Focus of Afghan war is shifting eastward

The Afghan war is abiding to the abode it began: the agitated eastern borderlands with Pakistan, area the Taliban and al-Qaeda slipped out of American ability a decade ago and accept organized their affront anytime since.In southern Afghanistan, the United States has succeeded over the accomplished year in prying the Taliban’s anchor from genitalia of Kandahar and Helmand provinces. But U.S. aggressive commanders admit they accept far to go in the country’s east, area insurgents action from the awning of broken mountains, drive truckloads of weapons through actionable dirt-road crossings, and abscond beyond the bound into Pakistan to baffle capture.The acute U.S. focus on the south has meant that there are about 38,500 troops in that region, compared with 31,000 in eastern Afghanistan. But those in the east accept borne a disproportionately aerial allotment of casualties in contempo months, and some area captivated by the Afghan government has collapsed aback into Taliban easily afterwards U.S. troops pulled out of their baby outposts. With beneath action power, commanders charge antithesis amid befitting troop-strength aerial in the south to authority their assets and alive added to the problems in the east. In the accomplished six months, 64 U.S. troops accept died in the east, compared with 67 in the south, admitting the actuality that there are 7,500 added troops in the south.