Top general sees ‘uptick’ in Taliban attacks

The top American commander in Afghanistan said forces had seen an “uptick” in fighting against the Taliban as the U.S. draws down its troop levels.

“The last couple of weeks, there’s been an uptick with the Taliban trying to make a statement as they close out the fighting season,” said Army Gen. John Campbell, International Security Assistance Force commander, in a video conference on Thursday.

{mosads}But Campbell said he was confident U.S. and Afghan forces would be able to hold their ground.

He said local reports of fighting in southern Afghanistan’s Ghazni and Helmand provinces were exaggerated, and called reports of possible beheadings there “absolutely false.” 

“The Taliban may take over a district center or something, but only temporarily,” he said. “Once the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] understand that piece of it, they go after that, they get the terrain back. So I’m very confident in their abilities.” 

Campbell, though, acknowledged that Afghan troop casualties spiked in the last month, with 7,000-9,000 more total casualties than last year. 

“But that’s because they’ve been in the lead almost completely this summer, more so than they were last year,” Campbell said of the Afghan forces.

The uptick in violence comes as U.S. troops are preparing to draw down from the approximately 24,000 currently in the country to 9,800 by December. 

The new Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, signed a bilateral security agreement with the U.S. earlier this week that allows for 9,800 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan beyond the end of the combat mission in 2014. They will continue to train and advise the Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism missions. 

However, those forces will draw down to roughly half that level by the end of the 2015, and down to an embassy presence at the end of 2016 — prompting concerns on Capitol Hill that security gains will be squandered. 

Some Republicans have accused President Obama of prematurely drawing down forces to essentially zero by 2017 as he leaves office, allowing him to end the U.S. troop presence during his tenure but risking an Iraq-like scenario. 

Iraq experienced a security meltdown following the U.S. departure, with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a Sunni militant group, capturing parts of the country.

Campbell, who commanded two divisions in Iraq, pushed back against comparing the two countries, but added, “I think any military guy is going to tell you, if you could leave a force, you’d always leave a force.” 

Campbell said the signing of the security agreement has boosted Afghan forces’ confidence, and expressed support for the current drawdown plan.

“I feel very confident that we have a good plan,” he said.

“But as any commander on the ground, you know, I reserve the right to be able to take a look at the risk to the force, risk to the mission, and then provide my assessments to my chain of command as we move forward,” he cautioned.

Campbell said U.S. special forces are still embedding with local special operations units, but that otherwise, American troops were no longer patrolling with their Afghan counterparts. 

However, he said, it was still a difficult fight in Afghanistan.

“We continue to have a very, very tough environment here in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, we lost a soldier the other night. We lost three about five days ago,” he said. “So this continues to be a very tough environment for our soldiers, for all of NATO and for the Afghan security forces.

“But I do believe that the difference that the coalition’s had over the last 13 years continues to bring hope to the Afghan people,” Campbell said.