Gates: Strategy in Afghanistan Working
VOA News 08 December 2010
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the new war strategy in Afghanistan is working and he will deliver that message to the White House during a key meeting next week.
Gates announced his assessment during a press conference in Kabul Wednesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The defense secretary said he is convinced the new strategy has left the Taliban with "far less territory" than it had a year ago. He also acknowledged that U.S. troops and NATO forces still face a "tough fight" in areas where the Taliban remains in control.
The new White House strategy called for a surge of 30,000 more U.S. troops and thousands of additional NATO troops.
The Obama administration is expected to announce the results of an Afghan war strategy review next week.
Separately, the Taliban has released a new video which shows a captured U.S. soldier looking worn and with a large abrasion under his left eye.
A spokesman for the family of Specialist Bowe Bergdahl confirmed Wednesday that the man pictured in the video is the missing solider.
Bergdahl is the only known U.S. service member held captive in Afghanistan.
The soldier disappeared from his base in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009.
A private organization that monitors Taliban activities says a man seen with Bergdahl in the video is a Taliban leader.
The U.S.-based IntelCenter says the man appears to be Taliban commander Maulawi Sangin, who threatened to kill the U.S. captive in July of 2009.
It is not clear when the newly released video was made.
Bergdahl was seen in a video released on April 7 and in two other videos released in 2009.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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