For the first time since it began issuing quarterly reports in 2016, the drumpf DOD has blocked dissemination of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction’s latest assessment... for the 4th quarter of 2017.
“Afghan government forces are struggling to turn the tide against Taliban insurgents, and the U.S. military is seeking to block the release of information about the war’s progress, a government watchdog said Tuesday.
The gloomy assessment came hours before U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, when he is expected to tout the military campaign in Afghanistan, where he has sent several thousand reinforcements and approved a major expansion of bombing raids. About 15,000 U.S. troops are now on the ground, more than 16 years after American forces first deployed there after the 9/11 attacks.
In its latest report on the state of the war, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, wrote that the U.S. military had ordered it not to publish a range of data about how much territory is under the control of the Afghan government or insurgents — even though the information is not classified and had previously been released.”
On the linked page SIGAR protests the restriction.
“I am pleased to submit to Congress and the Secretaries of State and Defense, SIGAR’s 38th quarterly report on the status of the U.S. reconstruction effort in Afghanistan.This quarter, the Department of Defense (DOD) instructed SIGAR not to release to the public data on the number of districts, and the population living in them, controlled or influenced by the Afghan government or by the insurgents, or contested by both.* SIGAR has been reporting district-control data since January 2016,and later added estimates of population and land-area control reported by DOD. As shown in Appendix E of this quarterly report, SIGAR was informed this quarter that DOD has determined that although the most recent numbers are unclassified, they are not releasable to the public.This development is troubling for a number of reasons, not least of which is that this is the first time SIGAR has been specifically instructed not to release information marked “unclassified” to the American taxpayer.Aside from that, the number of districts controlled or influenced by the Afghan government had been one of the last remaining publicly available indicators for members of Congress—many of whose staff do not have access to the classified annexes to SIGAR reports—and for the American public of how the 16-yearlong U.S. effort to secure Afghanistan is faring. Historically, the number of districts controlled or influenced by the government has been falling since SIGAR began reporting on it, while the number controlled or influenced by the insurgents has been rising—a fact that should cause even more concern about its disappearance from public disclosure and discussion. This worrisome development comes as DOD this quarter, for the first time since 2009, also classified the exact strength figures for most Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), another vital measure of ANDSF reconstruction.** Meanwhile, for the second consecutive quarter, DOD also classified or otherwise restricted information SIGAR had previously reported including such fundamental metrics of ANDSF performance as casualties, attrition, and most capability assessments.”
In its 3rd quarter of 2017 report, SIGAR pointed out the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan, which has only worsened since drumpf was inaugurated.
“ALALABAD, AFGHANISTAN– More than three 3.7 million Afghans, about 11 percent of the population, now live in areas under the control or influence of the Taliban and other armed groups, a new report by the top U.S. watchdog in Afghanistan has found.
The situation described in the Special Investigator General for Afghanistan Reconstruction’s latest report to Congress comes as little surprise to the Afghan people, after a particularly bloody week at the tail-end of October. For the Trump administration, however, the report to Congress may serve as another jolt to their strategy for the 16-year-long war, which the president unveiled in an Aug. 22 speech….
According to SIGAR, 700,000 more Afghans now live in areas under the influence or control of the armed opposition when compared to the situation in the country six months prior.”
As 60 Minutes reports Kabul is little more than an armed camp now, swollen to a city of 5 million where 500,000 once lived, the road to the airport that was once bustling with U.S. Armed Forces traffic now unusable due to terrorist bombings.
“A few years ago American convoys regularly drove on the airport road below. Now the view from the helicopter window is all most on board will see of Kabul. They'll stay behind blast walls for the rest of their time in Afghanistan. We wanted to know what it says about where we are in this war if American troops can't drive two miles down a road in Kabul.”
Though I am little inclined to be fair to the maladministration, the War In Afghanistan was not going well before they took a crap on D.C.
But nothing they have done since has improved the situation, in fact things are getting worse.
Bad mouthing Pakistan is unlikely to help.
And Mattis and his orange boss don’t want you to read about it.