New data from the United Nations on the
military advances by a resurgent Taliban is
alarming for what it says about the
deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan
— and what it suggests about the American
military’s honesty about what is happening
there.
The fall of Kunduz two weeks ago was a startling
sign of how the Taliban has reasserted itself,
wresting a northern city from the control of the
NATO-trained Afghan Security Forces, who are
not doing a great job of showing they are up to
defending their country. The United Nations
data, reported by The Times on Monday and
backed up by interviews with local officials,
paint an even bleaker picture of an expanding
insurgency that has spread through more of
Afghanistan than at any point since the Taliban
government was deposed at the end of 2001.
Compiled in early September before the latest
uptick in violence, the data shows that United
Nations officials have rated the threat level as
high or extreme in about half of the country’s
administrative districts. Contrast that with the
assessment offered by Gen. John Campbell,
the American commander in Afghanistan, when
he testified before the Senate Armed Services
Committee last week. “The Afghan security
forces have displayed courage and resilience,”
he said. “They’re still holding. The Afghan
government retains control of Kabul, of
Highway One, its provincial capitals and nearly
all of the district centers.”
According to The Times’s Rod Nordland and
Joseph Goldstein, Highway One, which connects
all of Afghanistan’s main cities, has long
suffered repeated Taliban attacks; in recent
weeks, the insurgents have cut a highway in
Baghlan Province, which had been an
uncontested government stronghold.
Meanwhile, in many districts that are nominally
under government control, like Musa Qala in
Helmand Province and Charchino in Oruzgan
Province, Afghan military forces hold only the
government buildings in the district center and
are under constant siege by the insurgents.
Administration officials say General Campbell
has been forthright in private about the
challenges faced by the Afghan Security Forces
as well as about the political divisions within
the unity government. These officials argue
that President Obama understood when he
ordered the withdrawal of most American
troops that the Afhgans would not be able to
secure the whole country right away. They say
Afghan forces fought hard and have suffered
thousands of casualties, even though they
failed to hold Kunduz and have yet to field an
air force.
But the contrast between the image offered by
the Pentagon and the reality on the ground as
portrayed in the United Nations report and the
Times article raises far-too-familiar memories
of the Pentagon’s habit of manipulating the
facts to maintain public support for wars that
are going badly. That was powerfully true in
Vietnam, but also in Iraq, and at other times in
Afghanistan. American military officials far too
often have provided misleadingly upbeat
assessments of battlefield efforts and belittled
reporting that contradicted their narrative.
Now, at the request of Afghan officials, Mr.
Obama is considering whether to delay the
withdrawal of the remaining 9,800 American
troops.
As long as this country has troops and money
invested in Afghanistan, Congress and the
public need to hear the truth about how the
mission is going. That truth will come out,
sooner or later, and, meanwhile, trying to hide
it just feeds people’s cynicism about
government and the military and can produce
disastrous policy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/opinion/is-the-pentagon-telling-the-truth-about-afghanistan.html?referer=http://www.nytimes.com/

US is failing!