Hard Fight Ahead for Troops in Afghanistan – Gains Being Made

Washington, D.C. (May 12) – Presidents Obama and Karzai met in the nation’s capital today to iron out what may have been disagreements created by the press. Afghani President Karzai came to Washington to seek whatever support he could muster for a peace deal between his government and the Taliban.

Both leaders stated today during a press conference that followed their private meeting stressed, that many of the disagreements have been greatly exaggerated and both leaders share the same battle strategy regarding dealing with insurgents within Afghanistan’s borders.

President Obama predicted tough fighting in the coming months as new offensives are mounted against the Taliban. However, there was confidence in the air regarding the outcome and the ability to begin drawing down troops by July next year stating,  ”we will start bringing those troops down and turning over more and more responsibility to Afghan security forces that we are building up,” Obama said. “But we are not suddenly as of July 2011 finished with Afghanistan. In fact to the contrary . . . this is a long-term partnership that is not simply defined by our military presence.”

President Obama also made it clear that, the armed forces were doing whatever possible to eliminate the risks of civilian casualties during the conflict even though, it adds risks for troops in the field during operations.

Prior to today’s visit, President Karzai visited wounded troops at Walter Reid Medical Center expressing his gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices U.S troops have endured, during the nine-year-old conflict in his home country. “It was heart-rending,” Karzai said. “This shows the commitment that the United States has to bringing security to Afghanistan.”

Yesterday, President Karzai spent the day with his delegation meeting with U.S. Officials led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Reports from those meetings suggested that certain tactics regarding U.S. built around counterinsurgency methodology were a focal point of the meetings.

Karzia’s fears that, the insurgents are simply playing the waiting game until the U.S. troop draw down begins at which time, the insurgents will then begin flexing more muscle in toppling the current Afghan government.

With the next offensive planned to begin in Kandahar Province next month, leaders from both counties differ in the views of the operations but agree on a common goal. U.S. officials state their plan is as much integration as it will be military while, Karzai has laid-out an offer to the insurgents to sit-down and discuss deals on how to allocate the $160 million in international aids to the new government bodies, as well as programs to provide jobs for low-level insurgents who agree to stop the fight.

So far, the insurgent leaders are leery of Karzai offers, stating they feel that both Karzai’s government and Pakistan’s government are simply too cozy with the United States to be trusted. Efforts’ regarding the apprehension of those responsible for the attacks on September 11 was not mentioned.

Posted by worldnews on May 12, 2010. Filed under International Politics,News,terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.