Smoke rises from the site of a blast and gunbattle between Afghan security forces and a handful of militants in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan, May 13, 2018.
Reuters: Watchdog finds little progress in Afghanistan, despite U.S. military optimism
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s South Asia strategy has shown few signs of progress this quarter, a U.S. government watchdog report said on Monday, despite public assertions by the U.S. military that Taliban militants were on the back foot.
An inspector general report said that there had been few signs of significant progress by Afghan security forces and the Taliban continued to carry out deadly attacks.
“Available metrics showed few signs of progress, and during the quarter, the Taliban and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria - Khorasan each launched high-profile attacks in Kabul that killed hundreds,” a statement accompanying the report said.
In August, Trump committed the United States to an open-ended conflict in Afghanistan, dispatching an additional 3,000 troops to the nearly 17-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands of Afghan civilians.
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Update: Watchdog says US strategy in Afghanistan shows little result -- AP
WNU Editor: The Pentagon has a different take .... Pentagon spokesperson doubles down on ‘desperate’ Taliban comment (Long War Journal). As to what is my take .... the Afghans are now slaughtering each other at a rate that has not been seen for a long time, and the Afghan Army is bleeding soldiers .... Afghan security forces suffer stark fall in numbers (CNN).
