Posted on 02/01/2012 1:28:38 AM PST by Olog-hai
A secret U.S. military report says that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control over Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw from the country, The Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Lt Col Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), confirmed the document's existence but said it was not a strategic study of operations.
"The classified document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee opinions," he said. "It's not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered an analysis."
Nevertheless, it could be interpreted as a damning assessment of the war, now dragging into its eleventh year and aimed at blocking a Taliban return to power, or possibly an admission of defeat.
It could also reinforce the view of Taliban hardliners that the group should not negotiate peace with the United States and President Hamid Karzai's unpopular government while in a position of strength.
The document cited by Britain's The Times said that Pakistan's powerful security agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was assisting the Taliban in directing attacks against foreign forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
I wonder what ever happened to those “objective, sophisticated” strategic intelligence summaries that were continually leaked to the press during the Bush years to undermine his policies? There was the one in ‘06 where the “judgment “ was made that the Iraq war was lost, and the one that stated Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program.
This is what you end up with when you have a gutted intelligence framework, of course.
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