In his year-end assessment of the 15-year war in Afghanistan, the U.S. general in charge says Afghan security forces have been tested and prevailed.
While the Taliban has launched more attacks this year than last, Lt. Gen. John Nicholson said none were successful.
“Beginning in August, we saw the enemy make eight attempts to seize provincial capitols inside the country. Every one of these attempts failed,” Nicholson said in a Pentagon briefing Friday.
“On the 6th of October, the Afghans faced four simultaneous attacks on their cities and they defeated each one of these attacks,” Nicholson said. “This ability to deal with simultaneous crises, as a military professional, I can tell you this is a sign of an army that’s growing in capability, that’s maturing in terms of its ability to handle simultaneity and complexity on the battlefield.”
Nicholson said the Afghan government controls areas of the country that contain 64 percent of the population, while the Taliban control less than 10 percent of the population. The remainder of the country’s population, roughly 26 percent, lives in areas that are considered contested.
While the war has dragged on since the official end of the NATO combat mission two years ago, Nicholson said the Afghan army is finally acquitting itself well on the battlefield.
“It’s important to remember that five years ago, when we started building the Afghan Security Forces, we had about 140,000 U.S. and coalition troops in the country. We are now down to less than one-tenth of that,” Nicholson said. “Today, it’s the Afghan Security Forces who are responsible for securing their own country, with the assistance of our advisory and [counterterrorism] effort.”
Nicholson said Afghanistan’s 17,000 special forces are “arguably the best in the region,” and are conducting about 70 percent of the Afghan Army’s offensive operations.
One particular area of improvement is in close-air support, which the Afghans used to rely totally on the United States to provide.
But as of April, the fledgling Afghan Air Force has fielded eight A-29 ground attacks planes, along with 120 tactical air controllers in order to provide its own air cover, and air support.
The Afghans also have a special mission air wing, which is fully capable of night operations, and which provides day and night helicopter support for the Afghan special forces.
Nicholson said the biggest challenges facing Afghanistan next year are leadership and corruption in the Afghan military.
“I’ve spoken very frankly to them about these issues. I know President Ghani is very serious about addressing these issues over the winter,” Nicholson said, adding that Afghan police and army plan to focus on replacing ineffective or corrupt leaders.
