Barack Obama provides that the dismissal of General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. forces and NATO in Afghanistan, does not alter the strategy pursued in this war that will soon enter in its tenth year.

The U.S. president, anxious to reassure its allies in the wake of major military reshuffle of his presidency, added that the early withdrawal of U.S. forces, planned for July 2011, does not mean that Washington would “turn off the light” on this unpopular intervention.

“We have not said that, beginning in July 2011, suddenly there would be more American troops or allies in Afghanistan. We do not say we embrace the light and we are closing the door behind us,” the president said.

Obama dismissed General Stanley McChrystal on Wednesday, with the guilty verdict, as his assistants for having indulged in explosive confidences in an article published by the Rolling Stone.

To succeed him, Bush has nominated General David Petraeus, an expert on counterinsurgency, which has played a decisive role in Iraq and who now heads the Centcom, the central command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan which depends in particular or Iraq.

For Robert Gates, the Secretary of Defense, the selection of Petraeus, who will be heard Tuesday in the Senate, is “the best possible solution to a terrible situation.”

“Petraeus understands this strategy because he helped to formulate it,” Obama said at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, who is visiting Washington.

“And I expect that the implement has been exceptional. We will not waste one second because of the change in the chain of command in the Afghan theater,” he said.

The war in Afghanistan has yet reached a critical level despite the presence of 140,000 foreign troops, Taliban insurgents have never been stronger from their eviction from power in late 2001.

With 79 soldiers killed, June’s ending is already the deadliest for foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Another figure reflecting the deteriorating security situation: in 2009, 521 foreign soldiers have died in Afghanistan in less than six months, this year the stock was over 300 deaths, according to the count compiled by the organization Icasualties.org.

The losses of the insurgents are much higher, but hundreds of Afghan civilians have also lost their lives in pursuit of the war, most of them victims of bombings and attacks by Taliban forces, but also for a large share of crossfire or “collateral damage” from Allied bombing.

“I do not think that we may be stuck. I think instead that we record the progress. But it’s slower and harder than we had anticipated,” Gates said during a briefing at the Pentagon.

Referring to the sacking of McChrystal, a year after the dismissal of her predecessor, Gen. David McKiernan, the head of the Pentagon has refuted speculation that the confusion which would benefit the ranks of the U.S. military.

“And the Taliban would make a serious mistake if they think that” he added.

The strategy followed by McChrystal was to hit the Taliban where they are strongest – in their historic stronghold of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan – and simultaneously strengthening the security of the population.