{"id":35407,"date":"2018-03-24T14:29:55","date_gmt":"2018-03-24T14:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/24\/gen-joseph-dunford-there-are-signs-of-progress-in-afghan-war\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:32:27","slug":"gen-joseph-dunford-there-are-signs-of-progress-in-afghan-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/03\/24\/gen-joseph-dunford-there-are-signs-of-progress-in-afghan-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Gen. Joseph Dunford: There are signs of progress in Afghan war"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TACTICAL BASE GAMBERI, Afghanistan \u2014 In fits and starts, for nearly a decade, the U.S. has talked about and struggled to make progress on building an Afghan military that can take control of its own nation\u2019s security and lay the groundwork for a stable government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, they think they have it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After five days criss-crossing Afghanistan, meeting with everyone from the Afghan president to the new American trainers on the ground, Gen. Joseph Dunford headed home Friday with a palpable sense of optimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just months after the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan declared the war against the Taliban and other insurgents a stalemate<\/a>, Dunford \u2014 chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff \u2014 said he can see the makings of a shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks to the media at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan on March 21, 2018. Dunford says he\u2019s optimistic about Afghanistan after visiting the country this week. (Lolita Baldor\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re already starting to see is, I think, momentum is going to favor the Afghan forces,\u201d Dunford told the small group of reporters traveling with him, adding that the deployment of 800 new Army trainers \u201cwill serve as an accelerant to the Afghans being able to achieve momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that gave him hope was a recent Afghan military operation in the east, where the Taliban have long been strong. It delivered, in his words, a \u201ceureka\u201d moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dubbed Saleb 1-23, the Afghan military operation was launched in mid-February in a move to oust the Taliban from a critical 10-kilometer stretch of valley in Laghman Province. Taliban fighters have used that area as a transit route across the border with Pakistan, where they enjoy safe havens.<\/p>\n\n\n\t