US now focussed on hunting down Taliban,rather than winning over Afghan civilians

NEW YORK - Faced with a deadline of troop withdrawal by July 2011, the Obama administration is reported to have shifted its focus from winning over Afghanistan’s civilian population to hunting down insurgents, believing this is the way forward to hastening a political settlement with the Taliban.

According to the New York Times and The News, the new strategy of targeted killing of militants has worked well.

The focus of the plan had initially been to keep the Afghan people safe, set up a competent government and wins the public’s allegiance.

But that strategy has seen little success, indicated by faltering military operations in Marja and Kandahar, plus the spread of Taliban influence in other parts of the county, the NYT said.

Now, raids carried out during the last five months have removed over 130 significant insurgents, while interrogations of captured fighters are giving a better intelligence picture of the war, sources told the Times. (ANI)