The Obama administration's strategy of "escalation" in Afghanistan
has failed to curb the Taliban, says Antiwar News editor, adding that the
outlook for 2011 is even bleaker than 2010, the bloodiest year of the
war.
"Almost everyone agrees that 2011 is going to be even worse that 2010
which was the worst year yet," Jason Ditz said in an interview with Press TV's
U.S. Desk on Friday.
He went on to dismiss the official claim of progress in Afghanistan,
saying there is no evidence on the ground to support that assertion.
"Despite the recent claims of Progress there does not seem to be any
reason to believe that there is going to be any sort of major improvement
anytime in the near future."
U.S. "officials are content to just keep fighting exactly as they
have been. Even their own force estimates show that the Taliban aren't getting
any weaker." Ditz added.
"Their estimates at the beginning of the latest escalation was 25,000
Taliban, their estimate as of this week is still 25,000 Taliban so they are
really not accomplishing anything."
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Antiwar editor, lamented that the
civilian casualties will rise in Afghanistan.
"We can predict ever worsening death tolls and very little material
progress."
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has recently approved yet another
escalation of the war in Afghanistan, this time approving another 1,400 Marines
who are expected to be sent to Afghanistan within a matter of
weeks.
The Afghanistan war was not authorized by the United Nations Security
Council and many experts call it illegal under international
law. The U.S. Department of Defense employs over 112,000 "contractors" in
Afghanistan including around 26,000 armed contractors who are in fact
mercenaries. Thus, U.S.-employed contractors outnumber U.S. troops in
Afghanistan. The U.S. currently has around 100,000 troops in
Afghanistan. Since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, more than 34,000
Afghan civilians have been killed in the country as a result of the
war. By the end of 2010, the war had resulted in 2,281 coalition
casualties, including 1,445 American deaths. U.S. fatalities in 2010 (711)
accounted for nearly half of all U.S. deaths since the war began over nine years
ago, according to iCasualties. UNAMA reports that 2010 was the bloodiest year since the war began in
terms of the civilian death toll. In July 2010, the whistle blower website Wikileaks released over
75,000 classified reports covering the Afghanistan War. The secret documents
reveal 144 incidents in which coalition soldiers killed or wounded
civilians. HJ/SM/HSH