US focusing anti-Taliban effort inside Kabul
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — The Afghan capital is now the main focus of the anti-Taliban fight, with U.S. special forces conducting raids in the sprawling city and additional American military advisers arriving to help beleaguered local police, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday.
“We’ve increased the number of special operations we’re doing in and around the city to target the networks that are attacking the city,” Gen. John Nicholson said in an interview with a small group of reporters. “So Kabul is our main effort right now.”
He said the Afghan government has replaced the top five police officials in each district inside Kabul as part of a plan to more effectively counter the militants.
“This leadership element is key because what we found is many failures at the local level in terms of local security,” he said, noting that the Taliban in recent months have managed to carry out large attacks with high numbers of civilian casualties.