More Magical Thinking on Afghanistan Posted by Michael Cohen

Michael O'Hanlon on the situation in Afghanistan - October 6, 2010

"Afghanistan remains a tough fight, but at least three-quarters of the country - starting with bustling Kabul, extending into most of the north and west and including parts of the east - is either in reasonably promising shape or improving," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank who just returned from a trip to Afghanistan.

And in other news in Northern Afghanistan - October 8, 2010

In an audacious attack, insurgents assassinated the governor of Kunduz Province on Friday by bombing the mosque where he attended the weekly Friday Prayer, according to Afghan officials.

The bomb blast killed 12 people and wounded 33 at the main mosque in Taliqan, the capital of Takhar Province, which borders Kunduz.

The assassination underscored the growing capability of the insurgency in northern Afghanistan, which has become increasingly unstable over the past year. Mr. Omar was the third government official in the past two months to be assassinated in the region. In August and September, district governors were killed in Kunduz and Baghlan Provinces.

In Western Afghanistan - October 9, 2010:

Four Italian soldiers were killed and one seriously wounded in an insurgent attack in western Afghanistan on Saturday . . .

Italy has more than 3,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, mainly deployed in the western part of the country that is usually less violent than other areas in the south and the east.

In Eastern Afghanistan - October 11, 2010

Roadside bombs killed eleven people including two NATO troops in Afghanistan, and a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle near a military convoy, killing a child and wounding two others . . .

. . . Five members of a family were among nine people — including women and children — who died in a roadside bombing in eastern Paktia province's Zurmat district Sunday.

According to a new White House report on the current situation in Afghanistan/Pakistan - October 6, 2010:

Difficulty in safely travelling around the country, the report said, has prevented gains in improving governance or the economy. Among the districts the military considers "key terrain" in Afghanistan, only a few showed improved security, the report said.

And then there was this from just a few months ago - August 10, 2010

Civilian casualties in the Afghan conflict have risen by 31 percent in the first half of 2010, U.N. officials said on Tuesday, blaming insurgents for most of them.

Deaths and injuries among children attributed to insurgents were up 55 percent from 2009 . . . "Afghan children and women are increasingly bearing the brunt of the conflict," he said. "They are being killed and injured in their homes and communities in greater numbers than ever before."

Like Michael O'Hanlon I too just returned from a trip to Afghanistan and the notion that the country is "improving" or is in "reasonably promising shape" is just so far from what I saw and heard (and amazingly for once the White House and I are on the same page here) that I'm having a really hard time believing that he and I were in the same country. 

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