Citing evidence that Taliban insurgents have expanded their reach across Afghanistan, aid groups and security analysts in the country are challenging as misleading the Obama administration's recent claim that insurgents now control less territory than they did a year ago.
"Absolutely, without any reservation, it is our opinion that the situation is a lot more insecure this year than it was last year," said Nic Lee, the director of the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, an independent organization that analyzes security dangers for aid groups.
"We don't see COIN has had any impact on the five-year trajectory," he said, referring to the counterinsurgency strategy that U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, has championed. ...
... Insurgent attacks have jumped at least 66 percent this year, according to the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office. ...McClatchy
The UN agrees that things have gotten more dangerous, not less.
It gets worse. How about this for double trouble: "Last month, the Pentagon concluded that Afghan insurgents' "capabilities and operational reach have been qualitatively and geographically expanding." Asked whether that assessment conflicts with the White House assertion that the Taliban control less territory, a military spokesman said that both could be true."
See? It's not lying when anything and everything can be "true."
