Afghanistan Weekly Reader: After the Surge, 68,000 U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
The last of the U.S. troops sent to Afghanistan almost three years ago as part of the “surge” strategy left Afghanistan this week. With the surge troops gone, 68,000 U.S. troops are still stationed in Afghanistan. Also this week, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force released its monthly report on the insurgency. The data shows that, while insurgent attacks decreased slightly compared to last year, “the overall level of violence in Afghanistan, as measured by ISAF, remains worse than prior to the 2010 surge of American forces.”
From ASG
9/25/12
Congressman calls for accelerated drawdown
Afghanistan Study Group by Mary Kaszynski
“I think we should remove ourselves from Afghanistan as quickly as we can,” Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-FL) Young said in an interview with The Tampa Bay Times.
ARTICLES
9/20/12
Final ‘surge’ troops leave Afghanistan
The Washington Post by Craig Whitlock
The last of the 33,000 “surge” troops President Obama ordered to Afghanistan in December 2009 have left the country, the Pentagon announced Friday, just ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline.
9/27/12
Military’s Own Report Card Gives Afghan Surge an F
Wired’s Danger Room by Spencer Ackerman
The U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan ended last week. Conditions in Afghanistan are mostly worse than before it began.
That conclusion doesn’t come from anti-war advocates. It relies on data recently released by the NATO command in Afghanistan.
9/25/12
ISAF data show insurgent attacks down, civilian casualties up
The Long War Journal by Thomas Joscelyn
ISAF’s data show that while the number of enemy-initiated attacks (EIAs) thus far this year has decreased slightly, as compared to the first eight months of 2011, the number of civilian casualties increased dramatically.
OPINION
9/25/12
Get out of Afghanistan – today
Slate by Fred Kaplan
The latest news from Afghanistan only underscores what’s been clear for quite some time: that there is no light at the end of the tunnel in this war, no noble way out, not much point to staying in.
9/20/12
Payoff? Assessing the Afghan Surge
CNN’s Security Clearance by Mike Mount
The surge of U.S. forces into Afghanistan is all but over. Within days, the last several hundred troops will have left the country, according to U.S. military officials, ending an almost three-year operation to quash what was widely viewed as Taliban resurgence.
