U.S. spy chief warns of worsening security situation in Afghanistan

Afghan Voice Agency(AVA), “The intelligence community assesses that the political and security situation in Afghanistan will almost certainly deteriorate through 2018, even with a modest increase in (the) military assistance by the United States and partners,” Dan Coats said in a Senate hearing this week.

Insurgency in Afghanistan raged following the withdrawal of most of international troops from the country in 2014. According to U.S. military estimates earlier this year, the Afghan government control or influence only 57 percent of the country.

To break a stalemate with the Taliban, the U.S. commander of the coalition in Afghanistan John Nicholson has called for deployment of thousands more international troops in the country.

The U.S. administration is reportedly considering sending between 3,000 and 5,000 U.S. and coalition troops to Afghanistan. There are currently around 13,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan.

During the Senate hearing, the head of the U.S. military’s Defense Intelligence Agency said that the situation would worsen unless U.S. trainers worked with Afghan troops closer to the front line, their numbers increased and there was greater intelligence and surveillance.

Coats claimed that Afghanistan would struggle to decrease its reliance on the international community “until it contains the insurgency or reaches a peace agreement with the Taliban.”