Thomas Day and Jonathan Landay of McClatchy Newspapers have provided us with a detailed look at the mounting difficulties in Afghanistan:
As the U.S. and its allies try to overcome logistical hurdles and rush some 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan in 2010, intelligence officials are warning that the Taliban-led insurgency is expanding and that “time is running out” for the U.S.-led coalition to prove that its strategy can succeed.
The Taliban have created a shadow “government-in-waiting,” complete with Cabinet ministers, that could assume power if the U.S.-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai fails, a senior International Security Assistance Force intelligence official said in Kabul, speaking only on the condition of anonymity as a matter of ISAF policy.
As the Obama administration and its European allies face dwindling public and political support for the eight-year-old Afghan war, the Taliban now have what the official called “a full-fledged insurgency” and shadow governors in 33 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, including those in the north, where U.S. and other officials had thought the Islamic extremists posed less of a threat.
…As the Taliban have extended their reach, they’ve also grown more formidable militarily by developing bigger and more effective improvised explosive devices. Insurgents have mounted 7,228 IED attacks so far this year, compared with 81 in 2003, and, as McClatchy reported last month, the homemade bombs have even destroyed some Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, the most heavily armored U.S. troop transports.
With President Obama’s decision to send 30,000, instead of 40,000, additional troops to Afghanistan, this information enhances the urgency for the U.S. to secure the commitment of enough NATO forces to fill the gap. With Afghanistan gaining traction in the public’s consciousness as the operation becomes more imperiled, similar to Iraq in 2006-2007, and terrorism yet again rearing its ugly head, Obama will likely find his focus and efforts increasingly diverted away from his domestic agenda and toward national security.
