U.S. Central Command Chief Will Stay On

Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, who has overseen military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since shortly after U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003, will stay on for another year, defense officials said Tuesday.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld recently asked Abizaid to stay for at least another year beyond this summer, one official said. The officials who discussed the matter did so on condition of anonymity because the extension had not been announced.

Abizaid has won praise for his work, even as Rumsfeld and President Bush have come under fire from Democrats in Congress and other critics of the war. The general travels frequently to other countries in the region that the Bush administration considers to be important allies against terrorism.

Most of Abizaid’s predecessors served three years, but there is no set tenure.

Abizaid took the job in July 2003, replacing Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who wrote and executed the Afghanistan and Iraq invasion plans. The Iraqi insurgency began to take hold around the time that Franks left, marking an unexpected turning point in a conflict that the Bush administration had said it expected to last months, not years.

The extension of Abizaid’s tenure through summer 2007 would make him the longest-serving commander in the 23-year history of the U.S. Central Command.