American troops were deployed to the capital of Afghanistan’s Helmand province this week as a surging Taliban threatens to seize control of the city from Afghan forces.
The development is once again putting the Obama administration’s strategy in Afghanistan, including the president’s commitment to pull American forces out of the country, under the microscope.
American officials announced Monday that roughly 100 U.S. troops had arrived in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, after local Afghan officials warned that the city was in danger of falling to the Taliban. Insurgents have made gains around the city despite U.S. airstrikes, seizing nearby districts and battling with Afghan forces.
Defense experts who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon described the troop deployment as minimal and no reason to be optimistic about the security situation in Helmand.
"The number is not enough because there are not enough U.S. troops in Afghanistan to actually be able to go back into these areas where we have already labeled them ‘transitioned’ to the Afghan national army and the Afghan local police," said Michael Pregent, a former intelligence officer who served as a company commander in Afghanistan in 2002. Pregent criticized the Pentagon for revealing the number of troops it has sent to Lashkar Gah.
"What we’re doing now, to me, it’s part of this incremental process of providing 100 more troops here, 50 more troops here, to satisfy the news cycle. It’s not enduring at all," said Luke Coffey, a foreign policy expert at the Heritage Foundation.
"It’s not much. I think firstly we have to lower our expectations for Helmand," Coffey said, while stipulating he does not expect Lashkar Gah to fall under "long-term control" of the Taliban.
Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said Monday that the U.S. troops were sent to Lashkar Gah on a temporary basis, though it was unclear how long they would remain. The troops are advising and assisting Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, according to Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook, and some will provide force protection on the mission.
"There still are challenges in Afghanistan, there are dangerous places in Afghanistan," Cook told journalists in Washington, D.C., adding that Afghan forces "have seen some setbacks" in Helmand.
One American service member has already died in Lashkar Gah after his patrol triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) near the capital on Tuesday. The Pentagon identified the fallen soldier on Wednesday as Staff Sgt. Matthew Thompson, 28, who was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Washington.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the incident serves as a reminder that "Afghanistan remains a dangerous place" and "difficult work" remains to ensure that Afghan forces can secure their own country.
Helmand was the focus of Marine Corps operations for several years during the Afghanistan War and was the scene of some of the bloodiest battles between international forces and the Taliban. At the peak of violence in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011, the middle section of Helmand Province, controlled by British forces, comprised 1 percent of the Afghan population but accounted for over 20 percent of the country’s violence, Coffey said.
Over a year and a half after President Obama announced the end of combat operations in Afghanistan, Helmand has become the scene of fierce fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan forces. Reports surfaced in February that the Army would deploy hundreds more soldiers to the province.
The conflict has closed roads and caused people to flee areas of intense violence.
"Around 80 percent of the province is under the control of the insurgents," Kareem Atal, the head of Helmand’s provincial council, told the Associated Press on Monday. "There are a number of districts that the government claims are under their control, but the government is only present in the district administrative center and all around are under the control of the insurgents."
The Taliban has made gains across Afghanistan as U.S. and allied militaries have scaled back their commitments in the country. A semi-annual report from the Defense Department on the situation in Afghanistan released in June cast light on the Taliban’s resurgence during the first months of 2016.
"Seeking to exploit weaknesses in the [Afghan security forces] and take advantage of the reduced international military presence, the Taliban continue to expand their influence, especially in rural areas of the country that lack effective Afghan government representation," the report said.
The deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan has forced Obama to rethink his plan to withdraw American forces from the country. Last month, the president slowed the planned drawdown of forces in Afghanistan, announcing that he would reduce troop levels to 8,400 instead of the planned 5,500 by the time he leaves office. But many have insisted that the current level of 9,800 American troops, or more, is imperative to help Afghan forces maintain security.
"While I believe conditions on the ground warranted retaining the current force level, the decision to retain 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan into next year is certainly preferable to cutting those forces by nearly half," Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a July statement.
"That said, when the president himself describes the security situation in Afghanistan as ‘precarious,’ it is difficult to discern any strategic rationale for withdrawing 1,400 U.S. troops by the end of the year."
Anthony Cordesman, an expert on defense strategy and capabilities at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote in a recent report that the 8,400 troop level is "at best a half measure in meeting Afghanistan’s real needs."
Pregent said there should be roughly a one-to-four ratio of American troops to Afghan security forces, specifically 10 U.S. advisers for every 500 Afghan troops and 100 U.S. soldiers ready to provide quick reaction to protect the 10 advisers. He stressed that U.S. forces should commit to remaining in Afghanistan until the Taliban is degraded and defeated.
"The biggest mistake Obama has made in Afghanistan is announcing troop levels and announcing troop reduction dates, putting a timeline on U.S. commitment to Afghanistan, putting a timeline on U.S. commitment of forces," Pregent said. "If you look at Afghanistan now, it’s more dangerous than ever. Now not only do you have the Taliban there, not only do you have the Haqqani group there, not only do you have Pakistani-Taliban cross border ops, you now have ISIS."
"We shouldn’t have any soldiers die anymore in this country unless we are determined to win, and we’re not," Pregent said.