Afghanistan expressed regret Thursday at the removal of the US commander credited with reducing civilian casualties in the war against the Taliban but said it did not expect the shake-up to bring strategic changes. US President Barack Obama recalled General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and replaced him Wednesday with McChrystal's boss General David Petraeus, architect of the Iraq war turnaround. McChrystal resigned after comments, mostly attributed to aides, appeared in a magazine profile that criticized some of Obama's closest advisers. The profile portrayed him as a derring-do soldier sometimes exasperated by politicians. “We wish he hadn't gone, but this is America's internal issue,” said General Zaher Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry. “We expect him to follow McChrystal's assessment, which has reduced civilian casualties, brought down arrests and house searches and involved coordination on operations,” he said. The war has reached a critical stage in Afghanistan, despite the presence of around 150,000 foreign troops, with the Taliban at their strongest since being overthrown in 2001. The Taliban said Obama had sacked McChrystal in order to shift blame for policy failures. “Obama's strategy is a failure but he is tricky by washing his hands on McChrystal in order to maintain his own image and that of his party in America and the world,” a spokesman said in a statement. Afghanistan's conflict cannot be resolved by a shake-up of generals, the statement said, adding Petraeus was not as smart as McChrystal and even questioning his physical strength, noting his collapse during a congressional hearing last week. McChrystal's counter-insurgency strategy aims to take on the Taliban where they are strongest, in their Kandahar spiritual homeland in the south, and boost security simultaneously with a push for improved civilian governance and development. Petraeus, as commander of US forces in Iraq, was widely credited with turning the tide there with a similar strategy when sectarian violence verged on civil war. While he has a strong following on Capitol Hill and swift Senate confirmation is expected, a key first task will be forging a good relationship with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.The Afghan president expressed regret at McChrystal's departure, a spokesman said. “We had hoped this would not have happened, but the decision has been made and we respect it,” said spokesman Waheed Omer. “He looks forward to working with his replacement.”
