In January, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)in Afghanistan boasted a roughly seven per cent drop in attacks byTaliban forces in Afghanistan in 2012, but as the Associated Presshas learned, the level of “enemy-initiated attacks” actuallyremained the same.
“During a quality control check, ISAF recently became awarethat some data was incorrectly entered into the database that isused for tracking security-related incidents acrossAfghanistan,” ISAF spokesman Jamie Graybeal said Tuesday.Graybeal attributed the flaw to a clerical error, adding that itdoes not change the overall assessment of the situation inAfghanistan.
The seven per cent figure was used in a monthly trends reportposted on the ISAF website on January 22 as part of its monthlyupdate on security and violence. It has now been removed.
But the Department of Defense, which relied on the flawedstatistic, says that “in spite of the stated adjustment, ourassessment of the fundamentals of progress in Afghanistan remainspositive,” according to chief Pentagon spokesman George Little,who added that “the fact that 80 per cent of the violence hasbeen taking place in areas where less than 20 per cent of thepopulation lives remains unchanged.”
“This particular set of metrics doesn't tell the full storyof progress against the Taliban, of course, but it's unhelpful tohave inaccurate information in our systems,” Little added,promising to adjust the figures.
The AP also asserts that the faulty figure was used in itssemi-annual report to Congress on security progress in Afghanistan.That report was sent to Congress in December.
It might be those figures, the agency asserts, that prompted theDefense Secretary Leon Panetta to say in mid-December that"violence is down" for 2012 and Afghan forces "havegotten much better at providing security," adding that theTaliban will continue its agenda - "but overall they arelosing."
A reduced threat from Taliban forces and the ability of thelocal Afghan forces to take over has been cited as one of the mainreasons for withdrawing American combat troops from the country inDecember 2014.
