U.S. soldiers escort Afghan detainees, who were rounded up for the bombing death of an American bomb technician in Wardak province, at Bagram Air Field on October 12. The detainees were then handed over to Afghan intelligence officials for prosecution in a judicial system described by U.S. officers as a "catch and release" program.


U.S. forces struggle with Washington’s perceptions and reality in Afghanistan
By Dianna Cahn, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, October 23, 2009

WARDAK PROVINCE, Afghanistan — American soldiers are fighting a war in Afghanistan. But it’s not just against the Taliban.

A U.S. counter-explosives staff sergeant was killed recently trying to defuse a complex homemade bomb planted in the road in this hostile region. But legal and forensics experts had to jump through regulatory hoops set up by their own chain of command just to ensure that the Afghan suspects in the bombing would face prosecution.

Americans fighting shadowy Taliban insurgents embedded within the wary civilian population here put their lives on the line to build up a local police force. But those Afghan police officers frequently release suspected insurgents because of bribes, tribal allegiances or threats of retaliation. And sometimes the police themselves target U.S. soldiers.

A munitions supply officer recently pointed out that because of budget cuts, American bomb technicians are no longer getting a full supply of the C-4 explosives they use to destroy the homemade Taliban bombs.

As public support for the Afghan war, which is in its ninth year, withers back home and President Barack Obama deliberates whether to commit even more U.S. forces to the faltering struggle, morale among American troops is flagging.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section...



unhappycamper comment: Let me see if I have this straight. We are sending a squadron of $70 million dollar Ospreys to Afghanistan and we don't have enough money to buy C-4 to blow up IEDs? Gimmeafuckingbreak. Give it up guys.. Fuck dithering - it's time to declare victory and come home.