By Tobias Ellwood MP
If walls could speak, Committee Room 14 would recite an impressive list of speakers who have addressed MPs and Peers over the last few years. This week it was the turn of General David Petraeus, Centcom Commander, who addressed a packed audience, courtesy of the Henry Jackson Society, in Westminster’s largest and most famous committee room.
It was immediately apparent why this soldier is so respected and highly decorated. One expects a commanding delivery, grasp of the issues and stage presence from any four star commander but it is David Petraeus’ ability to assess and produce new, cognitive solutions, often challenging the status quo that has made this General stand apart from others and gave him licence to re-write much of the US doctrine on counter insurgency warfare. It also enables him to recognise and expedite changes to US pre-deployment training programmes which have enabled the US to leapfrog our own counter-insurgency capabilities. The respect now granted to this general has allowed him to hand pick his own team for Afghanistan, with middle and high ranking officers (many who had worked together in Iraq) plucked from other tasks around the globe to be re-united in Afghanistan.
He gave an honest and sober assessment of developments in Afghanistan; it was very refreshing to hear a voice which recognised past mistakes. Big mistakes; beginning with an enemy obsession, rather than community enabling - now pursued under General McChrystal. And a too top heavy approach towards governance which focused on Karzai and Kabul rather than local communities and district structures which remain oblivious to any decision-making in the capital.
He clarified the potential draw down of US troops, likely to peak next year, saying they would be ‘thinned out’ as appropriate, timed with the growing capabilities of the Afghan National Security forces and qualified the forthcoming ISAF focus in the Kandahar area as a rising tide of security, rather than a high profile operation recently seen in Nad Ali or Marjah.
There was praise for the British-led PRT, which has learnt some harsh lessons from its appalling start and now is seen as an effective co-ordinator of post-conflict reconstruction working with - rather than separately from - the military. General Petraeus acknowledged that in places like Helmand, the final section of pipe in the delivery of reconstruction and governance was still to be put into place; the UN which will eventually take over responsibility for co-ordinating international aid, supporting work programmes and monitoring progress, still has no representation in the province.
He made it plain that the road ahead would be tough, but alluded to the end game, a time when Afghanistan could look after itself (to Afghan rather than Western standards) security-wise and take advantage of its rich mineral and agricultural wealth, with improved movement of goods domestically and to international markets.
General Petraeus has been fortunate. His name, along with another four star, General Jim Mattis, is now synonymous with a new doctrinal approach to warfare, following Iraq. But this is thanks to the backing of a few well placed supporters in Washington DC who allowed them to dare to challenge previous conventional doctrine and re-design a counter insurgency strategy that turned a failed operation into a success.
It is fair to say within our own Armed Forces, we too have our radical thinkers, willing to challenge the status quo and think outside the box. Sadly their voices are often ignored and too many gifted one and two stars such as Brig Ed Butler and Major General Andrew Mackey have consequently left Her Majesty’s service because Whitehall refused to listen, stalling our progress in Helmand.
Afghanistan is far from a done deal, but knowing the likes of General Petraeus are at the helm bestows a wealth of confidence – if we are to improve our own offering, we need to nurture our own General Petraeus’s better. I wonder what the general might be planning to do in 2016?
