One of the United States' most senior generals says the situation in Afghanistan is likely to get worse before it gets better.
Testifying before the US Congress, General David Petraeus told Congress the situation in Afghanisatan is similar to that in Iraq before the troop surge in 2007.
But he warned that progress in Afghanistan will probably be slower than it was in Iraq, with violence likely to initially increase.
General Petraeus said he hopes also to improve coordination with Pakistani forces across the border.
He was speaking a week after President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
The general, who oversaw the troop surge in Iraq in 2007, said he supported the announced increase in forces, and added that "while certainly different and, in some ways tougher than Iraq, Afghanistan is no more hopeless than Iraq was".
He said success in Afghanistan was attainable, but warned that "achieving progress ... will be hard and the progress there likely will be slower in developing than was the progress achieved in Iraq".