WASHINGTON – The November 2013 “Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan,” was provided late last week to Congress.
While the insurgency remains resilient there has been a fundamental shift in the course of the conflict. “Afghan security forces are now successfully providing security for their own people, fighting their own battles, and holding their own against the insurgency,” according to Pentagon Press Secretary George Little.
The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) continue to progress and they now conduct 95 percent of conventional operations and 98 percent of special operations in Afghanistan. This year marked the first fighting season with Afghan forces in the lead for security operations throughout the country. The only unilateral operations that International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) continues to conduct are ISAF force protection, route clearance, and redeployment.
“The fact that the ANSF – a force in its infancy five years ago – has maintained the gains made by a coalition of 50 nations, with the best trained and equipped forces in the world, is a major accomplishment,” said Little.
