Jul 19, 2008 9:30 am US/Central
Petraeus: Al Qaeda Rethinking Iraq As Top Hotspot
Afghanistan Seen As Reemerging Frontier In Terror Fight
BAGHDAD (AP) ―
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Senior leaders of al Qaeda may be diverting fighters from the war in Iraq to the Afghan frontier area, said Gen. David Petraeus Saturday. (File)
AP
Senior leaders of al Qaeda may be diverting fighters from the war in Iraq to the Afghan frontier area, the top American commander in Iraq told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Gen. David Petraeus also said al Qaeda may be reconsidering Iraq as its highest priority war front.
"There is some intelligence that has picked this up," he said in the interview in his office at the U.S. Embassy along the Tigris River. "It's not solid gold intelligence," he added, stressing that the reliability of the information has not been confirmed and that it does not mean al Qaeda has given up on Iraq.
Nonetheless, he cited the signs as part of a broadly positive review of conditions in Iraq, where al Qaeda fighters over the past year have been driven almost entirely from Baghdad and pummeled in other urban areas.
Petraeus said his information was based on human intelligence, meaning informants. If confirmed, it could have profound implications not only for Iraq, where terrorist and insurgent violence has been on a steep decline, but also for Afghanistan, where militants crossing the border from Pakistan are a growing threat to the government in Kabul.
"There are unsubstantiated rumors and reflections that perhaps some foreign fighters originally intended for Iraq may have gone to the FATA," he said, referring to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, where extremists have a secure staging ground for movements into neighboring Afghanistan.
Petraeus said that until now, communications from senior leaders of al Qaeda to their lieutenants in Iraq have made clear that Iraq is its highest priority for establishing an Islamic state within reach of the West.
"That could be under review," Petraeus said. The implication is that al Qaeda might be turning more attention to Afghanistan, where more than 30,000 U.S. troops are part of an international security force that has fought increasingly bloody battles over the past two years, especially in the south.
This information, while unconfirmed, parallels reports that fewer foreign fighters are joining the insurgency in Iraq.
"We do know the foreign fighter flow into Iraq has been reduced very substantially," he said.
Even if it proves true that al Qaeda is putting less effort into Iraq, Petraeus said that does not mean the terrorist network that originally was based in Afghanistan before U.S. forces invaded the country in October 2001 will give up entirely on fighting in Iraq.
"Al Qaeda very much remains a factor" in Iraq, he said.
Petraeus is due to leave his post in Baghdad in September to head U.S. Central Command, with responsibility for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan as well as Iraq. He is to be replaced in Bahgdad by Gen. Raymond Odierno, who until February had served as the No. 2 commander in Iraq.
In the AP interview, Petraeus also applauded the news Saturday that Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc has ended a nearly yearlong boycott of the Shiite-led government. During the interview, an aide rushed into his office to deliver the news, eliciting a big smile from Petraeus and instructions to pass along his congratulations.
"It's a very important step forward," he said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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