Taliban Asserting Control In Afghanistan As U.S. Extends Combat Role To 2015

Hour’s Drive Outside Kabul, Taliban Reign -- New York Times

CHARKALAH, Afghanistan — The explosion ripped through the floor of the Humvee, tearing a hole in the armored vehicle and injuring the district governor. The crack of Taliban gunfire followed.

Seeking cover, the Afghan police convoy sped behind a mud compound and unleashed a hail of bullets. Undeterred, the Taliban fighters edged closer. As bullets smacked around his head, an Afghan soldier in a white head scarf crouched behind a waist-high wall trading shots with the insurgents, a cigarette tucked in his lips.

“This is our daily life,” said the police chief of Tagab district, a mostly Taliban-controlled patch of Kapisa Province about an hour from Kabul, as rounds struck the compound’s edges, showering his men with dirt. “Everything is like this — you can see it with your own eyes.”

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Update #1: White House extends U.S. combat role in Afghanistan into 2015 -- CNN
Update #2: Obama widens post-2014 combat role for U.S. forces in Afghanistan -- Reuters
Update #3: Afghan parliament OKs U.S. troops beyond 2014 -- AP

My Comment: I think there is a growing realization (especially in Washington) that the momentum is now shifting to the Taliban in this conflict. Will extending the U.S. combat role to 2015 make a difference .... probably not .... but it will not surprise me that in 2015 .... when the fighting season starts again after winter and the opium crop is harvested .... that the Taliban will then start major military operations that will raise alarms in Kabul, Washington, and among our international allies.