 The US military officer heading forces in southern Afghanistan said Friday that about there are still about 800 members of the Taliban operating in the southern provinces of the country.
| That sounds kinda light to me. Maybe that's just the number of Number 3's... |
Colonel Kevin Owens, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon via videophone from Kandahar, said that coalition forces in Afghanistan have "significantly degraded" Taliban capabilities, but have not completely devastated their presence. In other parts of Afghanistan, such as the northern Zabul Province, Owens said the area has traditionally been a sanctuary for Taliban forces. "It is very remote, very rugged terrain. It is very isolated both geographically and politically from the rest of Afghanistan," said Owens.
| Sounds like a great place for napalm... |
Owens acknowledged that it is hard to "get at" the Taliban in those locations, but said he believes the US military has had "a lot of success in being able to go where coalition forces really have not been able to operate effectively in the past". Although last weekends elections in Afghanistan saw little violence, six candidates were murdered in the run-up to the parliamentary elections by Taliban-claimed attacks.
| They thought there was too much violence... |
Owens said he is optimistic that the recently executed National Assembly election is going to have a significant impact in its ability to reach and affect a broader segment of the Afghan population. As for the location of Osama Bin-Laden, who was suspected in the past of finding refuge in remote areas of northeastern Afghanistan, Owens ruled out that the US "most-wanted terrorist" is located in the southern region of the country. But Owens admitted he has no idea where Bin-Laden is. In addition, the Pentagon said it does not believe Mullah Omar, a partner to Bin-Laden, is operating in Afghanistan or has any leading role in current Taliban operations there.
| "Last we checked, he was still in Peshawar..." |
Moreover, the nearly 10,000 US troops still stationed in Afghanistan will not be significantly downsized or withdraw before Afghan forces are "fully trained top to bottom," Owens said. Owens said Afghan forces must be capable of providing security independent of coalition assistance and that right now this is not situation on the ground. |