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The Obama Administration is wrong, yet again

One might of thought that in the era of WikiLeaks we are all living in that politicians might be a tad more guarded in issuing statements and making pronouncements which can easily be challenged. Take the recent Obama statements on the situation in Afghanistan. On the whole positive. Others, better equipped to make a judgment-call say otherwise - clearly and absolutely!

"Recent upbeat assessments by the White House on the Afghanistan war have been called into question by analysts and aid groups on the ground, who say the security situation has been getting worse.

Challenging statements this month by US President Barack Obama and Defence Secretary Robert Gates, a security expert who works with aid groups in Afghanistan said Taliban insurgents had been expanding their reach across the country.

''It is our opinion that the situation is a lot more insecure this year than it was last year,'' said Nic Lee, director of the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office.

While US-led forces have driven insurgents out of their strongholds in southern Afghanistan, Taliban advances in the rest of the country may have offset those gains.

Insurgent attacks have jumped at least 66 per cent this year, according to the NGO Safety Office. And security analysts say Taliban shadow governors still exert control in all but one of the country's 34 provinces.

A recent United Nations analysis also concluded that security was deteriorating in growing pockets across the country. For instance, the UN's World Food Program has stopped sending its own trucks along the road that links Kabul to Bamiyan, one of the country's safest regions, because a bomb killed four of its staff on the route in July".

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