A U.S. Army crew chief aboard a Chinook helicopter observes a successful test of flares during a training flight in Afghanistan on March 14. (Tech. Sgt. Gregory Brook/Air Force/Reuters)
Washington Post: In Afghanistan, U.S. military sprints to prove it can reverse insurgent tide
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — The U.S. military is racing to demonstrate it is making progress in Afghanistan during a critical period that will test President Trump’s strategy and, potentially, political support for the war.
Military leaders say the arrival of new troops and aircraft, along with a renewed mission to advise local operations more closely, will help reverse a Taliban resurgence that has exposed the fragility of the long American project in Afghanistan.
“This is not another year of the same thing we’ve been doing for 17 years,” Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a tour of military facilities across Afghanistan last week. “This is a fundamentally different approach.”
With an increased U.S. force of about 15,000, focused largely on efforts to ensure Afghan troops can launch offensives against the Taliban, Dunford said that “the right people at the right level with the right training” are in place ahead of the 2018 fighting season, a sentiment repeated by other commanders.
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WNU Editor: The parts of this story that caught my eye are the following ....
.... The Afghan forces would have to become “so capable and lethal” they could defeat the Taliban in battles with little help, said retired Lt. Gen. David Barno, who commanded U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005. “I am not optimistic we are going to see that happen anytime soon.”
.... But the Taliban has a stronger grip in southern strongholds, vast parts of which remain no-go zones for security forces.
.... Whether Afghanistan can hold parliamentary elections without major violence will help Pentagon officials gauge the strategy’s success in coming months, as will the number of Afghan military casualties. While the Afghan government does not disclose exact figures, U.S. officials say combat losses remain in the thousands each year.
.... David Sedney, a top Pentagon official for Afghanistan during the Obama administration and now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said important Taliban figures in Pakistan continue to believe that military victory is possible.
Bottom line .... this war is far from over.
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