Watchdog finds little progress in Afghanistan, despite US optimism

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s South Asia strategy has shown few signs of progress this quarter, a US government watchdog report said on Monday, despite public assertions by the US military that Taliban militants were on the back foot.

An inspector general report said that there had been few signs of significant progress by Afghan security forces and the Taliban continued to carry out deadly attacks.

“Available metrics showed few signs of progress, and during the quarter, the Taliban and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria - Khorasan each launched highprofile attacks in Kabul that killed hundreds,” a statement accompanying the report said.

In August, Trump committed the United States to an openended conflict in Afghanistan, dispatching an additional 3,000 troops to the nearly 17-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands of Afghan civilians.

Publicly, US officials have presented an optimistic view of the situation in Afghanistan. US Army General John Nicholson, who leads US and international forces in Afghanistan, in November said the country had ‘turned the corner.’

Nicholson was the latest US military official to try and put a positive image on the war, despite few signs of an end to the conflict.

“This quarter the Taliban continued to hold territory and launched devastating terrorist attacks in Kabul and across the country,” the watchdog report said.