Britain's former ambassador to Afghanistan, Sherard Cowper-Coles, harshly criticized America's top military commander,
General David Petraeus.
Sherard Cowper-Coles said in an interview with the Guardian that Petraeus should be "ashamed of himself" for citing Taliban deaths as a sign of progress in the country.
Cowper-Cole's was speaking in response to Petraeus' statement, "In a typical 90-day period, in fact, precision operations by US special mission units and their Afghan partners alone kill or capture some 360 targeted insurgent leaders".
Petraeus' approach diverges from that of his predecessor, Stanley McChrystal, who prioritized the protection of Afghanistan civilians over military gains -- a strategy Cowper-Coles says is more in line with the US counter-insurgency manual that the two men wrote together.
Petraeus moves to a new post in September as head of the CIA.
Al Jazeera's Adam Raney reports.
