In public, NATO officials are not only satisfied with the 11th year of progress of the Afghan War; they’re downright thrilled. Gen. John Allen reiterated today that he is “enormously proud” of how the Afghan military reacted to an entirely unpredicted city-wide attack on Kabul, which led to 18 hours of gunfire targeting every major site in the city.
Privately, however, the subject of the upcoming “jumbo meeting” of NATO foreign and defense ministers is expected to center around the ever-worsening security conditions nationwide and the inability to predict even major coordinated attacks.
Even the public claims of “no strategy changes” don’t seem to be holding up, as the US is reportedly preparing to launch a massive offensive against Kabul, apparently aimed at “shoring up the defenses” in the city.
This latest spring offensive follows in the old formula for the war, with major offensives announced to target whichever part of the country is currently the most under siege. That more than ten years of activity haven’t secured any of the other targets in a meaningful way appears lost on them.
We have met the enemy and they are us.
DoD reported the death of a U.S. Army soldier on Sunday, April 15 in Helmand province. The third U.S. combat death during the weekend Taliban offensive. This was also the seventh U.S. soldier to die in Helmand province since March 21, 2012. Seven more U.S. soldiers have died in Kandahar in the same time period. There have been numerous accounts in the press of Taliban and Afghan soldiers that died in the weekend offensive. No one has covered the 14 U.S. dead in Helmand and Kandahar since the Taliban offensive began on March 21, 2012.
Does this remind anyone else of the Tet offensive?
The ability of fifty or so fighters to tie up the capital for 18 hours was certainly interesting and demonstrates a failure of intelligence, according to President Karzai, but much more significant is the anti-American progress that the Afghan/Pakistan resistance is enjoying in the provinces around Kabul. Here the attacks were less spectacular but more strategically important.
Looking at Kabul's surrounding provinces northeast to southwest, Nuristan has been taken over by the Taliban, there were significant attacks in Nangahar, and the Haggani Network was busy in Logar and Paktia. The main Highway 1 from Kabul to Kandahar is not secure through Wardak.
There is no indication that the helo-borne American war leaders understand this ominous situation on the ground.
The USA must be stopped !!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is an atrocity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whatever it takes to stay in there as long as they can.
A major offensive in Kabul? So I guess that whole 'winning hearts and minds' thing didn't go over too well?
Guess its time to slaughter more women, kids and old people, so Afghans FINALLY get the message to love you, and stop complaining already that you burned their holy books and pissed on their dead.