By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
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Taliban small-arms attacks against U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan are nearly twice what they were a year ago, a reflection of increased coalition penetration of Taliban strongholds and the insurgency's resilience, military officials and analysts said.
U.S. forces have encountered more than 18,000 attacks this year from Taliban fighters armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and in some cases missiles, according to data from the Pentagon. That compares with about 10,600 such attacks in 2009.
The rise in battles comes as the Obama administration prepares a year-end review of how its strategy is working in Afghanistan.
Army Capt. Ryan Donald, a military spokesman in Kabul, said the rise is a result of bringing "the fight to them."
Donald said coalition troops have been on the offensive in an attempt to dislodge Taliban forces from their strongholds in southern Afghanistan and in the east along the mountainous border with Pakistan.
There are about 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, including a "surge" of 30,000 troops ordered into combat by President Obama. There are about 40,000 troops from allied countries fighting alongside the U.S. and Afghan troops.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, this week to assess the situation.
More hard fighting remains, Gates said.
"This is tough terrain, and this is a tough fight," Gates said. "But as Gen. Petraeus has said, we are breaking the momentum of the enemy, and we will reverse that momentum in partnering with the Afghans and will make this a better place for them, so they can take over, and we can all go home. It will be awhile, and we'll suffer tougher losses as we go."
James Dubik, a senior fellow at the non-partisan Institute for the study of War and a retired Army three-star general, agreed with Gates.
"The increase in direct-fire attacks over last year should come as no surprise since the number of coalition troops and the operations they perform have rapidly increased," Dubik said. "When you take the fight to the enemy, he fights back."
The increased attacks could also be a sign that the Taliban insurgency hasn't weakened, said Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution.
O'Hanlon pointed to 2011, when Obama has said the first U.S. troops will be withdrawn, as the pivotal time in the nine-year war.
If violence doesn't abate, that could indicate that U.S. strategy is flawed, he said.
"The numbers should not go up again and in fact should decline then, since we won't be doing a lot more clearing in the next year by comparison with previous years," O'Hanlon said. "Another year of worsening violence would make me wonder if the insurgency really could be defeated by our current strategy."
Taliban small-arms attacks against U.S. and allied troops in Afghanistan are nearly twice what they were a year ago, a reflection of increased coalition penetration of Taliban strongholds and the insurgency's resilience, military officials and analysts said.
U.S. forces have encountered more than 18,000 attacks this year from Taliban fighters armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and in some cases missiles, according to data from the Pentagon. That compares with about 10,600 such attacks in 2009.
The rise in battles comes as the Obama administration prepares a year-end review of how its strategy is working in Afghanistan.
Army Capt. Ryan Donald, a military spokesman in Kabul, said the rise is a result of bringing "the fight to them."
Donald said coalition troops have been on the offensive in an attempt to dislodge Taliban forces from their strongholds in southern Afghanistan and in the east along the mountainous border with Pakistan.
There are about 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, including a "surge" of 30,000 troops ordered into combat by President Obama. There are about 40,000 troops from allied countries fighting alongside the U.S. and Afghan troops.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, this week to assess the situation.
More hard fighting remains, Gates said.
"This is tough terrain, and this is a tough fight," Gates said. "But as Gen. Petraeus has said, we are breaking the momentum of the enemy, and we will reverse that momentum in partnering with the Afghans and will make this a better place for them, so they can take over, and we can all go home. It will be awhile, and we'll suffer tougher losses as we go."
James Dubik, a senior fellow at the non-partisan Institute for the study of War and a retired Army three-star general, agreed with Gates.
"The increase in direct-fire attacks over last year should come as no surprise since the number of coalition troops and the operations they perform have rapidly increased," Dubik said. "When you take the fight to the enemy, he fights back."
The increased attacks could also be a sign that the Taliban insurgency hasn't weakened, said Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution.
O'Hanlon pointed to 2011, when Obama has said the first U.S. troops will be withdrawn, as the pivotal time in the nine-year war.
If violence doesn't abate, that could indicate that U.S. strategy is flawed, he said.
"The numbers should not go up again and in fact should decline then, since we won't be doing a lot more clearing in the next year by comparison with previous years," O'Hanlon said. "Another year of worsening violence would make me wonder if the insurgency really could be defeated by our current strategy."
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