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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=102&topic_id=3483074&mesg_id=3483074Source: BBC World News online
The outgoing commander of US troops in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has said that he will never declare victory there.
In a BBC interview, Gen Petraeus said that recent security gains were "not irreversible" and that the US still faced a "long struggle".
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He said "the trends in Afghanistan have not gone in the right direction... and that had to be addressed".
Afghanistan remained a "hugely important endeavour", he said.
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He said he did not know that he would ever use the word "victory": "This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade... it's not war with a simple slogan." snip