A watchdog agency at the US Defense Department has raised new reservations about “progress” in the 16-year-old US-led war on Afghanistan despite deployment of thousands of more troops to the war-ravaged country.
According to Pentagon’s office of inspector general, the Afghan government forces had not expanded its areas of control by the end of 2017, even as the US military added nearly 3,500 troops and escalated airstrikes against Taliban militants across the country. AP reported Friday.
The government agency stated in its latest report released Friday that it is too early to judge whether the war strategy announced by President Donald Trump in August would achieve its key objective of compelling the Taliban terrorists to reconcile with the government in Kabul.
It further said it is difficult to measure the plan’s effectiveness because potentially useful pieces of information — such as Afghan military casualty rates — are no longer publicly…