The war in Afghanistan, nine years on

In October 2001, the US military began its operations in Afghanistan – nine years later, there are more US troops in Afghanistan than ever. And yet the situation on the ground remains extremely difficult. Parts of the country remain under the sway of the Taliban, especially in the south and east. The country’s second-largest city, Kandahar, remains a hotbed of Taliban support. Lisa Mullins talks with The World’s Ben Gilbert in Kandahar.

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LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is the World. On this date nine years ago the Afghan war was about to begin. It was on October 7th 2001, that US military operations in Afghanistan got underway.

GEORGE W. BUSH:  On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These carefully targeted actions are designed …

MULLINS:  Nine years later, there are more US troops in Afghanistan than ever. 95,000 today. And yet the situation on the ground remains extremely difficult. Parts of Afghanistan remain under the sway of the Taliban, especially in the south and east. The country’s second-largest city is Kandahar and it remains a hotbed of Taliban support. The World’s Ben Gilbert is in Kandahar right now. He’s embedded with the American Military Police. Who does control this important city of Kandahar today?

BEN GILBERT: Well Lisa, nine years later that’s hard to say. I was just speaking with the military police commander here and he says that security has improved over the last few months. There are five times more military police in the city than there were when I was last here three months ago, but still it is a struggle to say who controls the city. It is still very insecure here.

MULLINS: Well, in terms of the insecurity, where do you see it? Where is it visible? And also I want you to talk about the stability and what does function there.

GILBERT: The basic services are still very much in need there. There’s a shortage of electricity and water, but also there are periods when the city is very quiet and there are also periods, like the last couple days, where it can be extremely violent. There were two assassinations in the last three days. There was a deputy mayor who was killed as he left his office in a very, what’s assumed to be, a secure part of the city or more secure part of the city. There was a former district leader who was killed in the northern part of the province just outside the city earlier this week also. Then there were two IEDs that killed 12 people the last two nights. And those were complicated attacks where an IED was set and it blew up on a security forces vehicle and then as first responders arrived, ambulance or people who arrived to help out, another bomb would go off, kind of Baghdad style and we haven’t seen a whole lot of that here.

MULLINS: So, can you just describe what you’re seeing around you right now, what it looks like and feels like to be there?

GILBERT: This is one of the problems with – the problem with where I am right now is that I’m on an American base in the middle of Kandahar City and very much looks like maybe a boy scout camp would in the desert southwest. There are a lot of trailers. There are a lot of military vehicles. There’s a big gravel parking lot in front of me and very basic facilities here for eating, sleeping, but it’s also very isolated. I mean we’re surrounded by tall walls and guard posts. And you can walk out into the city, but it’s also very dangerous to walk out. And the soldiers and most of the state department people and other civilian government officials who work here don’t leave unless they are in a big military vehicle which kind of resembles driving in a submarine through, to quote a friend, driving a submarine through Afghanistan. So, this has been one of the issues in that there have been too few resources devoted to this mission in the past and in a lot of ways, not enough people to necessarily secure it so that the work that needed to be done, could be done. And now we’ll see how this edition of resources and troops works out.

MULLINS: Just one other quick thing. We are hearing today about talks between the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and the Taliban. What are you hearing about that and what’s the US military’s take on it?

GILBERT: The guys here down at this low of a level are pretty busy. That’s a pretty high level discussion taking place among the highest officials in the government. Internationally, Saudi Arabia’s been involved and… But I know that General Petraeus said today that he sees it as a positive step if this is true that the Taliban are speaking with the Afghan government. He has implemented the counterinsurgency strategy here and counterinsurgency strategy is focused on not necessarily killing your enemy, but convincing your enemy to put down his weapons and come to the table and talk. And then you can kill the people who don’t want to put down their weapons. So, I think they see this as a positive development if it turns out to be the case.

MULLINS:  Alright, well it’s good to talk to you from Kandahar, Afghanistan. The World’s Ben Gilbert, thank you.

GILBERT: Thanks, Lisa.

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