Pentagon admits Afghanistan war progress 'uneven'
The Pentagon has admitted in a report to the United States Congress that progress in the war in Afghanistan has been limited and patchy, painting a more downbeat assessment than in public comments by President Barack Obama.
It detailed that violence was at an all-time high in the nine-year war as coalition forces tried to push the Taliban away from cities and towns. Combat incidents were up by 300 per cent since 2007 and 70 per cent since last year.
"Progress across the country remains uneven, with modest gains in security, governance, and development in operational priority areas," the report stated.
The report raises the political stakes for Mr Obama, who is soon to receive a report on the war from across the US government that will form the basis of a strategic review to be completed by mid-December. Mr Obama will then have to decide whether to make any changes in the new "surge" strategy, including a July 2011 date for the start of a military withdrawal, which he announced at West Point a year ago.
The strategy included the deployment of an extra 30,000 soldiers and marines, bringing American troop levels to almost 100,000 while at the same time tripling US civilians in Afghanistan to 1,100 including diplomats, criminal investigators and drug enforcement agents and agricultural experts.
The cautious tone of the report contrasted with declarations from senior officials and military leaders that there have been encouraging signs and that American and British forces had gained the initiative on the battlefield.
It described limited progress by the Nato-led force in the southern provinces of Helmand, where the bulk of Britain's 10,000 troops are fighting, and Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual home. Helmand and Kandahar have been the focus of the additional 30,000 US troops.
There were, however, some successes. "While kinetic activity is at a historic high, we are seeing some early indications that comprehensive COIN (counter-insurgency) operations are having localised effects in portions of Helmand and Kandahar Provinces," the report stated.
But despite the presence of nearly 100,000 US troops and almost 50,000 other forces, the Taliban insurgency remained resilient and efforts to cut off safe havens and supply links to neighbouring Iran and Pakistan "have not produced measurable results".
While Nato and Afghan forces had "increased pressure on insurgent networks over the past several months, the insurgency has proven resilient with sustained logistics capacity and command and control".
Last week, Mr Obama insisted that US forces had "blunted" the Taliban's momentum. "You have fewer areas of Afghanistan under Taliban control. You have the Taliban on the defensive in a number of areas that were their strongholds," he said.
"We have met or exceed our targets in terms of recruitment of Afghan security forces and our assessments are that the performance of Afghan security forces has improved significantly." (the telegraph)
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