Afghanistan commander set to be new head of CIA

The US Afghanistan commander General David Petraeus is to be made the new head of the CIA, security sources have said.

US President Barack Obama plans to make current CIA director Leon Panetta the defence secretary, replacing Robert Gates, and Gen Petraeus would replace him in a major reshuffle of the country’s top national security leadership.

The changes are expected to take effect this summer. Gates has already said he will leave this year, and the White House wants to schedule Senate confirmation hearings in the coming months.

President Obama is also expected to announce that Lt Gen John Allen will replace Gen Petraeus as Afghanistan commander and that diplomat Ryan Crocker will be the next US ambassador in Afghanistan.

The changes are expected to be announced today at the White House.

Gen Allen, now the deputy commander of US Central Command in Florida, is due in Washington and sources in Afghanistan said Petraeus was also headed to Washington.

US military and civilian defence leaders call 2011 the make-or-break year for turning around the war in Afghanistan and laying the path for a gradual US exit by 2015.

The main obstacles are the uncertain leadership and weak government of Hamid Karzai, the open question of whether the Taliban can be integrated into Afghan political life and the continued safe harbour Pakistan provides for militants attacking US and NATO forces over the border in Afghanistan.

The US official who confirmed Panetta’s move to the Pentagon said the White House chose him because of his long experience in Washington, including working with budgets at the intelligence agency, as well as his extensive experience in the field during his time as CIA director.

He said Panetta had travelled more than 200,000 miles, to more than 40 CIA stations and bases and more than 30 countries, including Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Gen Petraeus, who took over as Afghanistan war commander in June, has been expected to leave the post before the end of this year. His name had been floated for weeks as a possible replacement for Panetta

He claims that military advances, especially in the traditional Taliban strong-hold areas of southern Afghanistan, have blunted the Taliban-led insurgency and given the edge to the US and its NATO partners. A planned transition to Afghan security control begins this year, and the US wants to begin withdrawing some of its approximately 100,000 forces in July.

Sending Mr Crocker to Afghanistan would briefly reunite him with Gen Petraeus, re-creating the diplomatic and military “dream team” credited with rescuing the flagging American mission in Iraq.