President Briefed On Afghanistan

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
FNC
June 17, 2008
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: Officials with NATO and the Afghanistan government are expressing concern over recent Taliban infiltration into Afghanistan from Pakistani tribal areas. There are also reports of a new level of Taliban aggression against allied forces. Today, President Bush heard from the man who has been his top commander on the ground there.
Chief White House correspondent Bret Baier has the story.
BRET BAIER: In an Oval Office meeting, President Bush was briefed by Gen. Dan McNeill, the former commander of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, in Afghanistan.
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I want to thank you very much for the briefing you just gave me about the issues that we face and your optimism about success.
BAIER: Optimism that is being challenged on the ground as eyewitnesses report Taliban fighters taking control of as many as 18 villages northwest of the city of Kandahar in the district of Arghandab. Villagers report the Taliban fighters are digging trenches and planting mines in the area.
TOOR JAN [Eyewitness]: (Translated.) Yes, I saw the Taliban in the village. They were not allowing people to get close to them. We didn’t try to talk to them because I was scared and I didn’t want to be killed by them.
BAIER: NATO and Afghan forces had been moved into the area and NATO helicopters are dropping leaflets telling villagers in Arghandab to stay inside their homes if fighting erupts.
SARDAR MOHAMMAD [Afghan Police Officer]: (Translated.) Now, Afghan army and police, with the help of Canadian and American forces, have surrounded these areas and are set to launch a military operation against the Taliban.
BAIER: NATO paints a very different picture of the threat there. In a release about NATO’s ISAF forces patrolling in Arghandab for five hours, commanders reported no enemy contact and no sign of civilians fleeing the area.
GEOFF MORRELL [Pentagon Spokesman]: The commanders on the ground are telling us that their patrols have seen no sign of increased Taliban control of any areas, and yet I know the press reports are saying otherwise. I’d defer to the commanders in this case. I can tell you that the reality is that we’re in the midst of the summer fighting season.
BAIER: U.S. commanders in Afghanistan said they are not concerned about the possibility that the city of Kandahar could fall to the Taliban, yet they are concerned about increased Taliban activity overall, especially after a highly organized jail break Friday in which hundreds of Taliban fighters escaped.
The U.S. now has a record 33,000 troops in Afghanistan, a part of an international force that has grown to almost 70,000 troops. The questions are now frequent: With the Taliban push, is it enough? Will there be another troop surge?
TONY FRATTO [White House Spokesman]: We’ve never met a commander who hasn’t wanted more troops on the ground. We’re going to try to make sure that we have the right number.
BAIER: A pitch for troops President Bush made repeatedly on his European trip. The British and others, he said today, are stepping up.
BUSH: I was pleased with the strong commitments of our allies to help us succeed in Afghanistan. They know that what happens in Afghanistan matters to their own internal security.
BAIER: The hard push for more international forces comes after last month when the number of coalition soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan exceeded those killed in action in Iraq for the first time.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai continues to blame Pakistan for not going after Taliban and al Qaeda fighters along the shared border there, but today Karzai’s spokesman backed off his earlier comments that Afghan troops would be dispatched inside Pakistan to do that job. Brit?
HUME: Bret, thank you.
 
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