WASHINGTON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- John Abizaid, the U.S. commander overseeing war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, has agreed to extend his tenure for another year, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

    U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld recently asked Abizaid to stay for at least another year beyond this summer, and the general has accepted the request, U.S. media quoted Pentagon officials as saying.

    The extension will make the general the longest-serving commander in the 23-year history of U.S. Central Command, which oversees about 250,000 troops and is responsible for a vast region stretching from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia, spanning much of the Middle East.

    Most of Abizaid's predecessors served three-year terms but there is no set tenure.

    Since he succeeded Tommy Franks in July 2003, U.S. troops have been fighting a tenacious insurgency in Iraq and seeking to stabilize a shaky Afghanistan.

    The extension of Abizaid's tenure came at a time when escalating sectarian violence in Iraq raised fears of a civil war.

    The general is famous for creating the phrase "Long War" to describe the U.S.-led global struggle against Islamic extremism.

    Abizaid, 54, speaks Arabic and earned a master's degree in Middle East studies at Harvard. He also studied at the University of Jordan in Amman. Enditem