Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.
 U.S. Marines at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan |
Analysts are warning that as President Obama removes U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the consequences of withdrawing too many too soon include undermining the ability of local Afghan forces to take over the nation’s security, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Local security forces “cannot by themselves clear enemy-held areas, nor can they withstand concerted enemy attacks from nearby safe-havens without support from U.S. mentors,” said Frederick Kagan, a senior security analyst with the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute.
Nevertheless, a staged withdrawal is expected to begin soon and apparently is intended to include the 30,000 troops sent in last year as part of a “surge” to halt the growing threat from the Taliban.
The U.S. has some 100,000 troops in Afghanistan.
Not only was troop withdrawal from Afghanistan a campaign promise by Obama, but new realities of the cost of maintaining a military presence there along with serious budget shortfalls have taken center stage in this policy deliberation.
The withdrawal is part of a general effort to wind down U.S. participation in the fighting in Afghanistan as the Taliban increases its attacks, emboldened by the withdrawal announcement.
With the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in May, the administration believes that al-Qaida elements in Afghanistan have headed back into Pakistan where it appears to be a safer haven, given support of terrorist groups by the Pakistani government’s Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate.
The administration argument has been that al-Qaida’s presence in Afghanistan was the original reason for being there, but elements of the terrorist group reportedly are down to fewer than 100. As for the Taliban, the U.S. has entered into discussions with them and the current government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
U.S. officials admit that the outcome of such discussions is questionable and also wonder if the Taliban leaders to whom they are speaking represent all of the Afghan Taliban.
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