DUSHANBE, October 27, 2009, Asia-Plus — Yesterday afternoon, General David H. Petraeus, Commander, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), met with President Emomali Rahmon and a number of Tajik military officials during his October 26 visit to Tajikistan.
According to presidential press service, in the course of the talks, President Rahmon noted that Tajikistan was interested in establishment of lasting peace in Afghanistan and ready to expand its cooperation with the United States in that and other directions.
For his part, General Petraeus highly appraised Tajikistan’s role in providing stability in Central Asia and appreciated Tajikistan’s support for international antiterrorist forces in Afghanistan and reconstruction of Afghanistan’s economy.
U.S. general also expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between the U.S. specialists and Tajikistan’s border troops, customs officers and other services, the press service said.
Speaking to reporters following the meeting, General Petraeus stated that along with issues of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and the United States, he discussed joint cooperation in promoting stability in Afghanistan, including combating drug trafficking, preventing terrorism, ensuring border security with Tajikistan and supporting humanitarian and infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe.
General Petraeus also discussed transporting U.S. commercial goods via Tajikistan to support rehabilitation efforts in Afghanistan.
General David H. Petraeus assumed command of the United States Central Command in October 2008, after serving for over 19 months as the Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq. Prior to his tour as MNF-I Commander, he commanded the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth.
Before that assignment, he was the first commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, which he led from June 2004 to September 2005, and the NATO Training Mission-Iraq, which he commanded from October 2004 to September 2005.
