Officials Ignore Gloomy War View, Eye Pakistan Expansion
Published on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 by The Australian
Pentagon Ignores Gloomy War View
Afghan assessment: Report due Thursday
by Amanda Hodge
Barack Obama is expected to claim solid progress in the war in Afghanistan tonight.
U.S. Marines watch a helicopter send out flares as it leaves Musa Qala in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province. (Massoud Hossaini, AFP/Getty Images / December 15, 2010)The review will contradict far gloomier findings by his own intelligence agencies that the war cannot be won while Pakistan refuses to close militant safe havens.
The review is tipped to reaffirm a US-troop drawdown from July next year with a final handover to Afghan security forces in 2014 - a plan endorsed last month by NATO to allow coalition forces sufficient time to improve local military and law enforcement capacity.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/pentagon-ignores-gloomy-war-view/story-e6frg6so-1225971734981