'Petraeus to create crisis in Mideast'

Gen. David Petraeus, the newly appointed commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=133140§ionid=351020403



The newly appointed top US and NATO military commander in Afghanistan Gen. David Petraeus pursues a strategy that will destabilize the Middle East region, an Iranian envoy says.

"Petraeus pursues a certain strategy that will create crisis in the [Middle East] region and will further complicate the issues," Iran's Ambassador to Afghanistan Fada-Hossein Maleki said.

Maleki noted that the former top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, had major differences with the White House officials.

"McChrystal believed that it is possible to use a combination of political and military initiatives in Afghanistan, but some White House hardliners disregarded the idea," Fars news agency quoted the Iranian envoy as saying on Friday.

Maleki also slammed the British military forces in Afghanistan over their poor function that has exacerbated situation in the war-torn country.

He noted that the UN had tasked Britain to fight narcotics in Afghanistan, but the production of the drugs has increased "forty-fold over the past eight years" in the country.

Petraeus landed in Kabul late Friday, where he is to take command of both US and NATO operations in Afghanistan.

McChrystal was effectively fired for remarks he and his aides made to a reporter for Rolling Stone about President Barack Obama and other US officials.