Jim Michaels of USA Today reports that:
Afghan security forces have suffered record casualties this year as they combat Taliban rebels largely without the benefit of U.S. air power and other international military support they had come to rely on in the past, U.S. and Afghan officials said.
The formal end of the NATO war fighting mission means that:
Afghan security forces have suffered record casualties this year as they combat Taliban rebels largely without the benefit of U.S. air power and other international military support they had come to rely on in the past, U.S. and Afghan officials said.
And:
The United States and its allies have pledged they will continue to fund and help equip the 352,000-person security force.
But:
Last month, Taliban militants overran a number of outposts in the northern province of Kunduz. Afghan forces have been slowed in recapturing terrain from the Taliban because the militants seeded the area with roadside bombs.
