subject: Signs That The Us Is Winning The War In Afghanistan [print this page] U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that the U.S.-led coalition is winning the war in Afghanistan as foreign troops continue to transfer security of the country to Afghan forces ahead of a 2014 deadline. Remember that this was a war that the Soviets couldnt win when they invaded Afghanistan back in the 80s. They didnt have the same tough logistical concerns that the US now has in executing this war and they didnt have the problem of terrorists crossing back and forth across the border to fight them and then run away.
The Afghans did have the covert help of the CIA, and this had an enormous inpact on the war but I will attribute the fact that the US is winning to our model for conducting armed conflict in the region.
Panetta says that counter insurgency operations have reached a turning point for the US which I think is evidenced by the US troop withdrawal. Troops are expected to be out of Afghanistan in 2014. This would not be the case if the US was not getting the situation under control. Another indication that the war is going well is that the Taliban is now willing to talk peace with the US and the Afghan government. The Taliban has been hardcore is their anti American stance and this shift in position clearly shows that they dont believe that they have the juice to complete the action.
The Taliban has also had a hard time recently persuading people to become suicide bombers. The fact thay they have been kidnapping children and forcing them to wear suicide vests is an indicator that morale is low on their side.
U.S. President Barack Obama announced earlier this year that 33,000 American troops would withdraw from the country by next October. All international combat troops are set to leave the country by 2014.
The second stage of security transition officially started last month, with Afghan forces set to take charge of six provinces, seven provincial capitals and more than 40 districts. The Afghans should be able to maintain control of these areas now because of the training and support that they have received from NATO troops. There have been several initiatives started which were meant to train them and bring them up to the level that they needed to be in order to be able to hold on to their territory.
The transition process has been complicated by worsening U.S. relations with Pakistan, after a NATO air strike last month killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the country's border with Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials have closed two supply lines into Afghanistan and forced U.S. troops out of a Pakistani airbase following the incident.
U.S. officials reported in October that the number of Taliban attacks in Afghanistan decreased for the first time in five years. However, the United Nations said earlier this year the number of civilians killed went up by 15 percent in the first half of 2011, with nearly 1,500 deaths due mostly to insurgent attacks. Military Ring Express
