WASHINGTON: Violence in Afghanistan has reached an all time high, the Pentagon has warned, saying that efforts to marginalize Taliban capabilities including their safe havens and logistic support originating in Pakistan and Iran have not produced “measurable results”.
“The progress in war against terror in Afghanistan has been uneven with only modest gains despite a surge of US and NATO troops,” the US Defense Department said in its latest report submitted to the Congress.
“The insurgency has proven resilient with sustained logistics capacity and command and control,” the report said, adopting a cautious tone in sharp contrast to more upbeat declarations from top officials and military commanders.
As the war department pointed out lack of action against al Qaeda and Taliban hideouts, a State Department official said, “We have asked the Pakistan Government to take steps in North Waziristan as we think that those are the places where they should take greater action against the sanctuaries for the Afghan insurgency,” a senior State Department official told reporters after the report was placed in Congress.
The sober account of the war in progress comes just ahead of a key White House review next month, in which President Barack Obama will take fresh stock of his forces’ show in the war-torn country.
The Pentagon report said that violence is at an all time high in the nine-year war, with incidents of combat up 300 per cent since July 2006. . It depicted an enemy, which has the support of Iran and continuing access to safe havens along the Pakistani border.
“Efforts to reduce insurgent capacity, such as safe havens and logistic support originating in Pakistan and Iran, have not produce measurable result,” the report said.
The Pentagon assessed that militant groups in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are part of a broader syndicate of extremist groups including al Qaeda, Taliban, the Haqqani Network and LeT.
The report said these groups where capitalizing on the 2010 floods by providing relief and other assistance to win public groundswell.
“Islamic charities linked to militant groups will continue to use national disaster to demonstrate to Pakistanis their ability to provide aid and services that the Government of Pakistan cannot provide,” it said.
A Defense Department official said, “It is important for Pakistan to go after insurgents and extremists and those who threaten their neighbors as well, and we are working with them to that end.”
A part of the report, which may make grim reading for mandarins in the White House and NATO, deals with the alliance’s desire to set a time table for troop withdrawal.
The report said that Taliban draws strength from a belief among the Afghan people that the NATO forces would soon leave Afghanistan, clearing the way for the Taliban victory.
Pentagon has cited the training of Afghan security forces as “one of the most promising areas of progress”, with the Afghan army and police touching recruitment goals in July, three months ahead of schedule.
-PTI
