(reuters_tickers)
By Josh Smith
KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan government controls less than 60 percent of the country, a U.S. watchdog agency reported on Wednesday, after security forces retreated from many strongholds last year.
Afghan soldiers and police, with the aid of thousands of foreign military advisers, are struggling to hold off a resurgent insurgency led by the Taliban, as well as other groups like Islamic State.
As of November, the government could only claim to control or influence 57 percent of Afghanistan’s 407 districts, according to U.S. military estimates released by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), in a quarterly report to the U.S. Congress.
That represents a 15 percent decrease in territory held compared with the same time in 2015, the agency said in a report.
“SIGAR’s analysis of the most recent data provided by U.S. forces in Afghanistan suggests that the security situation in Afghanistan has not improved this quarter,” it said.
“The numbers of the Afghan security forces are decreasing, while both casualties and the number of districts under insurgent control or influence are increasing.”
More than 10 percent of districts are under insurgent control or influence, while 33 percent are contested, according to the report.
MORE: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/afghan-government-controls-less-than-60-percent-of-country—watchdog/42927342
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Categories: Afghanistan, Asia, The Muslim Times, United States
And how many billions (or was that trillions?) of dollars did that cost so far? No doubt we will see holiday movies celebrating the ‘US victories’ in Afghanistan.