Taliban Surprising U.S. Forces With Improved Tactics

[IndianaGreen]

:eyes: Why should we be surprised when an adversary adjusts tactics to battlefield conditions?

Taliban Surprising U.S. Forces With Improved Tactics

Obama Facing Major Strategy Decisions

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Taliban has become a much more potent adversary in Afghanistan by improving its own tactics and finding gaps in the U.S. military playbook, according to senior American military officials who acknowledged that the enemy's resurgence this year has taken them by surprise.

U.S. rules of engagement restricting the use of air power and aggressive action against civilians have also opened new space for the insurgents, officials said. Western development projects, such as new roads, schools and police stations, have provided fresh targets for Taliban roadside bombs and suicide attacks. The inability of rising numbers of American troops to protect Afghan citizens has increased resentment of the Western presence and the corrupt Afghan government that cooperates with it, the officials said.

As President Obama faces crucial decisions on his war strategy and declining public support at home, administration and defense officials are studying the reasons why the Taliban appears, for the moment at least, to be winning.

In the spring, Obama outlined a broad new direction for the war that he said his predecessor had starved of attention and resources. He changed the military leadership on the ground, asked Congress for additional money and authorized more manpower. The administration has said that it expects the strategy -- still barely off the ground -- to show results in a year to 18 months.

But many U.S. officials and their allies feel that they are in a race against time and the determination of a battle-hardened enemy that has learned from its own mistakes and those of U.S. and NATO forces over nearly eight years of combat. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan, gave Obama an assessment this week of what he described as a "serious" situation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/01/AR2009090103908.html?hpid=topnews

[bemildred]

1. Gee, who could have predicted this?

:sarcasm:

[timeforpeace]

2. Why do US Forces seem less competent lately?

[Union Yes]

4. War fatigue and plunging morale. Exposure to war zombifies the brain.

Gawd how can we do this to our troops?

[Union Yes]

3. Vietnam2