ISAF Official: Campaign Remains on Track as Surge Winds Down

By Claudette Roulo and Army Sgt. 1stClass Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – The International SecurityAssistance Force’s campaign in Afghanistan is on track to achieve theobjectives and timeline NATO set forth at its November 2010 summit, and Americansurge forces are on schedule to return home by Oct. 1, a senior ISAF officialsaid today.
“The surge has effectively covered andenabled the training and fielding of the Afghan national security force, and isan amazing outcome in and of itself,” Brig. Gen. Roger Noble of the Australianarmy, deputy to ISAF’s operations chief, told Pentagon reporters via satellitefrom Kabul, Afghanistan.
“The blood, sweat and tears of manycoalition soldiers, especially many brave Americans, has directly delivered thetime and space for the [Afghan forces] to stand up and assume the lead for thesecurity of Afghanistan,” he added.
Citing “relentless pressure on theenemy” by Afghan and coalition forces, Noble said insurgents have been pushedout of major population centers, allowing 76 percent of the Afghan populationto live in areas of relative calm.
“In these areas, Afghans have the leadfor their own security and their own lives,” he said. “And the future ofAfghanistan is, day by day, increasingly in Afghan hands, as it must be andshould be.”
While insider attacks are an ongoingproblem, he said, ISAF is conducting a detailed analysis of every shooterinvolved to identify characteristics or traits that can be used to warncoalition forces of potential risks. A major challenge is that most of theshooters are either killed in the attacks or escape, the general acknowledged.
“But that doesn't stop you from stilldigging into their background using multiple means and actually interviewingthe ones that we detain,” he said.
Insider attacks are a long-term tacticused to erode trust, Noble said, and they increase during periods of heightenedtension, as they did in February following an incident in which coalitionforces inadvertently mishandled Korans.
Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, theISAF commander, raised the force protection level in light of the insiderattacks, Noble said, noting that the force protection level changes quite oftenas specific threats rise and fall.
The attacks are a sign that theinsurgency is struggling, Noble said.
“I've got a funny feeling that if theycould get into pickup trucks and drive into Kandahar, they would,” he said.“But they can't do that. And the surge helped do that. There's now not just thecoalition standing in the way of them, but [the Afghan security force] hasabout 350,000 who say, ‘You can't do that. You can't come back.’ And most ofthe people of Afghanistan don't want them back, either.”
Insurgents cause 81 percent of thecivilian casualties in Afghanistan, the general said, through improvisedexplosive devices, assassinations and suicide bombings. “If your only option isto erode confidence and will through extremism and violence,” he said, “theinsider threat methodology fits right into that box of things to do. … Theydon't have a lot of options other than to do that.”
Much work remains to be done, Noblesaid, and the Afghans understand that and are working to improve their vettingprocess and develop the infrastructure to support a professional army.
“It’s a problem that plagues them [aswell],” he said. “Most years, they’ve had far more attacks than we do.”
Noble also clarified recent changes toISAF's model for assisting Afghan forces. ISAF officials said in a writtenstatement yesterday that media reports on the subject were inaccurate.
“General Allen has not said that we'renever going to speak to an Afghan below kandak level again,” Noble said. “Andthat is not what's happening.” A kandak is the Afghan army’s equivalent of abattalion. Rather, he explained, Allen made adjustments due to the heightenedthreat around the "Innocence of Muslims" YouTube video, which has sparkedprotest and violence in the Muslim world.
“You would have to admit [it] has had animpact globally, … and you'd be crazy not to heighten force protection,” hesaid.
Allen is not preventing partnershippatrols below kandak level, Noble said, but simply is reinforcing a requirementto take a considered decision about when, where and how that happens.
“We're going to take all the lessons outof [the insider attacks] and check around the whole country to make sure thatthere can't be a repeat, or [to] minimize the chance of repeat,” he said.
ISAF officials try to look “forward andbackwards in context,” he added, trying to keep day-to-day activity inperspective and to remain on track for Afghanistan’s security forces to beresponsible for security throughout their country by the end 2014, the goal setat NATO’s 2011 summit.
“Being in Afghanistan, every day throwsup a different challenge, and the enemy is nothing if not innovative andcommitted,” Noble said. “So when we get hit with the insider threat problem orany new tactics, we'll leave no stone unturned to try and keep our people safe.We're not going to shy away from our commitment to be successful in thecampaign.”