Combatting Haqqani Network is Key to Afghan Strategy

The Taliban is mounting an increasingly deadly insurgency across Afghanistan, including a breakthrough into Lashkar Gah, the capital of Afghanistan’s southern Helmand Province, earlier this week.  Regional experts and military officials assert that combatting the Haqqani network, one of the largest factions of the Afghan Taliban, is critical to thwarting Taliban advances that are further destabilizing the country.

“The Haqqanis operationally have been able to continue to conduct operations inside Afghanistan. They constitute the primary threat to Americans, to coalition members and to Afghans, especially in and around Kabul,” stated General John Nicholson, Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, during a press conference at the Pentagon last month.

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