Newswire21.org

Gen. David Petraeus believes the war in Afghanistan can still succeed, though he admitted the outcome may be "good enough" and not an outright victory.

Petraeus, who led the US surge in Iraq, offered a generally upbeat assessment of the war in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press."   It was his first major interview since he took over the Afghanistan campaign from Gen. Stanley McChrystal earlier this summer, and he used it to shore up the arguments for continued US involvement in the 9-year-old conflict.

"We're here so that Afghanistan does not once again become a sanctuary for transnational extremists the way it was when al-Qaida planned the 9/11 attacks in the Kandahar area," he said during the interview. At another point, he said: "This isn't to say there's any kind of objective of turning Afghanistan into Switzerland in three-to-five years or less. Afghan good enough is good enough."

That means traditional Afghan social institutions, including justice councils based on Islamic law, may be the foundation of the country - not a Western-style Democratic society, Petraeus said.

The general noted the US buildup is still underway and repeated past warnings that higher rates of casualties lie ahead. A total of 66 Americans died in the increasingly unpopular war during July, making it the deadliest month in the conflict.

Petraeus said Afghan forces will eventually take on more of the fight, but suggested US troops may maintain a presence in the country over the longer term.

He also expressed a rather tentative acceptance of Hamid Karzai's presidency, noting Karzai had been elected by his people at the leader of a sovereign country. Asked about widespread corruption in the Afghan government, he diplomatically noted that the number of arrests and convictions for corruption is rising.

Overall, the general maintained a positive tone about the war and the potential for success for allied forces, even while noting a rising tide of militants.

“Clearly the enemy is fighting back, sees this as a very pivotal moment, believes that all he has to do is outlast us through this fighting season,” Petraeus said. “That is just not the case.”

Petraeus said long-planned strategies are just now in place and he suggested the US-led coalition was poised to launch a major campaign against factions of the Taliban and al Qaeda.

“For the first time, at the end of August, sometime in September, we will have the inputs about right,” he said. “We will have what we have been working to put in place for the last year and a half on the ground and operating.”