Petraeus hands over a 'political hot potato'

[bemildred]

WASHINGTON - United States special operations forces in Afghanistan, whose commando raids and airstrikes against suspected Taliban targets have caused large numbers of civilian casualties that have angered Afghans, have quietly been put under the "tactical control" of the commander of US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, for the first time.

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Although the order follows a period of rising Afghan protests against special operations raids, there is no indication that Petraeus intends for the change in command arrangements to bring about any fundamental change in such raids.

Nevertheless, it appears that those raids have become a political hot potato, which Petraeus prefers to be in McKiernan's hands rather than his own, particularly as Afghanistan heads into a politically charged period leading up to a presidential election in August.

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The study, revealed by Wikileaks last month, quoted one intelligence specialist as saying, "We also spent a lot of time, money, blood, and treasure on going after MVTs and HVTs ... and I don't think it had a great deal of effect on the Taliban because they are not hierarchical. If we killed one guy, they just replaced him in about 10 minutes."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KC24Df03.html

[MADem]

1. Afghanistan heads into a politically charged period ....

Oh, come on, let's call like it is.

SPRING is in the air. What happens in Springtime? Why, the Taleban come out of hibernation and start killing people. The killing tapers off in winter. It's too friken cold. There's no cover to speak of. People stand out in a stark environment. It's too easy to see disturbed ground or areas where roadside bombs are planted. In Spring, though, all these issues are mitigated.

That's the thing he wants to get away from....IMO.