Afghan violence likely to rise during U.S. troop surge: general

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Violence will likely increase in Afghanistan as the United States starts to send 30,000 more troops there, a senior U.S. military leader warned Wednesday.

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command who oversees both wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, predicted increased violence in Afghanistan next spring and incoming turmoil within the Afghan government.

In addition to increased violence in the spring, the troop surge will also be met with a rise in "security incidents" next summer, he said.

Thus, any complete evaluations of the surge's progress should be held off until December 2010, said the general.

Nevertheless, he said U.S. success in Afghanistan is within reach but will be difficult to attain.

Petraeus' testimony was the latest by top U.S. officials on Capitol Hill after U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Dec. 1to deploy 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and to start pulling U.S. forces out of there in July 2011.

Stanley McChrystal, top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry testified before the Senate and House the Armed Services Committees on Tuesday.

Eikenberry and Jacob Lew, Deputy Secretary of State also testified on Wednesday.

Obama delivered a prime-time speech to the nation on Dec. 1, laying out a strategy which calls for sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and starting pulling out U.S. forces in July 2011.

However, public attitude towards the strategy is divided as U.S. war casualties and costs of the Afghan war keeps piling up.