NATO: Combat role in Afghanistan could pass 2014

[unhappycamper]

NATO: Combat role in Afghanistan could pass 2014
(AP) – 2 hours ago

"There might still be one or two parts of the country where the transition process is ongoing and that might last into 2015 or beyond," Sedwill said. "This is the point about 2014, it's not an end of mission. It's not even a complete change of mission, but it is an inflection point where the balance of the mission would have shifted."

Two-thirds of all enemy-initiated attacks occur in three provinces — Kandahar and Helmand in the south and Kunar in the northeast, so those areas will likely be the last to be handed over, NATO officials have said, with 10 Afghan districts accounting for 50 percent of all the violence.

In addition, specialist strike units that target terrorist operatives are likely to keep conducting operations even after the Afghan government has taken over responsibility, Sedwill said.

He said both 2011 — the date set for U.S. troops to begin drawing down — and 2014 are "intermediate milestones" in a larger mission that will last much longer.

A summit of Afghan leaders and allies Lisbon this weekend will aim to set broad terms for that longer mission. NATO and the Afghan government plan to sign an agreement that will set out the international community's commitment to Afghanistan, including support for training forces, the growth of the Afghan military and intelligence sharing, Sedwill said.



unhappycamper comment: Oh goody. Only another half decade to go. :(

[Bragi]

1. On and on and on and on and...

On and on it goes. Who knew that you can't stop a war, it just keeps on going, almost of its own accord.

Except it isn't happening of its own accord, it's happening because President Obama:

1. erred when he accepted the fiction that this was "a good war";
2. erred when he promised to add troops to replicate the "surge" in Iraq (that has now been seen to be a failure);
3. her erred when he refused to admit that his A'ghan surge was not working; and
4. he is now making the mistake of refusing to pack up and withdraw from the A'ghan quagmire that is now his own creation.

Sad. And so avoidable. All he had to do when he took over was to admit the situation in Afghanistan is not repairable even with more and more troops, and begin the drawdown. Americans, especially those who voted for him, would have cheered and been invigorated by this.

Instead, his errors on the Afghan war are undermining/will continue to undermine his Presidency.

[Solly Mack]

2. k/r

...

[rug]

3. Don't worry. The US will be out by then. Promise kept. NATO, otoh, will be there for decades.

[Gravel Democrat]

4. no

Camp Bondsteel is the main base of the United States Army under KFOR command in Kosovo. Located near Ferizaj (Uroševac) in the eastern part of Kosovo, the base serves as the NATO headquarters for KFOR's Multinational Brigade East (MNBG-E). The base is named after Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient United States Army Staff Sergeant James L. Bondsteel.

Camp Bondsteel was constructed by the 94th Engineer Construction Battalion, 568 Combat Support Engineer Company together with the private Kellogg, Brown and Root Corporation (KBR) under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers. KBR is also the prime contractor for the operation of the camp. The camp is built mainly of wooden, semi permanent SEA (South East Asia) huts and is surrounded by a 2.5 m (8.2 ft) high earthen wall. The camp occupies 955 acres (3.86 km2) of land.<1> To construct the base, two hills were flattened and the valley between them was filled. In August 1999, 52 helipads were constructed on the facility's south perimeter to handle helicopter aviation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Bondsteel