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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, whose signature counterinsurgency strategy has yet to deliver a safer Afghanistan and push the Taliban to reconcile with the country's Western-allied government, handed over command of international forces here on Monday.

      As he heads for his new job as director of the CIA, he
relinquished his post to Marine Gen. John Allen, known for helping
turn Sunni insurgents against al-Qaida in Iraq. Allen will be
tasked with the overseeing the start of the American troop
withdrawal from the country after a decade-long war.

      Allen, who was promoted to a fourth star as he took command of
about 130,000 U.S. and NATO troops, has said he supports President
Barack Obama's plan to withdraw a third of the U.S. forces in
Afghanistan by next year. But Allen told a Senate hearing last
month that the schedule set by Obama was more aggressive than the
military had anticipated. Obama did not set a minimum number of
troops to be pulled out this month, but required only that 10,000
be gone by the end of the year and that another 23,000 be back home
by September 2012.

      Allen said the drawdown of U.S. forces that started earlier this
month and the transition of some areas to Afghan control this week
does not mean that international forces are easing up in their
campaign to defeat the Taliban insurgency.

      "It is my intention to maintain the momentum of the campaign,"
Allen said at the handover ceremony in the Afghan capital. He
acknowledged, however, that the fight won't be easy.

      "There will be tough days ahead. I have no illusions about the
challenges," Allen said.

      Before taking over from Petraeus, Allen had been serving as the
deputy commander at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida. He is
best known for his role in the stewardship of the Anbar Awakening -
the ultimately successful campaign by U.S. forces in western Iraq
to encourage Sunni tribesman to turn against al-Qaida and align
with American forces.

      There have been fears in Afghanistan that the U.S. decision to
draw down its forces could lead to a precipitous withdrawal of
other foreign troops. Foreign forces are expected to gradually hand
over control of Afghanistan to government forces and end their
combat role by the end of 2014.

      Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said he hoped
Petraeus' appointment to the role of CIA director will temper calls
for a quick withdrawal of U.S. forces and funding.

      "His broad intellect, his unmatched experiences and knowledge
of the ground realities will make him a counterbalance to all those
shortsighted, politically inspired isolationists and the groups of
Beltway bandits, and U.S. national security councils," Wardak
said. "Any wavering of the resolve or premature drawdown and exit
strategy will put in jeopardy all that we have achieved."

      Petraeus steps down at a time when violence has again spiked,
with insurgents carrying out attacks against high-profile Afghans -
including the assassination last week of President Hamid Karzai's
powerful half brother and the slaying of a close Karzai aid on
Sunday.

      As Petraeus departs, it is unclear whether his counterinsurgency
strategy - with an emphasis on protecting the local population and
decisive strikes against insurgents - has made Afghanistan any
safer. Violent attacks have continued, though international
military officials argue they are not as widespread or as intense
as they would have been otherwise.

      His commanders in Afghanistan have employed a strategy that
brought some success in Iraq - coupling military force with an
ambitious, troop-intensive plan to push insurgents from their
strongholds so the local government could build a system of
services and institutions to win the loyalty of the people.

      It hoped to create the necessary groundwork for a process of
reconciliation and reintegration to encourage insurgents to
re-enter Afghan society.

      But the plan has been costly, with the United States now
spending about $10 billion a month to fund the effort in
Afghanistan. Some of his detractors have argued that a more
aggressive special operations-centered counterterrorism strategy
may be more effective.

      In his farewell address, Petraeus said that despite progress
made in southern Afghanistan, there was still much work ahead for
his replacement.

      "Even as we note the hard-fought progress of the past year and
commence the transition process, we should be clear-eyed about the
challenges ahead," he said, adding that Afghan and coalition
forces "are clearly engaged in a tough fight."

      He said the campaign against the insurgents was made even more
difficult "when the enemy can exploit sanctuaries outside the
country," a parting shot at neighboring Pakistan. The military has
often accused Islamabad of not doing enough to fight insurgents
taking refuge in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas along the border.
That fight, along with America's fractured relationship with
Pakistan, will be one of Petraeus' key issues as he takes over as
director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

      "The progress you have made has not been without sacrifice.
There have been tough fights, tough losses along the way, setbacks
as well as successes," Petraeus said. He added that he was
departing "encouraged by the progress, aware of the hard work that
lies ahead and hopeful for the future."

      Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lauded
Petraeus's work but also said that "a lot of hard work, deadly
work remains before us."

      He said that during the past year under Petraeus "I have never
seen our progress more real and our prospects more encouraging."

      The insurgents, Mullen said, have "been dealt heavy blows over
the last year. They have been pushed out of sanctuaries, they have
been denied influence over local populations, they have been
hounded and hunted, their leaders killed or captured by the score,
their resources diminished and their training disrupted."

      Petraeus, who is retiring from the military, and American
officials in the U.S. have trumpeted success in reclaiming Taliban
strongholds in southern Afghanistan and training Afghan security
forces as signs that they are finally making progress toward peace
in Afghanistan. But violent attacks have continued, including a
number of high-profile assaults and assassinations in recent weeks.

      On Monday morning, a bomb killed three international service
members in the east, NATO said in a statement. It did not provide
nationalities or further details. Most of the troops in the east
are American.

      At least 37 international forces have been killed so far this
month in Afghanistan.

Gallery

Marine from Woodbury will be buried today at Fort Snelling

U.S. Gen. David Petraeus handed over command of international forces in Afghanistan today to Marine Gen. John Allen.

Gen. Petraeus hands off Afghanistan command

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