Pentagon Says Afghan Forces Still Need Assistance

Pentagon Says Afghan Forces Still Need Assistance
In this Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 photo, a member of Afghanistan's elite Civil Order Police squints from the dust as he and others line up before a patrol in Marjah, southern Helmand province, Afghanistan. As the U.S. and NATO close out their mission in Afghanistan preparing for the final withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014, the worry looms large that fresh outbursts of ethnically motivated fighting would send the country into a spiral of chaos and violence. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
In this Friday, Oct. 19, 2012 photo, a member of Afghanistan's elite Civil Order Police squints from the dust as he and others line up before a patrol in Marjah, southern Helmand province, Afghanistan. As the U.S. and NATO close out their mission in Afghanistan preparing for the final withdrawal of combat troops by the end of 2014, the worry looms large that fresh outbursts of ethnically motivated fighting would send the country into a spiral of chaos and violence. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

WASHINGTON -- As President Obama considers how quickly to withdraw the remaining 68,000 American troops in Afghanistan and turn over the war to Afghan security forces, a bleak new Pentagon report has found that only one of the Afghan National Army's 23 brigades is able to operate independently without air or other military support from the United States and NATO partners.

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