, including U.S.-backed president Hamid Karzai.
Earlier Tuesday, Gates saw off Gen. David Petraeus, whose strategy for countering the Iraq insurgency is credited by many with rescuing the country from all-out civil war. Petraeus stepped aside Tuesday for larger duties running both the apparently ebbing Iraq war and the increasingly deadly conflict in Afghanistan.
More U.S. forces have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year than in all of 2007 as a resurgent Taliban-led insurgency adopted bolder and often deadlier tactics. U.S. officials say the insurgency cannot win a conventional war, but its persistence has left U.S. and NATO leaders seeking reinforcements and eroded the credibility of Afghanistan's fragile elected government.
A new report shows a 40 percent rise in the number of Afghan civilians killed in militant attacks and in airstrikes by foreign troops this year. The United Nations report counts more than 1,400 Afghan deaths so far this year. The U.N. tally finds more civilians died in Afghanistan last month than in any month since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.
The report says 800 of the deaths were caused by Taliban and other militants, while U.S. or NATO airstrikes caused 395 deaths, two-thirds of the casualties inflicted by pro-government forces.
Petraeus' next assignment will be commander of U.S. Central Command, with broader responsibilities. From his headquarters in Tampa, Fla., he will oversee U.S. military involvement throughout the Middle East, including Iraq, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Central Asian nations. He takes up that post in late October.
On Tuesday, meanwhile, Gen. Ray Odierno became the top American commander of the conflict in Iraq. At a traditional change-of-command ceremony attended by top Iraqi and American military and civilian officials, Petraeus said Odierno's skills and experience make him "the perfect man for the job."
With Gates presiding at the ceremony in a cavernous rotunda of a former Saddam Hussein palace outside Baghdad, Petraeus handed over the flag of his command, known as Multinational Force Iraq, to Odierno and then bade farewell.
Petraeus said the insurgents and militia extremists who have created such chaos in Iraq over the past five years are now weakened but not yet fully defeated. He noted that before he took the assignment in February 2007 he had described the situation as "hard but not hopeless."
He thanked his troops for having "turned 'hard but not hopeless' into still hard but hopeful."
Despite the security gains, insurgents retain the ability to carry out devastating attacks. On Monday evening, a female suicide bomber blew herself up among a group of police officers northeast of Baghdad, killing at least 22 people. Hours earlier, car bombs in the capital killed 13 people.
Because of Odierno's extensive previous experience in Iraq, he is generally expected to be able to continue building on the gains made under Petraeus' command, although an evolving set of difficult challenges face him here and in Washington, where he will soon have a new commander in chief.
A major part of Odierno's job will involve working with Iraqi political leaders, in tandem with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. In that role Odierno may call on his experiences in 2004-05 as assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when he was the Pentagon's liaison to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and frequently traveled abroad with her.
Odierno commanded the 4th Infantry Division during the opening months of the war in 2003. He returned in December 2006, at perhaps the darkest hour for the American-led enterprise, to be the No. 2 commander under Petraeus. He finished that tour in February 2008.
When he arrived in Baghdad on Saturday, Odierno recalled that after accepting the handover from Petraeus, "I felt like I had never left, but I also felt like I was coming back to my second home."
Also addressing the ceremony was Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said Iraq had become a "vastly different place" during Petraeus' tenure.
"In more places and on more faces we see hope," Mullen said.
Gates recalled the perils faced by Petraeus in February 2007.
"Darkness had descended on this land," Gates said. "Merchants of chaos were gaining strength. Death was commonplace," and people around the world were wondering whether any Iraq strategy would work.
"Slowly, but inexorably, the tide began to turn," Gates said. "Our enemies took a fearsome beating they will not soon forget. Fortified by our own people and renewed commitment, the soldiers of Iraq found new courage and confidence. And the people of Iraq, resilient and emboldened, rose up to take back their country."
Injecting a bit of humor, Gates made note of what he called "one other historical achievement" for the new command team of Odierno and Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, who replaced Odierno in February as the No. 2 commander and will remain until next spring.
"Between Gen. Odierno and Lt. Gen. Austin we just might have the tallest command in American military history — about 13 feet of general by my estimate," Gates said. Each of the generals is nearly 6 feet 6 inches tall.
Odierno told the gathering that while much remains for the U.S. military to accomplish here, the Iraqis must take charge. "This struggle is theirs to win," he said.
