U.S. military, civilian officials claim progress in Afghan war

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U.S. military, civilian officials claim progress in Afghan war
By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, October 16, 2010; 10:28 PM

KABUL - With a year-end report card coming due, top U.S. military and civilian officials in Afghanistan have begun to assert that they see concrete progress in the war against the Taliban, a sharp departure from earlier assessments that the insurgency had the momentum.

Despite growing numbers of Taliban attacks and American casualties, U.S. officials are building their case for why they are on the right track, ahead of the December war review ordered by President Obama. They describe an aggressive campaign that has killed or captured hundreds of Taliban leaders and more than 3,000 fighters around the country in recent months, and has pressured insurgents into exploring talks with the Afghan government. At the same time, they say, the Afghan army is bigger and better trained than it has ever been.

Officials point in particular to the southern province of Helmand, where U.S. troops are most densely concentrated. They say pockets of relative security are spreading where the Taliban once held sway, noting bustling bazaars and new schools.

"Compared to where we were a year ago, we're seeing some positive trends emerging," said U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry, who last year had warned that it would be risky to send new troops to Afghanistan given the Kabul government's unreliability.

"I want to be clear: There are areas with significant insecurity," he said in an interview last week. But, he added, the expanding operations of NATO and Afghan forces "are starting to have a cumulative effect."