Over 12 years into the occupation of Afghanistan, the Pentagon reports remain as upbeat as ever, insisting that the situation is well in hand and their latest transition is “on track.”
The boundless optimism lasts until you get to the actual statistics, which reveal that the escalating violence on the ground is even worse than anyone expected, and casualties among Afghan security forces are up 79 percent year-over-year.
Though the report tried to focus on a decline of NATO casualties, the reality is that the NATO ground troops simply aren’t patrolling as much, and the Taliban are targeting the available Afghan forces instead. And doing major damage.
The report urges continued military aid for the Afghan military, insisting that it is on a “path towards an enduring ability to overmatch the Taliban.”
That’s the plan, at least, but with massive attrition and growing casualties, the Afghan military is facing ridiculous levels of turnover in their recruits, and it is hard to see how that can possibly be sustainable, regardless of the weapons and cash thrown at them by NATO.
hey i could have told you years ago. that the afghan will never be won. The Afghan war was a Nato trap to bleed Nato economically.
I hope you did. But you, like every body else with some sense, were ignored by the 'real warriors'.
Another cake walk……. But HOW much cake before we walk…??? 6, 7, 8 or 9 trillion… ??? Maybe 10..!!! & how many Americans will die…???
A 'should have been foreseen' consequence is an uptick in the number of police and army personnel caught and killed going home on leave. What the government does not control, the Taliban does and that includes most of the main highways.
This is a dimension of the struggle not faced by US personnel whose families remain safe in America. The local elders and the Taliban have a good idea who's away on 'national service' – that information can be useful to them in a number of ways.
A 'should have been foreseen' consequence is an uptick in the number of police and army personnel caught and killed going home on leave. What the government does not control, the Taliban does and that includes most of the main highways.
This is a dimension of the struggle not faced by US personnel whose families remain safe in America. The local elders and the Taliban have a good idea who's away on 'national service' – that information can be useful to them in a number of ways.