Khandahar will be next focus in Afghanistan

Times:

The volatile Afghan province of Kandahar will be the next focus of the new, more sensitive approach to fighting the Taleban, the top US commander in the country has said.

US and British forces are implementing an Afghan-led strategy in an offensive launched ten days ago in neighbouring Helmand province, according to General Stanley McChrystal. He told reporters that those tactics would form the basic model for future operations.

Asked where the future trouble spots would lie in a country in which Taleban influence remains a threat, he said: “We are going to go to where significant parts of the population are at risk — and Kandahar is clearly very, very important, not just to the south but to the nation.”

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... US, British and Afghan troops are pushing through hostile terrain in the heart of Helmand, with a focus on protecting civilians, helping the Afghan police and army take control and enabling Afghan governance to grow as part of Operation Moshtarak, the largest offensive in Afghanistan since 2001.

“In many ways it is a model for the future: an Afghan-led operation supported by the coalition, deeply engaged with the people,” said General McChrystal, speaking at Nato’s International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. He added that “every situation will be dealt with a little bit differently because conditions in every area are different”.

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One plan is to have the Brits withdraw from Helmand leaving that province to the Marines. The Brits would take over Khandahar where the Dutch and possible the Canadians will be leaving around the end of the year. There are also some US brigades helping with security in the area.

I think Kandahar is a strategic location and denying it to the enemy would be a blow to their credibility. If they lose control there and in Helmand they will also lose their main supply route for Taliban elsewhere in the country.