The August 10th, 2011 blog entry, 'Great quotes', highlighted a quote by Marine Gen. John R. Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, who claimed that “All across Afghanistan, the insurgents are losing. They’re losing territory, they’re losing leadership, they’re losing weapons and supplies, they’re losing public support. More and more, the insurgents are losing resolve and the will to fight.”
Hmm, as suspected, this turns out to be a slight (?) exaggeration. An Army Lieutenant Colonel recently penned an article - Truth, lies and Afghanistan: How military leaders have let us down - which notes the "discrepancy between official statements and the truth on the ground" and takes senior military leaders to task... Some brief quotes:
"... What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground... I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level... I heard many stories of how insurgents controlled virtually every piece of land beyond eyeshot of a U.S. or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base..." A must read.
Updated 2/11:
Here's a link to the unclassified version of the report: Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leader’s Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort84-page PDF
Hmm, as suspected, this turns out to be a slight (?) exaggeration. An Army Lieutenant Colonel recently penned an article - Truth, lies and Afghanistan: How military leaders have let us down - which notes the "discrepancy between official statements and the truth on the ground" and takes senior military leaders to task... Some brief quotes:
"... What I saw bore no resemblance to rosy official statements by U.S. military leaders about conditions on the ground... I witnessed the absence of success on virtually every level... I heard many stories of how insurgents controlled virtually every piece of land beyond eyeshot of a U.S. or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) base..." A must read.
Updated 2/11:
Here's a link to the unclassified version of the report: Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leader’s Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort84-page PDF
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