Trying to find proper metrics to gauge the Afghan War has been a challenge for awhile now. Analysts really muddle through with publicly offered information, and even people like the US Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) struggle, with officials preferring they not be too informed on the state of affairs.
SIGAR’s latest quarterly reported revealed how tough it has been, noting that one of the last sources of data, NATO’s stats on Taliban attacks, are now being withheld both from the public and from the SIGAR office.
Instead of proper numbers, NATO simply told SIGAR that the Taliban “increased attacks against Afghan forces to levels above seasonal norms” in March. This is, to reiterate, not being backed up by any hard data.
It’s also not clear if it is true, as previous comments from Afghanistan suggested that violence was, if higher than they’d hoped after the US-Taliban peace deal, still down markedly from the situation before the peace deal.
Hiding the numbers…. WTF!!!!!! Another big “EXIT” sign… I hope it won’t take people boarding helicopters from the embassy roof to wake people up to what’s going on!!!!!!! It’s over! Or very close to it… Time to go…!!!!!!!!!
Nope, the Taliban do not attack–they are defending their country from invaders.
… Hiding the numbers can only mean NATO is winning so big they can’t count that high.