US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said a “long and difficult” fight looms in Afghanistan, on a day when eleven civilians and three US-led soldiers were killed in the war-torn country.
A bomb ripped through a minibus on Friday near Kandahar, killing eleven civilians including women and children. Two NATO troops were killed in a small market in Zabul province and a third soldier lost his life in a bombing in the east.
After a meeting in Brussels on Friday, defense ministers of NATO member states issued a statement saying, “Operations across Afghanistan are making measured progress in extending the reach of the Afghan government, changing the political conditions and marginalizing the insurgency… Significant challenges remain, and success is not yet assured.”
At the meeting, the US defense secretary acknowledged that the signs of progress so far were “tentative,” adding, “As far as I’m concerned, this endeavor began in full, and reasonably resourced, only a few months ago.”
He went on to say that Washington underestimated the volatility of the situation in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and did not deploy enough troops.
According to a UN report, over 2,400 Afghan civilians were killed in 2009, the largest number of civilian casualties since the war began in 2001.
After a meeting in Brussels on Friday, defense ministers of NATO member states issued a statement saying, “Operations across Afghanistan are making measured progress in extending the reach of the Afghan government, changing the political conditions and marginalizing the insurgency… Significant challenges remain, and success is not yet assured.”
At the meeting, the US defense secretary acknowledged that the signs of progress so far were “tentative,” adding, “As far as I’m concerned, this endeavor began in full, and reasonably resourced, only a few months ago.”
He went on to say that Washington underestimated the volatility of the situation in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2001 and did not deploy enough troops.
According to a UN report, over 2,400 Afghan civilians were killed in 2009, the largest number of civilian casualties since the war began in 2001.
Source: Press TV
Comments