Afghanistan: Who is going to deal with this mess?

[unhappycamper]

Who is going to deal ith this mess?
Faryal Leghari
25 November 2010

The Congress-mandated bi-annual Pentagon report on Afghanistan titled, “Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan,” is out. Its significance is, of course, owing to the fact that this is expected to give a close, hard look at the war from a military perspective.

More importantly this particular report’s findings will be included in the White House assessment, President Obama is likely to present before the Congress. This incidentally is also the first assessment after General David H. Petraeus took over command of the operations in the country.

First the good news, or something on that line. There have been modest gains. The Taleban-led insurgency is believed to have been put under considerable pressure by strong-arm tactics, special military operations and additional forces. Thus, this has edged the insurgents out to peripheral areas—even in their strongholds, Helmand and Kandahar. This is far from being a negative development according to US officials, who are in an unnatural haste to alleviate any misgivings about the spread of Taleban to other areas. What is being considered an achievement is the fact that other areas these insurgents are spreading to are not key or central.

At the same time, the multifold rise in violence has stepped up by 65 per cent from the first quarter. This is hardly comforting. Military experts however are not too concerned about this, since an intensification of operations would naturally generate such an outcome. However, this has created bigger problems as witnessed recently. President Karzai’s widely-publicised outburst against US special night operations and strikes is not entirely unjustified, considering the political backlash as civilian casualties keep mounting. However, this public criticism of the US military strategy did not go down well in Washington. Not only did it reveal the widening gulf between Afghan national interests and the US strategy, it has also exposed the complexities that have enmeshed the whole Afghan Doctrine in a stifling grip.

The fact that development and governance in the country is still lagging far behind the projected aims is disheartening. Kabul’s continuing inability and/or unwillingness to tackle corruption is believed to be a major contributor. It has now become a defining aspect of the Afghan government as per public opinion. Such a state of affairs if continued is likely to negate security gains.