Retreat in Afghanistan?

U.S. soldiers are leaving the remote "Valley of Death" to focus on protecting Afghan cities. Is this a victory for the Taliban?

Korengal Valley
(Image credit: US military)

U.S. forces have pulled out of Afghanistan's isolated Korengal Valley — the "Valley of Death" — under a new counterinsurgency policy moving soldiers from remote mountain outposts to cities and towns where most Afghans live. More than 40 American soldiers were killed fighting the Taliban in the Korengal Valley over five years. Will leaving benefit the Taliban, or help defeat them? (Watch an MSNBC report about the U.S. leaving the "Valley of Death")

This is a victory for the Taliban: It's good for the Taliban when the U.S. leaves the Korengal Valley, or any place else, says an Afghan defense official, as quoted by Agence France Presse. "They can mass there, they can benefit from the population there." The insurgents now have another safe mountain hideout.

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