Chaos in Afghanistan - report
2008-10-09 21:32
Washington - US intelligence agencies
conclude in a draft report that Afghanistan is in a downward
spiral and they doubt whether the Kabul government can stem the
Taliban's rise, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
The classified report says corruption inside President
Hamid Karzai's government and an increase in attacks by
militants operating from Pakistan have accelerated the
breakdown in central authority in Afghanistan, the Times said,
citing US officials familiar with the document.
Asked to comment on the intelligence report, US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice said she had not seen it herself, but
she confirmed that intelligence agencies had been asked to have
a close look at Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan is a difficult place. It has made progress
since 2001.
"We have all talked about new circumstances that
have arisen there and we are doing a review to look to see what
more we can do," Rice told reporters before a meeting with
Latvia's foreign minister.
Strengths and weaknesses
Agencies across the US government, including the State
Department and Pentagon, are doing a review of US strategy in
Afghanistan seven years after US-led forces ousted the
Taliban government.
"We are looking also at what we can do to be both
supportive of the ministers that President Karzai has put up.
"We are looking to see where some of the strengths are and how
we need to support those strengths and also how we can help the
Afghans where there are weaknesses," Rice said.
The New York Times said the intelligence report, a nearly
completed version of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), is set
to be finished after the November elections and will be the
most comprehensive US assessment in years on Afghanistan.
An NIE is a formal document that reflects the consensus
judgements of all 16 US intelligence agencies. Most NIEs
remain classified.
Heroin trade booming
Beyond the cross-border attacks launched by militants from
neighbouring Pakistan, the intelligence report asserts that many
of Afghanistan's most vexing problems are of the country's own
making, the Times quoted the officials as saying.
The report cites gains in the building of Afghanistan's
national army. But the officials said it also laid out in stark
terms what it described as the destabilising impact of the
booming heroin trade, which by some estimates accounts for 50%
of Afghanistan's economy.
US Army General David Petraeus said on Wednesday that
negotiations with some members of the Taliban could provide a
way to reduce violence in sections of Afghanistan gripped by
the intensifying insurgency.
Petraeus, the former commander in Iraq who is credited by
US officials with saving Iraq from civil war, is scheduled to
take over US Central Command on October 31.
In his new post, he
will oversee American military interests across the Middle East
and into South and Central Asia.