By Nick SimeoneAmerican Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2012 – Partneredoperations between coalition and Afghan forces are continuing despite adecision by the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan to scale them backin response to a series of deadly insider attacks, Pentagon Press SecretaryGeorge Little said today.
On Sept. 16, Marine Corps Gen. John R.Allen ordered that all combined International Security Assistance Force andAfghan operations below the battalion level must be approved at the regionalcommand level following attacks by Afghan soldiers and police that have killed51 members of the coalition this year.
At a Pentagon news conference today,Little told reporters he did not know how long such operations would be scaledback, but that some patrols below the battalion level do continue. “This is atemporary measure,” he said, “and let me be clear as well that operations withour Afghan partners continue.”
Last week, Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey,chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the pullback as precautionaryand partly in response to the violent anti-American demonstrations that brokeout across the Islamic world after an American-made video surfaced on theInternet defaming the Prophet Muhammad. “The protection of our personnel isparamount, and we will continue to make adjustments as required over time toensure their security,” Little said.
The spokesman said it would be up to thecommand in Afghanistan to determine how long partnered operations arecurtailed, and that Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta strongly supports Allen’sdecision. He called coalition operations “successful” and stressed that theU.S. goal in Afghanistan remains the same.
“We see Afghans more and more in thelead for their own operations and for their own governance. That is the goalhere, that is what we’re training toward,” he said.
“At the end of the day,” he added, “thatis how success is going to be defined: whether Afghans can provide for theirown security and govern themselves.”
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