Training of ANSF Won't Be Complete until 2016/2017, Units "Still Too Dependent on Coalition": ISAF
13 June 2011
Not a single Afghan police or army unit is capable of maintaining law and order in the war-torn country without the support of coalition forces, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. Almost a decade after international troops were sent in to overthrow the Taliban and help to establish a functioning democracy in Afghanistan, a combination of poor training, lack of numbers, corruption and illiteracy has left the country unable to protect its own people....
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Ninety Percent of Captured "Taliban" Were Civilians: US Data
13 June 2011
During his intensive initial round of media interviews as commander in Afghanistan in August 2010, Gen. David Petraeus released figures to the news media that claimed spectacular success for raids by Special Operations Forces: in a 90-day period from May through July, SOF units had captured 1,355 rank and file Taliban, killed another 1,031, and killed or captured 365 middle or high-ranking Taliban. The claims of huge numbers of Taliban captured and...
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Afghan Taliban Cede Ground in the South, but Fears Linger
13 June 2011
The poppy harvest is over and the fighting season has arrived in southern Afghanistan — except this year the Taliban have not returned in their usual numbers to intensify the war, Afghans across the region say. They credit the thousands of additional American troops and Afghan forces deployed to insurgency-ridden districts who have cleared out most of the Taliban and are keeping them at bay. The change is palpable. In Marja, the district in...
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May Deadliest Month on Record for Civilians: UN
13 June 2011
The UN says May was the deadliest month for civilians in Afghanistan since 2007, when the organisation started recording civilian casualties. The UN said "anti-government elements" were responsible for 82% of the 368 "conflict-related civilian deaths". "Pro-government forces", including Nato, caused 45 of the deaths. The news came as several deadly insurgent attacks killed at least 18 people, most of them civilians, in the volatile south and east...
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