Mumbai attacks reveal Pakistan challenges: Petraeus

People duck as gunshots are fired from inside the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai November 27, 2008.

ROME (Reuters) - The attacks that killed 171 people in Mumbai spoke volumes about the security challenges in neighboring Pakistan, General David Petraeus said on Tuesday.

"There are those that have said this may be more of a 9/11 moment for Pakistan than it is for India, in fact. And that is not to say that it is anything but horrific for India," said Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, during a trip to Italy.

"But I think it really highlights the extent of the challenges that Pakistan faces."

India has blamed Islamist militants based in Pakistan for the three-day assault on India's commercial capital and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said there was no doubt the militants behind the attacks operated from Pakistani soil.

Petraeus said it was "heartening" to hear that Pakistan was trying to capture militants behind the attacks.

But, speaking to a gathering at the American Studies Center in Rome, he flagged militant safe havens in Pakistan's tribal areas as a "significant concern."

Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq from February 2007 to September 2008, took over U.S. Central Command on October 31.

"On November 1, my team and I got on a plane and our first stop was Pakistan ... because of the challenges that are there," said Petraeus, who now oversees U.S. military strategy in 20 countries in the Middle East and Central and South Asia.

On Afghanistan, Petraeus confirmed news last month that the U.S. aimed to send "somewhere around" 20,000 extra troops there over the next 12 to 18 months to quell rising Taliban violence.

"We are working these issues -- some of them are dependent on the possibility of drawing down, continuing the draw down that has taken place in Iraq," he said.

"It could be again somewhere around 20,000 or so over the course of the increase on the U.S. side (in Afghanistan)."

There are some 70,000 Western troops in Afghanistan, including 32,000 U.S. troops -- 14,500 under NATO command and 17,500 under U.S. command.

Petraeus declined to answer a question about a possible increase in NATO allies' forces, saying: "If you could ask that question in Brussels, we would be very grateful to you."

He was due to meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi later on Tuesday. In closed-door talks with Italy's defense minister, Petraeus raised the need for more joint civilian and military efforts in Afghanistan, a top Italian military official told reporters.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, editing by Tim Pearce)