Another district in the embattled southern province of Helmand fell to the Taliban on Tuesday, Afghan government officials said, adding important new territory to the insurgents’ control. – New York Times
The U.S. has spent tens of billions of dollars training Afghan security personnel, who have suffered enormous casualties while trying — and failing — to repel the Taliban’s advances in the country’s south, east, and north. That leaves the White House with an unpalatable choice: Keep the stringent rules limiting the numbers of strikes in place and risk seeing the militants continue to gain ground, or allow American pilots to bomb a broader array of targets at the risk of deepening Washington’s combat role in Afghanistan. – Foreign Policy
Millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been wasted in Afghanistan, according to a new watchdog inspection of 44 construction projects undertaken between 2009 and 2015, raising questions about the ability of the local government and its U.S. patrons to sustain rebuilding the war-torn country’s infrastructure. – US News and World Report
At least a dozen Islamic State militants accidentally blew themselves up in eastern Afghanistan Sunday during a botched operation to plant a bomb, a local official said. – Stars and Stripes
On Tuesday, Khan Neshin became the fifth district in the embattled Helmand province to fall under the control of the Taliban (NYT, Post). A firefight between Taliban militants and Afghan security forces personnel broke out late Monday night and continued into Tuesday morning. The fall of Khan Neshin comes in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Musa Qala and Now Zad districts on Feb. 21. Two other districts, Sangin and Kajaki, are nearly fully controlled by the Taliban, except for government centers. Baryalia Nazari, a provincial council member, said, “I’m afraid if this continues the province of Helmand will fall soon.” Some remain optimistic. Last month, a fresh deployment of 700 U.S. troops moved from other locations in Afghanistan to Helmand. The Helmand police chief, Gen. Abdul Rahman Sarjang, said, “The Taliban only attack outposts and overrun them, and we are retaking those posts from them, so it does not mean they are dominating Helmand.”
The fall of Khan Neshin came as NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, was in Kabul for meetings with President Ashraf Ghani. Stoltenberg reiterated NATO’s support for Afghanistan and Afghan security forces, saying, “We will continue to provide financial support so they can be sustainable in the long term. The single most important thing we want to see is that Afghanistan continue to implement reforms.” He also acknowledged the impending trouble, commenting, “I expect 2016 to be difficult.”
Ghani: IS is “on the run” in Afghanistan
During NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg’s visit to Kabul, Afghan President Ahsraf Ghani chose to highlight the successes of the country’s campaign against the Islamic State (IS), and downplayed the continued struggles against the Taliban (Reuters). Ghani said, “Daesh (IS) is on the run. They are running for cover.” Due to U.S.-NATO airstrikes and a “massive” ground operation from Afghan security forces, IS in Nangarhar and other locations on the AfPak border have been under increased threat over the last few months. In continuance of this operation and other support for Afghanistan, Stoltenberg and NATO have pledged $5.1 billion per year through 2017 to Afghanistan.
General Campbell calls for more action against the Taliban
General John F. Campbell, whose command of U.S.-NATO forces in Afghanistan recently ended and is in the final weeks of his military career, made proposals in the days leading up to March 2 – his final day on the job – that requested greater U.S. air support for Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, carrying out strikes against Taliban leaders, and embedding U.S. advisers with Afghan personnel on the front lines (Post). Today, U.S. forces can only attack the Taliban when the group poses a direct threat to U.S. forces or Afghan troops are faced with being overtaken.
There is controversy over the channels through which Gen. Campbell submitted his recommendations, possibly circumventing Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and going straight to the White House. Gen. Campbell denied this claim. In an interview with The Washington Post, Gen. Campbell said, “We aren’t going to get more people — politically there’s no appetite because we are downsizing. So the only thing I can affect is my authority to strike different groups and my authority to provide different enablers to the Afghans.” Campbell’s recommendations are contrary to the White House’s current strategy in Afghanistan, which, in light of the official end of combat operations in 2014, holds that the United States is not fighting a war against the Taliban. As Gen. John W. Nicholson is now the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, another strategic review will come shortly. U.S. forces are scheduled to draw down from 9,800 to 5,500 in 2017.
In a statement released on Sunday, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the insurgent group Hezb-e-Islami, said he and his group would join peace talks with the Afghan government “to show Afghans we want peace” (Post, VOA). Hekmatyar, designated a “global terrorist” by the U.S. Department of State and blacklisted by the UN, and Hezb-e-Islami have aligned with the Taliban in the past and have previously attacked government targets. Hekmatyar is a 68 year-old former prime minister – serving briefly during the 1990s civil war – and it is unclear what influence he’ll have on the Taliban’s stance on joining the peace talks. However, Javad Faisal, a government spokesman, welcomed the announcement, saying, “It is an important and good news because Hezb-e-Islami has for years been fighting the Afghan government.” The insurgent group maintains its opposition to the United States’ role in the country, a view it shares with the Taliban.
Pentagon: Expect lull in fight against Taliban during poppy harvest
Brigadier General Wilson Shoffner, a spokesman for U.S.-NATO forces in Afghanistan, believes the looming poppy harvest season – usually beginning around the end of March – will bring with it a pause in the fighting between Afghan forces, U.S.-NATO forces, and the Taliban enemy combatants (Military). Shoffner, in a Pentagon brief conducted from Kabul last week, said, “We anticipate that spike in activity [by the Taliban] will continue until about the latter part of March and then there should be a lull as the harvest gets under way.” Opiates, sourced from Afghanistan’s bountiful poppy supply (especially in Helmand province), account for roughly 13 percent of the country’s GDP, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and account for nearly half the Taliban’s revenue stream.