Gen. David Petraeus, the most celebrated American soldier of his generation, is to leave his post as commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, The (London) Times reported Tuesday.
The Times reported that the Pentagon aims to replace Petraeus, who was appointed less than eight months ago, by the end of the year.
Sources have confirmed that the search for a new commander in Kabul is under way. It forms part of a sweeping reorganization of top American officials in Afghanistan, which the Obama administration hopes to present as proof that its strategy does not depend on the towering reputation of one man.
“General Petraeus is doing a brilliant job but he’s been going virtually non-stop since 9/11 [and] he can’t do it for ever,” Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, told The Times.
President Barack Obama and Robert Gates, the Defense Secretary, “are already thinking about that,” he said.
The reshuffle will involve the return to Washington of the top five US diplomats in Kabul, including its Ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, as well as the likely departure of Lieutenant-General David Rodriguez, deputy to Petraeus.
The changes follow the appointment this week of Marc Grossman, a career diplomat, as Obama’s new special envoy to the region with the urgent task of rescuing US-Pakistani relations after the arrest of an American diplomat who is charged with a double murder in Lahore.
Many of the moves are expected to coincide with a reduction in US troop numbers, which Obama has promised will start this summer, despite General Petraeus’s objections.
The news that the general himself would be leaving Kabul stunned close observers of US strategy, but the Pentagon insisted Tuesday it was a natural development, given the demands of running the war and Washington’s need for fresh blood in a crucial role.
“This is a heck of a demanding job,” Morrell said of General Petraeus’s central task of driving the Taliban from its strongholds in southern Afghanistan, which US commanders now claim is almost complete. “He will have to be rotated out at some point.”
Lionized as the hero of Iraq and now of Afghanistan, the general will be a natural contender to become Chairman or Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — both posts fall vacant this year.
General Petraeus has consistently ruled out running for President, but as one of the most admired US generals since Dwight D. Eisenhower he has been urged to consider an attempt for the White House since leading the successful Iraq surge in 2007.
His return to Washington this year would make possible a bid for the Republican nomination, although a former adviser told The Times: “He may find the idea flattering and even attractive, but I don’t think that sort of work really speaks to him.”