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US: Afghan War Review Shows 'Fragile, Reversible' Progress

   VOA News 16 December 2010

Photo: REUTERS

   Taliban  fighters  pose  with  weapons  in  an undisclosed location in
   Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, December 13, 2010.

   A  new  U.S. government review of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and
   Pakistan  shows  progress  against insurgents, but that these security
   gains remain "fragile and reversible."
   The  review,  set to be formally released Thursday, says U.S. strategy
   will  continue  to  focus  on  defeating al-Qaida and the Taliban. The
   momentum  of  both  Taliban  and  al-Qaida fighters has been weakened,
   according  to  the  review,  despite continued planning of large-scale
   attacks on the Western targets. Â
   The  report  also  says  consolidating  those  gains will require more
   cooperation from Pakistan to eliminate extremist safe havens along the
   border with Afghanistan. Â
   The  review  comes one year after President Barack Obama announced the
   surge  of  30,000  additional  troops to Afghanistan. It says the U.S.
   strategy is setting the conditions to begin withdrawing U.S. forces as
   planned, in 2011.
   Mr. Obama will discuss the war strategy later Thursday.
   Meantime,  a  [1]new  poll from The Washington Post and ABC News shows
   support for the war in Afghanistan has reached a new low.
   The survey says a record-high 60 percent of Americans think the war is
   not worth fighting, compared to 34 percent who say it is.
   At  the same time last year, 44 percent of Americans said they did not
   think the war was worth fighting.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

References

   1. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/abc-news-washington-post-poll-exclusive-afghanistan-war/story?id=12404367

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