[ad_1]
Kabul's control of Afghanistan has declined in recent months as local security forces suffer a record number of casualties while making little or no progress against the Taliban, a watchdog said Thursday. from the US government.
The latest snapshot of the security crisis in Afghanistan highlights persistent problems among police and military units that have suffered years of devastating losses, and shows the Taliban's resistance 17 years after the US-led invasion. United States.
Figures provided by Resolute Support, the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, show that in the last quarter, the Afghan government had controlled or influenced 226 of the country's 407 districts, or 55.5 percent .
According to the US Special Inspector General for Reconstruction of Afghanistan (SIGAR), which compiled the data, this figure marks a slight decrease (0.7%) compared to the previous quarter.
This is the lowest level since SIGAR began monitoring the district in November 2015.
AFP / Gal ROMAafghanistan SIGAR estimated that 49 of the remaining districts were under the control or influence of insurgents (12%).
The remaining 132 districts are considered "contested" between the Kabul government and the Taliban or other insurgent groups.
Kabul controls or influences 65.2% of the Afghan population itself, the same amount as a year ago.
– Insider Attack –
Gen. John Nicholson, who is now retired but who at the time was managing Resolute Support, said in November 2017 that Afghan security forces would extend control of the population to 80 percent over the next two years.
Bill Roggio, an Afghan expert and senior member of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told AFP that such a scenario was unlikely.
"Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in Afghan security forces and the United States who are again committed to improving the security situation, I do not see how this would be possible," he said. he told AFP.
Roggio, who runs a website called Long War Journal, has co-authored an article in which he estimates that more than half of the Afghan population now lives out of government control.
Highlighting the security weaknesses, the powerful police chief, General Abdul Raziq, was among the three people killed in a shameless insider attack at a high-level meeting on security held this month in Kandahar.
General Scott Miller, senior commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, also attended the meeting.
He escaped unharmed, but US Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley was among the 13 people wounded in the shootout that the Taliban claimed targeted Miller and Raziq.
President Donald Trump has launched an overhauled Afghan plan more than a year ago, which called for the United States to abandon any US withdrawal schedule and re-engage thousands of additional troops in Afghanistan, most of whom are dedicated to training and advice of local forces.
Data on victims of the Afghan security forces are not publicly available after Washington last year accepted Kabul's request to file the numbers.
Before the outage, according to figures published by SIGAR, there were more than 5,000 each year.
In its latest report, SIGAR cited Resolute's support, saying the record of the summer was worse than ever.
"Between May 1 and the most recent data as of October 1, 2018, the average number of casualties (Afghan forces) is the largest ever recorded in similar periods," said Resolute Support, according to SIGAR.
Mattis said this week that more than 1,000 "young Afghans" were killed or wounded in August and September.
SIGAR added that the data shows that Afghan forces "have made little or no progress in putting pressure on the Taliban during the quarter."
The report, however, highlights "some successes" in the group of Islamic State group's counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan, including in August, when 250 jihadists surrendered to Afghan security forces in Jowzjan province.
[ad_2]Source link
