A Pentagon report presented a sobering new assessment Wednesday of the Taliban-led insurgency, saying that its abilities are expanding and its operations are increasing in sophistication, a view that highlights the extent of the challenge still confronting the Obama administration's war strategy.
The report, requested by Congress, gives the most realistic and comprehensive U.S. view in years of the Taliban and other insurgent groups, and for the first time portrays a movement with deep roots and broad reach, able to withstand repeated U.S. onslaughts and to re-establish its influence, while discrediting and undermining the country's Western-backed government.
The Pentagon remains optimistic that its strategy, formed after an administration review last year, will demonstrate success in the months to come. But the new report makes no attempt to downplay the strengths and advantages enjoyed by the Taliban and other insurgent organizations.
The assessment comes on the heels of a U.S-led offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand province and follows the capture of several senior Taliban leaders, developments widely seen as a boost to the momentum behind allied troops in the 9-year-old war. Those successes backed the view that President Obama's decision to deploy 30,000 additional U.S. forces had begun to show positive results.
