Indications That General Petraeus Is Starting To Have An Influence On Afghanistan

U.S. Marines with Whiskey Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, NATO International Security Assistance Force unload gear from a truck in Garmsir, Afghanistan, on July 23, 2008. DoD photo by Cpl. Randall A. Clinton, U.S. Marine Corps. (Released)

Finalized Command Structure Changes for Afghanistan
-- Captain's Journal

Regular readers of The Captain’s Journal know that we’ve been critical of NATO. As far back as five months ago we were discussing and advocating a reorganization of NATO to report to U.S. CENTCOM, or at a minimum, removing U.S. troops from NATO command in Afghanistan. We also pointed out the red tape and utter confusion in NATO in everything from strategy to radio frequencies. As characterized by one Marine officer prior to operations in the Helmand Province, they had to “wait for the Elephants to stop dancing.”

Four months ago The Captain’s Journal continued to advocate realignment of forces, saying that “promotion of General Petraeus to Commander of CENTCOM without a realignment of U.S. troops to his direct command (they currently report to NATO command) removes the possibility for any strategic changes needed to make the campaign successful.”

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My Comment: I do not know if General Petraeus's hands are involved in these changes, but change is in the air for Afghanistan.