Another seven U.S. soldiers lost their lives in Afghanistan this week, while another 73 were wounded in action. Afghanistan continues to be a dangerous place and is far from being secure, although NATO leaders and top commanders will tout the progress that has been made. This week marked the anniversary of the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden in a compound in Afghanistan. On this occasion President Obama traveled to Afghanistan, visited the U.S. troops at Bagram Airbase and traveled to Kabul to sign the Strategic Partnership Agreement with Afghanistan.
The Treaty, which deals with the residual U.S. force after withdrawal, the training and maintenance of Afghan Security Forces was in danger of collapsing based on the funding guarantee given by the U.S. Earlier this week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai had demanded that the U.S commit in writing to at least $2Billion out of the estimated $4.2 Billion needed to fund Afghanistan.
While Afghan forces are expected to level at 228,500 by 2017, they are expected to grow to 352,000 soldiers and police officers this year, but the future size is under discussion. A force of this size has to be funded, trained, equipped and paid. The price tag for the force is approximately $4.1 Billion, of which the United States is expected to pay $2.3 Billion. The remainder is to be split among NATO allies and the Afghan government.
U.S. officials told reporters that the objective was to sign the agreement on Afghan soil. It has five components: transition, training, partnership, reconciliation and rebuilding. The emphasized the point that the U.S. learned the lesson of 1989 and will not abandon Afghanistan.
President Obama addressed the American people from Afghanistan, which many pundits saw as a "Mission Accomplished: speech.
Tonight, I can tell you that we are fulfilling that commitment. Thanks to our men and women in uniform, our civilian personnel, and our many coalition partners, we are meeting our goals. As a result, starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer, fully recovering the surge I announced at West Point. After this initial reduction, our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace as Afghan Security forces move into the lead. Our mission will change from combat to support. By 2014, this process of transition will be complete, and the Afghan people will be responsible for their own security.
Full Text of President Obama's Speech
While the President touted achievement of goals in Afghanistan, pundits believe that this could be the President's "Mission Accomplished" moment. Afghanistan is still very volatile and the Taliban attacked a compound that houses foreigners in Kabul just two hours after the President left Afghanistan.
There has been criticism of the President for politicizing the Bin Laden killing. Facts are that the security of Afghanistan is still far from established. The Taliban have just announced their spring offensive.
U.S. officials told reporters that the objective was to sign the agreement on Afghan soil. It has five components: transition, training, partnership, reconciliation and rebuilding. The emphasized the point that the U.S. learned the lesson of 1989 and will not abandon Afghanistan.
This has been a difficult week for U.S. foreign policy. Syria is a mess, Iran appears to use the upcoming talks as a stall strategy as they proceed with developing a nuclear weapon, which Israel now claims will be completed in 60 days. Russia is warning of deployment of rockets in Eastern Europe near Poland to defend against the European Missile Defense System and there has been the row with China over the Chinese dissident Chen.
On the economic front jobs figures released this week were not encouraging. 14 Million Americans are still unemployed in real terms and the labour force is the smallest since 1981.
The election campaign is now in full swing and Americans can expect heated rhetoric from both camps. Afghanistan is once again slipped below the radar. Regardless NATO and U.S. soldiers are still facing the enemy on a daily basis and paying the ultimate price. Two British soldiers were killed yesterday in Southern Afghanistan.
With all the contraicting messages, take a moment this week and think of the men and women that are making the sacrifices in Afghanistan daily. Lest We Forget.
Below are this week’s updated DoD casualty figures:
Op Enduring Freedom Total Deaths KIA Non Hostile WIA
Afghanistan Only 1835 1520 315 15786
Other Locations 111 12 99
DoD Civ Casualties 3 1 2
Worldwide Total 1949 1533 416 15786
Accumulated 2012 Casualties:
KIA Non Combat Deaths WIA
68 47 608
List of Casualties at Casualties.org
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