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August 30, 2007
U.S.: Force Not Enough to Beat Taliban
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:13 a.m. ET
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Military force alone is unlikely to defeat the
Taliban in Afghanistan, a top U.S. commander said Thursday, noting that most
insurgencies end with a political solution.
Maj. Gen. Robert Cone, who is in charge of equipping and training Afghan
security forces to take over from international troops, said the local units
were making good progress, but declined to say when they would be strong
enough to allow foreign forces to go home.
Violence is soaring in Afghanistan despite years of counter-insurgency
operations by international troops and millions of dollars spent in
equipping the country's army and police units.
Cone cautioned that military force alone would likely not be enough to beat
the Taliban and other militants battling foreign and Afghan government
troops.
''You can say you defeated them in a single campaign ... but again given the
complex nature of this environment, they might be back again the very next
year,'' he told a media conference in the capital Kabul. ''I think the real
issue is probably not a military solution in the long term.''
Afghan President Hamid Karzai earlier this year said he had met with
unspecified Taliban militants in an attempt to reach a political settlement,
but did not elaborate on the extent of the contacts.
Cone, who arrived in Afghanistan in July, said the ''military will have a
significant impact on the overall solution, but in reality most insurgencies
are dealt with by political solution in the end.''
Hundreds of former members of the hard-line Taliban regime, including a
sprinkling of former senior commanders and officials, have reconciled with
the government since they were ousted from power in the U.S.-led invasion in
2001.
But current rebel leaders have apparently refused to hold talks, and over
the past year, thousands more fighters have joined the insurgency, which
this year alone has left more than 3,900 people dead, especially in southern
and much of eastern Afghanistan. The exact number of insurgents is unclear.
There are more than 42,000 Afghan Army soldiers, and some 75,000 police
members, with plans to create a 70,000-man army and 82,000-strong police
force by the end of 2008. There also are more than 50,000 foreign troops in
the country, including U.S.-led coalition and NATO-led forces.
Formal talks with the Taliban would be politically very sensitive because of
the close relationship top commanders are believed to have with al-Qaida
leaders, including Osama bin Laden.
In the latest violence, unidentified assailants Thursday killed a British
soldier and wounded two others in a routine patrol in the southern province
of Kandahar, the British Ministry of Defense said. An Afghan interpreter
working with the troops also was killed, it said.
On Wednesday, Afghan soldiers and coalition forces found and destroyed an
insurgent-run drug lab after a brief fight in restive Helmand Province,
according to a statement. The opium lab was the second of its kind found in
the past four days in the province.
A significant portion of the profits from Afghanistan's booming drug trade
are thought to flow to Taliban fighters who tax and protect poppy farmers
and drug runners.
U.S.: Force Not Enough to Beat Taliban
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 7:13 a.m. ET
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Military force alone is unlikely to defeat the
Taliban in Afghanistan, a top U.S. commander said Thursday, noting that most
insurgencies end with a political solution.
Maj. Gen. Robert Cone, who is in charge of equipping and training Afghan
security forces to take over from international troops, said the local units
were making good progress, but declined to say when they would be strong
enough to allow foreign forces to go home.
Violence is soaring in Afghanistan despite years of counter-insurgency
operations by international troops and millions of dollars spent in
equipping the country's army and police units.
Cone cautioned that military force alone would likely not be enough to beat
the Taliban and other militants battling foreign and Afghan government
troops.
''You can say you defeated them in a single campaign ... but again given the
complex nature of this environment, they might be back again the very next
year,'' he told a media conference in the capital Kabul. ''I think the real
issue is probably not a military solution in the long term.''
Afghan President Hamid Karzai earlier this year said he had met with
unspecified Taliban militants in an attempt to reach a political settlement,
but did not elaborate on the extent of the contacts.
Cone, who arrived in Afghanistan in July, said the ''military will have a
significant impact on the overall solution, but in reality most insurgencies
are dealt with by political solution in the end.''
Hundreds of former members of the hard-line Taliban regime, including a
sprinkling of former senior commanders and officials, have reconciled with
the government since they were ousted from power in the U.S.-led invasion in
2001.
But current rebel leaders have apparently refused to hold talks, and over
the past year, thousands more fighters have joined the insurgency, which
this year alone has left more than 3,900 people dead, especially in southern
and much of eastern Afghanistan. The exact number of insurgents is unclear.
There are more than 42,000 Afghan Army soldiers, and some 75,000 police
members, with plans to create a 70,000-man army and 82,000-strong police
force by the end of 2008. There also are more than 50,000 foreign troops in
the country, including U.S.-led coalition and NATO-led forces.
Formal talks with the Taliban would be politically very sensitive because of
the close relationship top commanders are believed to have with al-Qaida
leaders, including Osama bin Laden.
In the latest violence, unidentified assailants Thursday killed a British
soldier and wounded two others in a routine patrol in the southern province
of Kandahar, the British Ministry of Defense said. An Afghan interpreter
working with the troops also was killed, it said.
On Wednesday, Afghan soldiers and coalition forces found and destroyed an
insurgent-run drug lab after a brief fight in restive Helmand Province,
according to a statement. The opium lab was the second of its kind found in
the past four days in the province.
A significant portion of the profits from Afghanistan's booming drug trade
are thought to flow to Taliban fighters who tax and protect poppy farmers
and drug runners.
