Afghan forces lose ground to Taliban and faces pressure from Daesh

A report by the US military shows that the Afghan government lost ground to the Taliban while the Afghan army is put under pressure from Deash and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

A new report from the US military command says that the Afghan Taliban gained territory during an 18-month period when the United States largely halted its withdrawal.

According to the Guardian, the US special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction found that the Nato-backed Afghan government is in control of 65.6% of districts in the country – a drop from the 70.5% it held in January 2016.

The current US commander, army general John Nicholson, had pressed US president Barack Obama to delay his long-scheduled troop drawdown.

Obama announced earlier this month that he will leave 8,400 troops in Afghanistan through 2016, a reversal of his earlier plan to drop to 5,500 by January 2017 – which was itself a reversal of his announcement in spring 2014 to drop to 5,500 in 2015.

Earlier this week, the United Nations found civilian wartime deaths are at their highest levels since 2009 when it started recording this data. While the UN held the Taliban and its allies responsible for 60% of those deaths, it reportedly warned that casualties attributed to forces aligned with the US-backed Ghani government are up 47% over the past year.

Nicholson has won greater leeway from Obama in attacking the Taliban, particularly using airstrikes. Previously, the Guardian reports, Obama had permitted US forces to continue counter-terrorism raids against al-Qaida or allied forces, but left fighting the Taliban to the Afghan armed forces.

The United States has spent a total of $114.9 billion (€103.67 billion) on reconstruction and relief in Afghanistan since 2002, the report found. Almost 60% was spent on building up the Afghan defense forces, yet problems with the force persist, it said.

The Afghan army also faced Daesh in Khorasan province and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the report said. Despite help from coalition airstrikes, the Afghan forces have reportedly suffered from high attrition rates, including a high number of casualties, which results in the force losing a third of its troops annually.