WASHINGTON, Jun 30 (AFP) – General David Petraeus cruised to US Senate confirmation as commander of the faltering Afghan campaign, amid deep political divisions over the war and fresh insurgent violence.
The Senate vote coincided with a new bout of national soul-searching over the war and after Taliban insurgents set off a car bomb and fired rockets at a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan.
The 99-0 vote was a rare display of unity between President Barack Obama's Democratic allies and Republican foes as both sides hoped Petraeus, credited in Washington with turning the Iraq war around, could do the same in Afghanistan.
"The Senate's quick action and General Petraeus's unrivaled experience will ensure we do not miss a beat in our strategy to break the Taliban's momentum and build Afghan capacity," Obama said in a statement.
Obama named Petraeus to the post after removing General Stanley McChrystal over a bombshell magazine interview in which the commander disparaged civilian leaders in Washington and Kabul as well as US allies.
McChrystal's swift fall from grace came at a critical crossroads in the nearly nine-year-old war, with allies growing weary, public support buckling and US officials acknowledging progress has been slower than expected.
In Afghanistan, the hardline Islamist Taliban claimed responsibilty for the brazen daylight attack on an allied outpost in Jalalabad, one of NATO's largest bases.
Several assailants were killed during the assault and two military personnel were injured, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said.
ISAF added that the assailants did not breach the base perimeter.
A total of 102 NATO troops serving in Afghanistan have been killed in June, making it the deadliest month for the alliance since the US-led invasion of 2001 that ousted the Taliban.
Petraeus, architect of the US military's "counterinsurgency" strategy, warned anxious lawmakers Tuesday that NATO-led forces face "tough fighting" ahead against the insurgency.
"Indeed, it may get more intense in the next few months," said Petraeus, arguably the most revered military officer in the United States.
Petraeus, who was due to arrive in Kabul within days, also warned it would take "a number of years" before Afghan security forces could take over for NATO-led troops, a step officials have described as a precondition for a complete withdrawal.
His confirmation vote came with the US public deeply split on the war. Some polls show most Americans believe the war is not worth fighting, and lawmakers are bitterly divided over Obama's July 2011 deadline to begin a US withdrawal.
Democratic support for the conflict has ebbed so severely that Obama needs ample Republican backing to get an emergency war spending bill through the House of Representatives in a hard-fought vote expected this week.
Amid strains between military and civilian officials, Petraeus promised senators he would strive to forge "unity of effort" with US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and White House officials, and pledged to review disputed rules restricting troops' use of firepower.
Despite the fallout from the magazine article, the Pentagon on Wednesday promised it had no plans to shun reporters and wanted to provide more regular briefings on the Afghan war.
The episode has set off an impassioned online debate about military-media relations and prompted predictions of a chilling effect for news coverage of the war and the Pentagon.
