Afghanistan: "Not a question of enemy being strong"
Washington Post
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Afghanistan on Tuesday in the midst of the most intense phase of Taliban violence since the Islamists were ousted from power in 2001.
Rumsfeld, on his 11th trip to Afghanistan, was set to meet U.S. commanders and President Hamid Karzai to discuss the violence and plans for NATO to take over military operations from a U.S.-led force in the south this month.
In the latest fighting on Tuesday, U.S.-led forces and Afghan troops killed about 30 militants in a notoriously volatile district of the southern province of Helmand.
"Early this morning, a joint Afghan-coalition raid resulted in the death of an estimated 30 extremist fighters," said a spokeswoman for the U.S.-led force, Lieutenant Tamara Lawrence.
The commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, said power vacuums in the south where the government had little presence had contributed to the violence.
... "It's important to remember that the areas the Taliban is operating in are areas that the government of Afghanistan has not heretofore had the strength and the presence," he said.
"So it's not a question of the enemy being strong; it's very much a question of the institutions of the state of Afghanistan still moving slowing to stand up the Afghan security forces." Read more
db: See who's in town. The man Des Browne telephoned before he made his announcement to Parliament yesterday concerning emergency reinforcements - Rumsfeld. Brits need to note that it's not a question of the enemy being strong - look see - 'US led forces' just killed another thirty 'spoilers', no problem.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Afghanistan on Tuesday in the midst of the most intense phase of Taliban violence since the Islamists were ousted from power in 2001.
Rumsfeld, on his 11th trip to Afghanistan, was set to meet U.S. commanders and President Hamid Karzai to discuss the violence and plans for NATO to take over military operations from a U.S.-led force in the south this month.
In the latest fighting on Tuesday, U.S.-led forces and Afghan troops killed about 30 militants in a notoriously volatile district of the southern province of Helmand.
"Early this morning, a joint Afghan-coalition raid resulted in the death of an estimated 30 extremist fighters," said a spokeswoman for the U.S.-led force, Lieutenant Tamara Lawrence.
The commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, said power vacuums in the south where the government had little presence had contributed to the violence.
... "It's important to remember that the areas the Taliban is operating in are areas that the government of Afghanistan has not heretofore had the strength and the presence," he said.
"So it's not a question of the enemy being strong; it's very much a question of the institutions of the state of Afghanistan still moving slowing to stand up the Afghan security forces." Read more
db: See who's in town. The man Des Browne telephoned before he made his announcement to Parliament yesterday concerning emergency reinforcements - Rumsfeld. Brits need to note that it's not a question of the enemy being strong - look see - 'US led forces' just killed another thirty 'spoilers', no problem.
posted by exoplanet at 12:39 PM
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