The Taliban control roughly 10 percent of the country while another 25 percent is contested between Afghan forces and insurgent groups.
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The Taliban have control over 10 percent of Afghanistan’s population and the insurgent group is battling with the Afghan government for control of at least another 20 percent, the top USA commander in Afghanistan said Friday.
Fifteen years after the 9/11 attacks, the USA military continues to pursue the terrorist organization’s top leaders in eastern Afghanistan, a senior US military commander told reporters in the Pentagon Friday.
Nicholson said the Afghan security forces have proved their mettle this year through a three-part operation that successfully fended off Taliban advances on city centers in Kunduz, Helmand and Uruzgan provinces before turning toward an offensive assault on the Islamic State group in Nangarhar Province.
The progress of Afghan security forces is particularly evident in their special forces, police special units and its air force among other elements in which the Afghans conduct the majority of their operations, he said.
“On balance, I would call what is going on right now between the Afghan national defense security forces and the Taliban [as] roughly a stalemate”, Dunford, who commanded USA and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan from 2013-2014, told lawmakers.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday morning, Dunford indicated that he is uncomfortable with the number of casualties endured by the Afghan forces than American troops are training, advising, and assisting in the fight against the Taliban.
At least 69 Taliban militants were killed in fresh military operations across Afghanistan, authorities said on Friday.
“The Taliban have not been successful in achieving the goals that were outlined in their campaign plan, which they typically make public in the spring of each year, and on balance the Afghan forces are holding”, said Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
The situation on the ground has reached an “equilibrium”, or “stalemate”, Nicholson said. The remaining quarter of the population is contested.
“It’s something we are concerned about, but it’s something we are addressing with the Afghans and hoping to help them move forward next year and increase the amount of control they have”, he said. He blamed the checkpoint system for numerous Afghan security forces casualties, especially the national police.
There are now about 14,000 USA and coalition forces in Afghanistan, including 9,800 American forces.
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Bruce Riedel, a former senior Central Intelligence Agency and White House official, said the admission that the Taliban may control 30 percent of the country was “startling”. Nicholson said he was confident that was the proper number of Americans to help the Afghans continue to improve while also targeting terrorist organizations including the Islamic State group and al-Qaida.
