“The Germans have done wonderful work. Not long ago, a German battle group battalion conducted a very impressive counterinsurgency operation in a portion of Baghlan province. I think these are the first counterinsurgency operations conducted by any German element after World War II. And they did a very impressive job.”

American Army general and CIA director

David Howell Petraeus is a retired United States Army general and former CIA director. He served from 2011 to 2012 as the agency’s fourth director, after a 37-year military career. Before leading the CIA, Petraeus held several senior Army commands. He led U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq as commanding general of Multi-National Force, Iraq, then served as commander of U.S. Central Command and later as commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces, Afghanistan.