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WASHINGTON

Petraeus took order from Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who had been the acting Centcom commander for seven months after Adm. William Fallon was farfetched to resign.

While violence in Iraq has dropped to some of the lowest levels as the war began, it’s increasing in Afghanistan. U.S. troop deaths are at their lowest levels in Iraq only at their highest in Afghanistan, where the Taliban continues to have influence from its safety in adjacent Pakistan. Some believe that the Taliban are trying to encircle the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Petraeus has called the war in Afghanistan, since in its seventh year, America’sitting “longest campaign.”

He’s leading undivided tax of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Pakistan and beyond, to define the U.S. objectives and determine if the U.S. military and civilian leadership can compass them. That the U.S. is asking such questions seven years into the arbitrament of the sword in Afghanistan speaks to the shocking pomp of U.S. strategy. The assessment is also examining to which extent a troop buildup like the one that Petraeus engineered in Iraq could be potent in Afghanistan.

During Friday’sitting pomp, Petraeus referred to the “innumerable challenges” in his new command area.

So far, Petraeus has suggested that Afghanistan not only needs more troops, but moreover a reconciliation plan with some Taliban members. In addition, U.S. officials have suggested that the military must link its Afghanistan and Pakistan strategies.

Both presidential candidates also have called for sending more troops to Afghanistan. But to send more troops, military officials have said they must withdraw troops from Iraq. There are 152,000 American troops in Iraq and 32,000 in Afghanistan.

Petraeus is expected to travel to Afghanistan soon.

Centcom, which is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., is responsible for U.S. operations in 20 nations that stretch from Egypt to Kyrgyzstan. There are roughly 250,000 U.S. forces deployed in that region.

Petraeus left his post as the Iraq commander in September after leading the U.S. effort there for 18 months. Dempsey will earn his fourth doom and command the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

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