Petraeus hands over Afghan baton

Petraeus, credited with reversing a spiral towards civil war in Iraq, took over in Afghanistan on July 4, 2010, and is leaving the military to take over as director of the Central Intelligence Agency as part of a wider shake-up of senior US security officials.

Petraeus oversaw a “surge” of 30,000 extra US forces which helped stop the momentum of a growing insurgency, especially in the Taliban heartland in the south.

However, despite gains in violent southern provinces during Petraeus’ year in charge, the Taliban-led insurgency is still far from quelled.

“We should be clear-eyed about the challenges that lie ahead,” Petraeus said at a ceremony to mark the change of command to US Marine Corps General John Allen.