No Evidence of Abuse by SF Teams in Wardak

According to a report by the Los Angeles Times there is no evidence of abuse by Special Forces teams working in Wardak province, Afghanistan. The U.S. has completed its investigations - as have the Afghans. No heads were cut off, five of the nine people reported "disappeared" are actually in an Afghan prison for insurgent activities, the one student who was killed by "someone" had ties to the Taliban and was killed in an inter-insurgent dispute, and the citizen complaints can be traced back to a Taliban information operations (IO) campaign. So the allegations are unfounded.

However, the real problem still remains. That problem is an incompetent President Karzai reacting to an very effective Taliban IO campaign to get Special Forces removed from one of the key provinces defending the roads into Kabul. The SF teams are doing great work with the Afghan forces there to include the ALP, ANASF, Commandos, and PRC.

The order to remove SF from Wardak has not been lifted. It remains to be seen if Karzai can be brought to his senses by his advisers or if ISAF folds under this latest attempt by Karzai to appease moderate Taliban forces that he will be negotiating with in the near future.

Read the LA Times article here: "Afghan dynamics altering U.S. efforts to wind down war", Los Angeles Times, March 5, 2013.