WASHINGTON: Kabul´s control of Afghanistan slipped in recent months as local security forces suffered record-level casualties while making minimal or no progress against the Taliban, a US government watchdog said Thursday.
The latest glimpse into Afghanistan´s security crisis highlights persistent problems among police and army units who have faced years of devastating losses, and shows the Taliban´s resilience 17 years after the US-led invasion.
Numbers provided by Resolute Support, the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, show that during the last quarter, the Afghan government controlled or influenced 226 of the country´s 407 districts — or 55.5 percent.
According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which compiled the data, the figure marks a slight drop (0.7 percent) over the previous quarter.
It is the lowest level since SIGAR began tracking district control in November 2015.
Of the remaining districts, SIGAR assessed that 49 were under insurgent control or influence (12 percent). The balance — 132 districts — are considered “contested” between the Kabul government and the Taliban or other insurgent groups.
In terms of the Afghan population itself, Kabul controls or influences 65.2 percent, the same amount as a year ago.
Insider attack
General John Nicholson, who is now retired but at the time was head of Resolute Support, said in November 2017 that the Afghan security forces would expand control of the population to 80 percent over the next two years. Bill Roggio, an Afghanistan expert and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told AFP such a scenario is unlikely.
