By Aaron Mehta, Defense News: “U.S. forces are no longer bound by requirements to be in contact with enemy forces in Afghanistan before opening fire, thanks to a change in rules of engagement orchestrated by Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.”
Mattis, Dunford: Afghanistan War Is Progressing
By John Grady, USNI News: “Speaking at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Joint Chiefs chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford said that a victory after 16 years of war in Afghanistan would be “convincing the Taliban they cannot win on the battlefield; we can do that.” However, he said when asked, “we are not at the point where we can bring a successful resolution to this war.””
The Congressionally mandated Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) issued a detailed report evaluating the current challenges facing the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and the lessons learned from America’s nearly 15-year campaign in the country. The report argues that security priorities guiding US decisions early in the war effort negatively impacted the current priorities of building ANDSF long-term sustainability capabilities.
The report, which is the first of its kind, concludes that the ANDSF is plagued by debilitating attrition, corruption, equipment shortages, incomplete training, a lack of security infrastructure and widespread illiteracy.
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/10/lessons-learned-from-15-years-in-afghanistan-sigar.php
By Phil Hegseth, FDD's The Long War Journal: “Does the ANDSF need to clear and hold more Afghan territory and provide more reliant security in order for the civilian-side support institutions to thrive? Or, do the civilian-side support institutions need bolstering in order for a more capable ANDSF to take the fight to the Taliban? These questions remain unanswered.”