The commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, who was also the architect of the Iraq turnaround two years ago, has endorsed the grim assessment by the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan. <br/>General David Petraeus says the only way to fight terrorism is to take the multi-dimensional approach embodied in the current strategy there. General Petraeus says he and the top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, both endorsed the secret assessment made late last month by the new commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal. <br/>Most of that largely grim assessment was made public on Monday by the Washington Post. McChrystal described a situation in which the Taliban and related groups are advancing and said he needs more resources to avoid mission failure.<br/>Speaking to a conference of military and civilian counterinsurgency experts, General Petraeus declined to discuss the specifics of the McChrystal assessment or the ongoing deliberations but he did repeat a point he has often made about how he believes extremists must be fought.<br/>General Petraeus appeared to be pointedly rejecting suggestions by some officials and members of Congress that the United States should scale back its ground operations in Afghanistan and focus on air strikes and special operations missions. Other senior military officers and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have made similar points.<br/>But Pentagon Spokesman Geoff Morrell said senior officials are considering whether a full counterinsurgency campaign with large numbers of troops and civilians is the right approach. <br/>