Petraeus: Afghan Tribes Needed to Fight Militants

U.S. Central Command Gen. David Petraeus speaks during an interview at a U.S. military base in...

U.S. Central Command Gen. David Petraeus speaks during an interview at a U.S. military base in Bagram north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008. A series of U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas in recent months has killed three of the top 20 extremist leaders there, causing a blow to insurgents threatening the nuclear-armed Pakistan's very existence, the top U.S. general in the region said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

(AP)

Afghan tribes are needed as crucial battlefield allies against the Taliban and other extremists in the same way local militias rose up to oppose insurgents in Iraq, the new military overseer of America's two wars said Thursday.

The tactic has long been endorsed by Gen. David Petraeus — the former top U.S. commander in Iraq whose outreach to Sunni sheiks helped oust al-Qaida-inspired militants from key areas and sharply decreased attacks.

But his latest comments — on his first trip to Afghanistan since taking charge of U.S. Central Command last week — appeared aimed at pressing the Afghan leadership to recognize the need for tribal militia allies at a time when violence in Afghanistan is at its highest levels since 2001.

It also reflects Washington's expected shift in military focus from Iraq to Afghanistan and the neighboring tribal areas in Pakistan, which President-elect Barack Obama has described as the main showdown against the resurgent al-Qaida, Taliban and other militants.

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"This is a country in which support of the tribes, of the local communities, for the overall effort is essential," Petraeus told The Associated Press at the massive Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. He added that Afghanistan has not had "a tradition of central government extending into the far reaches of its provinces and its districts."

Petraeus declined to discuss details of efforts — spearheaded publicly by President Hamid Karzai's government — to bring Afghan militiamen into the battle alongside Afghan forces, U.S. soldiers and other NATO-led troops.

Yet Afghanistan poses even more potential complications than the so-called Awakening Council movement in Iraq.

More than 150 major tribes range across the eastern and southern border lands with Pakistan — where the majority of the extremist attacks occur — and any military alliances with selected groups risk stirring rivalries and internal power struggles in regions outside central government control.