Ed Morrissey:
Five years ago, Barack Obama announced that the US would pull out of Afghanistan in 2014 in order to put an end to the war that began shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Someone forgot to tell the Taliban that the war would come to a close. The New York Times published the conclusion of a United Nations review of the war, which states that the Taliban has grown to its strongest position yet since being deposed fourteen years ago by the US and NATO:
The Taliban insurgency has spread through more of Afghanistan than at any point since 2001, according to data compiled by the United Nations as well as interviews with numerous local officials in areas under threat.
In addition, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan over the past two weeks has evacuated four of its 13 provincial offices around the country — the most it has ever done for security reasons — according to local officials in the affected areas.
The data, compiled in early September — even before the latest surge in violence in northern Afghanistan — showed that United Nations security officials had already rated the threat level in about half of the country’s administrative districts as either “high” or “extreme,” more than at any time since the American invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001.
That assessment, which has not been publicly released but is routinely shared by the United Nations with countries in the international coalition, appears at odds with the assessment of its American commander, Gen. John F. Campbell, in his testimony to Congress last week.
“The Afghan security forces have displayed courage and resilience,” General Campbell testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. “They’re still holding. The Afghan government retains control of Kabul, of Highway One, its provincial capitals and nearly all of the district centers.”
As if to punctuate this, the Taliban attacked a coalition convoy in Kabul. The Taliban claimed multiple deaths of foreign fighters, but the coalition says only three were injured.
Meanwhile, not only does the Taliban remain in control of Kunduz, they are using it to branch outward in the north. Newsweek reports that this is a bad omen for NATO and the current Afghan government, especially as the Taliban acquire more allies:
Another of Obama’s great successes. This was the “important” war and Obama neglected this one, too. We are only fortunate we did not have another war going on; Obama would have lost that one, too.
Afghanistan will join the ranks of Iraq, Yemen, and Libya as yet another country that Obama retreated from and turned over to the terrorists. It’s so wonder he declared GWOT over with. That way his numerous retreats can’t be called surrenders and therefore he couldn’t be accused of losing GWOT.