Scott Lucas
midst all the flurry of Presidential announcements and Congressional hearings on Pakistan-Afghanistan, this is the most important document to sneak onto the Internet this week.
Wikileaks has posted a report of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command, circulated on 1 March 2009. TRADOC is based in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where General David Petraeus developed his counter-insurgency approach before returning to Iraq in 2007 and then becoming head of US Central Command.
The document is burdened by acronyms, not to mention confusion over the numerous insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but a careful reader can pick out the high (or low) points:
“Permanent Taliban presence [heavy Taliban/insurgent activity now amounts to 72% of the total landmass”, as of November 2008. The figure in 2007 was 54%.
http://sydwalker.info/blog/2009/04/04/afghanistan-leaks-and-lies/
“4 main highways into Kabul compromised by Taliban; Taliban infiltrate Kabul at will.”
“IEDs [improvised explosive devices attacks rose late summer 2008 and continued to rise in 2009….Winter violence are at highest levels since 2001 invasion.”
The number of US troops Killed in Action rose 50 percent in 2008.