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Old 02-01-2018, 02:44 PM
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Arrow US troops at greater risk in Afghanistan under Pentagon's 'new approach,' top officia

US troops at greater risk in Afghanistan under Pentagon's 'new approach,' top official says
By Paulina Dedaj | Fox News - 2-1-18 1 hr ago
RE: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018...cial-says.html

Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, announced Thursday that the Pentagon's "new approach" in Afghanistan may lead to more U.S. casualties. (Center for Strategic and International Studies)

The latest military campaign in Afghanistan will most likely lead to “continued American casualties” as the U.S. takes a “new approach” in the troubled region, a top official at the Pentagon said Thursday.

Speaking at a press briefing, Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, director of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, told reporters that the Pentagon is sending more U.S. troops closer to the frontlines as they advise the Afghan troops in charge of airstrikes.

But he warned of the risk with this latest approach.

“Americans are at risk and unfortunately there’re probably going to be continued American casualties in this campaign,” McKenzie said.

In the growing effort to combat the Taliban, the U.S. will be deploying 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan by April, bringing the total number of troops to 15,000.

Just last week the U.S. Air Force deployed twelve A-10 Thunderbolt jets to provide air-support for both American and Afghan troops in the region. It also sent more drones and search and rescue helicopters.

The Trump administration has made serious gains against the Taliban, an effort that began after the 9/11 terror attacks.

Under Trump, boots on the ground have increased from around 8,400 to the anticipated 15,000 by spring.

The air operation has also been successful with more bombs being dropped in the region in 2017 than in 2012, according to the Air Force.

Trump has been vocal about increasing the number of troops on the ground as part of a commitment to defeating terrorism globally.

Despite sending more troops, U.S. involvement in Afghanistan is still much lower than when it hit its peak in 2010 with more than 100,000 troops in the region.

McKenzie said that deploying more troops under this “new approach” should have a different effect than prior campaigns.

“The difference this time,” he said, is that “it is the Afghans who are doing the fighting.”
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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Old 02-01-2018, 02:55 PM
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Post The Pentagon is clamping down on information being released about the 16-year-long wa

The Pentagon is clamping down on information being released about the 16-year-long war in Afghanistan
By: Robert Burns, Associated Press - Jan. 30, 2018, 9:00 AM
RE: http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-pe...ar-data-2018-1

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has ordered an independent federal auditor to stop providing the public with key information about US war efforts in Afghanistan, accelerating a clampdown on data, such as the size of the Afghan military and police forces, that indicate how the 16-year-old stalemated war is going.

The crackdown on information comes just months after President Donald Trump announced a new Afghanistan strategy aimed at breaking a battlefield stalemate by accelerating Afghan-led operations against the Taliban and other insurgent groups in the country. Trump on Monday railed against the recent string of attacks in Afghanistan, and ruled out any US discussions with the Taliban as part of the effort to seek peace talks between the Afghan government and the insurgents.

The auditing agency, established by Congress and known as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, revealed the new gag order in its latest three-month assessment of conditions in Afghanistan. The restrictions fly in the face of Pentagon assertions over the past year that it was striving to be more transparent about the US war campaigns across Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Over the years, the SIGAR auditing effort has revealed many dubious practices by the US, including instances of contractor fraud. Since January 2016 it had published data on the number of governing districts controlled by Kabul, the number controlled by the Taliban, and the number that are contested.

John F. Sopko, head of the auditing organization, expressed disappointment that the Pentagon had forbidden release of the data on relative control of the governing districts.

"This development is troubling for a number of reasons, not least of which is that this is the first time SIGAR has been specifically instructed not to release information marked 'unclassified' to the American taxpayer," Sopko wrote.

"Aside from that, the number of districts controlled or influenced by the Afghan government had been one of the last remaining publicly available indicators for members of Congress — many of whose staff do not have access to the classified annexes to SIGAR reports — and for the American public of how the 16-year-long US effort to secure Afghanistan is faring," he added.

In response, the Pentagon said the US-led coalition of NATO and allied nations in Afghanistan made the decision to restrict the public release of the information.

The Defense Department told SIGAR this month that it doesn't "have the authority to overrule the classification determination made by NATO Resolute Support," said Lt. Col. Michael Andrews. He said that similar information was included in the department's December 2017 semi-annual report to Congress, and the Pentagon encouraged SIGAR to use that data.

The Defense Department report said the Afghan government has control or influence over 60% of the population, while insurgents had control or influence over approximately 10 percent of the population, with the remainder contested.

In November, Gen. John Nicholson described the Afghan government control during remarks to reporters at the Pentagon. He said it remained "roughly the same" as in 2016. "About 64% of the population is controlled by the government, about 24% live in contested areas, and the Taliban control the remaining 12%," he said. He did not reveal the number of districts held by each side.

Sopko wrote that historically, the number of districts controlled or influenced by the government has been falling since his office began reporting on it, while the number controlled or influenced by the insurgents has been rising — "a fact that should cause even more concern about its disappearance from public disclosure and discussion."

The war effort has sometimes faded from US public attention, even though the US has invested about $120 billion in reconstructing Afghanistan since 2002.

Sopko said in his report that the Pentagon also classified or otherwise restricted information that his organization had previously reported publicly, including such "fundamental metrics" of the Afghan military and police performance as Afghan casualty figures and most measurements of the battlefield capabilities of the Afghans military.
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O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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