Joint Chiefs chair sees signs of progress in Afghan war
TACTICAL BASE GAMBERI, Afghanistan (AP) — In fits and starts, for nearly a decade, the U.S. has talked about and struggled to make progress on building an Afghan military that can take control of its own nation’s security and lay the groundwork for a stable government.
This time, they think they have it right.
After five days criss-crossing Afghanistan, meeting with everyone from the Afghan president to the new American trainers on the ground, Gen. Joseph Dunford headed home Friday with a palpable sense of optimism.
Just months after the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan declared the war against the Taliban and other insurgents a stalemate, Dunford — chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — said he can see the makings of a shift.
“What we’re already starting to see is, I think, momentum is going to favor the Afghan forces,” Dunford told the small group of reporters traveling with him, adding that the deployment of 800 new Army trainers “will serve as an accelerant to the Afghans being able to achieve momentum.”
One thing that gave him hope was a recent Afghan military operation in the east, where the Taliban have long been strong. It delivered, in his words, a “eureka” moment.
Dubbed Saleb 1-23, the Afghan military operation was launched in mid-February in a move to oust the Taliban from a critical 10-kilometer stretch of valley in Laghman Province. Taliban fighters have used that area as a transit route across the border with Pakistan, where they enjoy safe havens.
U.S. Army Maj. Marc Pfrogner, the operations adviser for the Afghans’ 201st Corps, said the complex mission took 50 days to plan.
He said it lasted until March 9, and got fiercer as the Afghans moved up Sangar Valley. Four
Afghan forces died in the fight, and 30 Taliban were killed.
But what impressed the Americans was the coordinated battle the Afghans waged, using their own intelligence, gathered in part from the Scan Eagle drone they got last September.
With guidance from their American advisers, Afghan commandos launched the initial assaults, supported by Afghan aircraft.
The Afghan National Army forces followed, clearing the area, and National Police units moved in to hold the ground, enabling local political leaders to retake the government.
U.S. surveillance and strike aircraft provided support, but American military commanders said much of that was invisible to the local people, who saw the Afghan forces as their liberators.
The coordination between the intelligence collection, the fighting forces and the police, said Dunford, is what the U.S. has been waiting to see.
“If you want to talk about what right looks like — from the Afghan security force and the government rolling in behind it — that operation was about textbook,” said Dunford. “I’m trying to restrain my enthusiasm here, but I’m having trouble, because that is the most positive observation that I’ve had over the last two days. You’re kinda like, eureka!”