Outcome of US-led ‘War On Terror’ hinges on ‘Battle Of Kandahar’ success

NEW YORK - The slated US offensive against Taliban in Kandahar could be the defining moment in the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan. More than 20,000 US troops are being mobilized for the do-or-die operation that will see the US go all out to reclaim the nerve center of the Afghan Taliban.

According to Stephen Biddle, a civilian adviser to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the outcome of the entire war is riding on it.

“If we fail to secure this population, it’s hard to see how the campaign could succeed,” CBS News quoted Biddle as saying.

The operation is already under way with more than a hundred Taliban operatives being reportedly captured or vanquished.

Operation Cooperation for Kandahar, the official name for the operation, is unprecedented in scale and far outstrips previous US attempts at weeding out the Taliban militia from Marjah.

Right now there are only 12,000 U.S., Canadian and Afghan troops in and around Kandahar, and according to Michael Semple, an Irish EU official who has spent more than two decades in Afghanistan and is a Taliban expert, that’s not enough to stop the Taliban’s reign of terror, the report said.

Between now and July, the number of troops will essentially double. American and Canadian troops will set up bases in the districts surrounding Kandahar and spread out into the villages where the Taliban have their safe havens, the report said.

At the same time, U.S. and Afghan forces will establish checkpoints - 40 in all - on roads leading into Kandahar. Inside the city, U.S. troops will man every police station alongside Afghan police, though Semple has his reservations about the Afghan Police’s ability.

“The weak point in the strategy is the Afghan police. They have yet to prove themselves,” Semple said.

“The operation in Kandahar is 100 times more important than the operation in Marjah, that was a sideshow; Kandahar is the real thing,” he added

The Marjah operation is still not over and U.S. officers do not expect the Kandahar operation to produce results until the end of the year. (ANI)