Afghanistan Partial Threat Assessment: February 23, 2016

Security in Afghanistan has been deteriorating since U.S. force levels dropped from a high of 100,000 in 2011 to the current force size of 9,800 they reached in June 2014.  Lt. Gen. John W. “Mick” Nicholson, the incoming commander of Operation Resolute Support and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, agreed with the remark that “the security situation in Afghanistan has been deteriorating rather than improving” in a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing on January 28. Outgoing Resolute Support Commander General John Campbell reiterated this concern on February 2, stating that the ability to train Afghan security forces will be “very limited” if U.S. forces are reduced to 5,500 by the end of January 2017 as planned.Taliban militants are capitalizing on the overextension of the Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF) and dearth of U.S. and NATO forces to increase attacks, particularly in Helmand Province.