From The Christian Science Monitor and Yahoo News:
By Tom A. Peter, Correspondent | Christian Science Monitor – 3 hrs ago
Taliban POWs convinced of victory, says leaked US report on Afghanistan
A leaked internal US military report reflects optimism among Taliban detainees in Afghanistan, who expressed confidence they'll retake control of Afghanistan after NATO forces withdraw.
By Tom A. Peter, Correspondent | Christian Science Monitor – 3 hrs ago
Kabul, Afghanistan
A classified US military report leaked to the media compiles interviews with Taliban detainees who say their group is primed to regain control of Afghanistan after NATO forces leave in 2014.
NATO officials have emphasized that the report does not represent the military’s analysis, only the views of Taliban prisoners still loyal to the movement. The military’s remarks, however, have not stopped many analysts from casting renewed doubt on the success of the US-led military mission here.
“The document may provide some level of representative sampling of Taliban opinions and ideals, but it is clearly a collection of insurgent detainee commentary, and should not be considered an analysis or any type of interpretation of campaign progress,” says US Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
The report had an easy time finding traction among critics of the war, who say it indicates an Afghan mission on the brink of failure at a time of mounting anxiety among many Afghans.
PHOTO GALLERY Talking to the Taliban
With the 2014 deadline looming and the insurgency still far from defeated, many Afghans worry that it’s only a matter of time before instability even worse than the current situation grips the nation.
There have been a number of recent negative indicators. After years of a property boom in Kabul, real estate prices have been in decline since President Obama announced the start of the drawdown in June. Last year, the United Nations charted a record number of Afghan asylum seekers, and a number of investors have expressed concerns about putting their money into local projects until the future is clear.
Abdul Ghani, a poultry farmer in Kabul, says business has slowed in recent months. This summer, he stopped midway through building a new chicken coop because he didn’t want to have too much of money tied down in investments here in case the situation deteriorates.
“I don’t want to invest more money into this project because no one knows what will happen tomorrow,” he says. “Across Afghanistan, business is decreasing, so I don’t want to put all my money into the poultry farm. In the event I need cash, I can use this money to survive.”
Still, a number of Afghans say that while the future remains largely unsettled, there is no need for grave concern. In the decade since the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, the country has grown and evolved in ways that will likely make it difficult for a group like the Taliban to regain control.
“Maybe people are a little bit concerned about their future and they’re careful about their investments, but it doesn’t mean that after the withdrawal of the foreign forces [life] will fall apart inAfghanistan and the Taliban will take over,” says Abdul Majid Wardak, a member of parliament fromWardak Province. “There has been a lot of work and we have our parliament and Constitution … and no one will want to lose these achievements overnight."
A former Taliban militant holds his weapon prior to handing it over during a joining ceremony with the Afghan government in Herat, Afghanistan, Dec. 28, 2011. About 10 former Taliban militants from Herat province handed over their weapons as part of a peace-reconciliation program.
Hoshang Hashimi/AP
Pakistani army soldiers gather at the site of suicide bombing at a paramilitary camp in Bannu, Pakistan, Dec. 24, 2011. A Pakistani Taliban suicide bomber rammed a car filled with explosives into a paramilitary camp in northwestern Pakistan, killing a number of soldiers in the second attack in as many days meant to avenge the killing of senior commander in a US drone strike.
Ijaz Muhammad/AP
Masked Pakistani Taliban militants take part in a training session in an area of Pakistan's tribal South Waziristan region along the Afghan border, Dec. 11, 2011. Associated Press reporter, photographer and videographer Ishtiaq Mahsud spent six days with fighters from the Pakistani Taliban close to the Afghan border. His account of their travels through South Waziristan offers a glimpse into an area that the Pakistani military claimed had been brought under control following an army offensive two years ago.
Ishtiaq Mahsud/AP
NATO and Afghan troops attend to casualties during a battle with Taliban insurgents who took over a building near the US embassy in Kabul September 14, 2011. An assault by Taliban insurgents on the heart of Kabul's diplomatic and military enclave ended after 20 hours, when security forces killed the last of six attackers, a spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior said.
Ahmad Masood/Reuters
Three members of the Afghan police (top) take a break during a visit to the Daychopan district in the austere, mountainous southern part of Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson/U.S. Air Force/AP
An Afghan policeman walks schoolgirls across a street in Herat, west of Kabul.
Reza Shirmohammadi/AP
Afghan police from the Daychopan district, in southern Afghanistan, stand guard as local government officials meet with tribal elders to discuss security measures.
Brian Ferguson/U.S. Air Force/AP
Afghan Taliban fighters at a surrendering ceremony in Helmand province.
Abdul Malik/Reuters/File
An Afghan boy herds sheep through Tarok Kolache, a village in southern Afghanistan that US-backed forces obliterated in a bombing raid last fall to rout the Taliban. The military has since built a new mosque for the village.
Haraz N. Ghanbari/U.S. Navy Ensign/AP
Alleged Pakistani militants belonging to the Taliban are confined in a lockup in Karachi.
Fareed Khan/AP
An Afghan policemen takes a look at the opening of tunnel at the main prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan which prisoners escaped through on April 25. Taliban insurgents dug a more than 1,050-foot tunnel underground and into the main jail in Kandahar city and whisked out more than 450 prisoners, most of whom were Taliban fighters.
Allauddin Khan/AP
It’s been 10 years since the Taliban destroyed two towering Buddha statues cut out of the sandstone at Bamiyan in central Afghanistan. One is shown here in 1997 (l.) and after the destruction in 2001 (r.).
Muzammil Pasha/Sayed Salahuddin/Reuters/File
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