Page 19 - 031318

Groton Daily Independent
Tuesday, March 13, 2018 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 242 ~ 19 of 46
The visit is Mattis’ second since Trump announced last August that, despite his instinct to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, his administration would take a more aggressive approach to the con ict, now in its 17th year.
As part of an effort to bolster Afghan ghting strength, the U.S. in recent weeks sent an Army group of about 800 soldiers, accompanied by several hundred support troops, to advise the Afghans closer to the front lines. The U.S. also shifted A-10 attack planes and other aircraft from striking Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan as part of Trump’s new approach. These and other moves boosted the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by at least 3,500 to a total of more than 14,000.
Mattis has said that the U.S. goal is to enable Afghan forces to weaken the Taliban to the point where the Afghans can manage their own security. Put another way, the aim is to convince the insurgents they cannot win on the battle eld, thus driving them to reconcile with the Afghan government.
Stephen Biddle, a George Washington University political science professor and longtime observer of the Afghan con ict, is skeptical that the new U.S. strategy will make a decisive difference militarily, although he sees “glimmers of hope” for progress toward a peace settlement. He noted that both the Taliban and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have spoken recently of pushing for reconciliation. In late February, Ghani called on the Taliban to take part in peace talks to “save the country,” offering security and incentives such as passports to insurgents who are willing to join the negotiations.
Alice Wells, the State Department’s top of cial for South and Central Asian Affairs, said Friday at the United States Institute for Peace that Ghani’s approach is more accommodating toward the Taliban than previous overtures by Kabul and deserves a thoughtful response from the Taliban.
Trump, however, said on Jan. 29 that he sees no basis for peace talks as long as the Taliban are “killing people left and right.”
The Taliban stance is that talks for a con ict-ending compromise must take place with Washington, not Kabul.
U.S. of cials have conveyed messages to Taliban political representatives in Qatar urging the group to negotiate with the Afghan government. Neighboring countries are doubtful about America’s commitment to a political resolution. Pakistan, Iran and Russia are thought to maintain ties to militant proxies inside Afghanistan in case the war-ravaged country collapses.
On the military front, U.S. of cials assert that years of effort to build a credible and effective Afghan army and air force are beginning to pay off. At the same time, it has become harder to gauge such prog- ress because the American-led military coalition has stopped releasing information such as the size of the Afghan army and rates of attrition in its ranks. The number of Afghan combat deaths also is withheld by the Afghan government.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee late last month, Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command, said the Afghan security forces are getting better. He said they do not, however, have the ability to “prevent the insurgency from maintaining a rural presence and occasionally threatening a population center” or important roadway.
In Votel’s view, the greatest risk to stability in Afghanistan is the Kabul government’s “uncertain political situation” as it prepares for planned July 2018 parliamentary elections.
In a late-February report, the Pentagon’s special inspector general for Afghanistan reported that the Afghan government’s control of the country is at its lowest recorded level since the end of 2015 and that Taliban control it at its highest.
China’s new anti-graft body set to boost Xi’s extended rule By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — China is set to give President Xi Jinping a powerful new weapon as he prepares to rule inde nitely — a Communist Party-led anti-corruption agency to police not only the party’s cadres, but also doctors, teachers, entertainers and other state employees.
The move is part of a sweeping government reorganization to boost the authority of the party headed