| US General David Petraeus has said that the international troops he commands in Afghanistan have turned the tide on the Taliban's momentum there, although he warned tough battles still lay ahead. In an interview with the BBC, he played down the prospect of a rapid withdrawal of US troops next year, repeating his insistence that a target of July 2011 was only a date when a process begins. He said the road ahead could be bloody but insisted foreign forces were making progress. "The momentum that the Taliban have established over the course of recent years has been reversed in many areas and will be reversed in the other areas as well. This will entail tough fighting," he said. "July 2011 is not the date when the US forces begin an exodus and look for the exit," he said. |