The Hill News

Gen. David Petraeus said Tuesday that the concerns recently voiced by Afghan leaders about threats from Pakistan are legitimate.

He was quick, however, to credit Pakistani leaders for their "impressive counterinsurgency campaign" over the last 18 months. 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his government have increasingly criticized the U.S. for a lack of focus on Pakistan, where several Taliban and al Qaeda groups are known to thrive, and have urged coalition forces to shift their attention across the border and away from rooting out fighters in Afghan villages.

Karzai's national security adviser, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, recently called Pakistan the extremists' "main mentor," and said that Afghans are no longer willing to "pay the pric! e for the international community's miscalculation and naivete."

Petraeus told The Associated Press that he understood Afghans' unease. 

"Given the very clear linkage between attacks on Afghan soil by individuals who have come from Pakistan and are commanded and controlled from Pakistan, I think President Karzai and Dr. Spanta have very legitimate concerns," Petraeus said.

He went on to defend Pakistan's push to "squeeze the locations in which these individuals have safe-haven sanctuary," and said that leaders recognize "more work needs to be done."

In another interview Tuesday with NATO TV in Brussels, Petraeus was careful to admit that in spite of U.S. progress, Taliban fighters still retain energy in some areas of Afghanistan.

"I would not say we have reversed the momentum in all areas by any means," he said. "In some we have reverse! d it, in some we have blunted it, in some perhaps the Taliban ! are stil l trying to expand."