Pentagon report to Congress details challenges in Afghanistan

The Pentagon’s congressionally mandated, semiannual report on Afghanistan finds that despite substantial U.S. and coalition support for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces last year, “terrorist and insurgent groups continued to present a formidable challenge.”

The report covers the six months from June through November 2019. That was when President Trump had suspended peace talks and the Taliban employed what the report called a “fight-and-talk” strategy “to disrupt the democratic process, pressure the United States and delegitimize the Afghan government.”