OANA LUNGESCU (NATO Spokesperson): Good afternoon.
Good afternoon here in Brussels.
And a very warm welcome to General Adrian Bradshaw in Kabul.
General Bradshaw is the Deputy Commander ISAF, and he's kindly agreed to join us today by
satellite.
General Bradshaw will make his opening remarks and then he will take your questions on Afghanistan.
Afterwards, I'll bring you up to speed on other NATO issues.
General, over to you.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL ADRIAN J. BRADSHAW (CB OBE, Deputy Commander, International Security
Assistance Force, ISAF, Afghanistan): Oana, well, thank you very much, indeed.
And thank you for the opportunity to address you all back in Brussels.
We're at an interesting point in the campaign, I think.
In 2011 we saw for the first time, after a number of years of increasing intensity of
insurgency.
We saw the momentum of the insurgency reversed.
Insurgent-initiated attacks over the year were about ten percent down on what they were
the previous year, which was quite a significant result, bearing in mind, as you know, during
2011 the surge of ISAF forces rolled out.
Effectively, we were covering more ground, with more troops, with more places for the
enemy to get at us, and yet, as I say, their attack rate went down by about ten percent.
Their stated intent, last year, was very clearly directed from their leadership outside the
country.
They were to regain parts of their heartland in Kandahar and Helmand, which had been brought
under Afghan National Security Forces and ISAF control.
And they were to achieve the recovery of some of that territory.
What, in fact, happened down in the south, was that the security zone was further expanded,
and the writ of the Afghan Government here in Kabul was extended to more of Helmand and
Kandahar provinces.
And, indeed, we saw similar progress out in the east.
The only area where we saw insurgent attacks actually go up was right on the border, on
the eastern border, which, I think, reflects the easy access from sanctuaries over the
border for the insurgents.
Over the course of last year, also, we saw determined efforts by the insurgents to get
into Kabul to disrupt the workings of the capital, the workings of the government.
And that they manifestly failed to do.
Yes, they did get some attacks into town, but the key events of the year, the Loya Jirga,
which, of course, was an absolutely critical event in, not only the calendar of last year,
but in mapping out the future for the government, was undisrupted.
The opening of the Ghazni Stadium, that totemic place of execution for the Taliban, which
was open for sports and occasions of national celebration, was undisrupted.
The opening of Parliament undisrupted.
So the key events of the year, as I say, went off without disruption.
We saw considerable improvements in the quality and capability of the Afghan National Security
Forces also over last year.
They showed, in the late part of last year, and over the winter, their confidence at planning
and coordinating and leading brigade-level operations, again, in the hardest insurgent
areas, in the south and in the east, working alongside ISAF, with assistance from ISAF,
but with Afghan forces in the lead.
They managed to coordinate these operations very well with the police and with the local
authorities, and in a number of areas they've shown competence and capability, which has
not only surprised us, it surprised them.
We've seen special police, provincial response companies, roll out now in most of the provinces.
One in Paktika late last year demonstrated its capability, having only just been stood
up in the summer, by carrying out a very effective clearance of a building which had been taken
over by insurgents, killing the insurgents and releasing a number of hostages.
That was a great confidence boost to them, and to the population around there.
Similarly, we've seen excellent performances of the Afghan National Security Forces in
the aftermath of the very regrettable improper disposal of religious material, which of course
upset people very badly here.
But the Afghan National Security Forces maintained control in the face of considerable violence.
They took casualties, they took two fatalities, but they stood firm and they protected not
only Afghan Government installations, but they protected ISAF as well, which I think
is indicative of the excellent relationship that we enjoy with the Afghan Forces.
And also we've seen, over recent weeks and months, some progress now with the reintegration
process, with, since early December last year, a 40 percent increase in numbers of people
coming into the programme.
We're now up in the high 4,000s of people, former insurgents, coming to join this...
what might be a very important programme as it takes off, and all of these are encouraging
signs.
Of course, we've got a great deal still to do.
We've got to continue working on building the logistics capability of the Afghan Forces,
we've got to build a degree of institutional depth, but as I say, I think we're at an important
stage in the campaign where as we start to hand over more and more responsibility to
our Afghan partners we're finding that the insurgents are under pressure, their momentum
has been reversed, and we expect that progress to be maintained through this coming late
spring and summer, and on towards our eventual handover of combat operations completely to
the Afghan National Security Forces in late 2014.
So, with that brief introduction, I'm very happy to take some questions.