“Immediately on assuming office [on January 20, 2009], the Obama administration conducted several rapid reviews of US policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan and after consulting with all branches of the US government, especially the military, unveiled its strategy on 27 March 2009. The new policy promised that major attention would be paid to what was now termed Af-Pak and the region. Obama appointed veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke as the Special Envoy for Af-Pak, while General David Petraeus, who has won accolades for his counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, took over US Central Command headquarters. A new US army doctrine acknowledged that stabilizing war-torn countries was just as important as defeating the enemy militarily.”
– Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, Page 233