阿富汗的前景依旧艰难

More than a thousand American soldiers have died in the war in Afghanistan. On Thursday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was joined by Defense Secretary Robert Gates as well as General Stanley McChrystal at Arlington National Cemetery to visit the gravesites of some of those who died over the course of the war that was launched in 2001. Later at the Pentagon, McChrystal, who heads US and NATO effort to Afghanistan, said to expect more hard times ahead.

“We should expect increased violence as our combined security forces expand in the Taliban-controlled areas.”

US forces along with NATO and Afghan troops have been taking the fight to the Taliban in Helmet province. Its efforts have begun in nearby Kandahar. McChrystal says not to expect a full-scale military operation.

"We are not using the term "operation" or "major operations" because that often brings to mind in people’s psyche the idea of a D-day and an H-hour and an attack. Kandahar is not in fact controlled by the Taliban. So it's not a case of having to recapture an area under enemy control, as Marja was."  

He also described how he sees the nature of the fight.

"I actually think the US military would love to find an enemy that was dug in on a piece of terrain, that we could establish a D-day and we could attack with no civilians around, because that would play to every strength that the coalition has. What is difficult for the coalition and for the government of Afghanistan is to deal with more insidious threat, and that's an insurgency; to have to go into areas where civilians are living their lives and try to protect them there without destroying their property, without unintentionally causing harm to them, but at the same time, trying to root out those insurgents who threaten them.

Icasualties.org reports that so far this year, 122 American soldiers have died in Afghanistan. That compares with 316 in 2009 and 155 in 2008.

Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters