Coalition strategy in Afghanistan failing, admits US

General Stanley McChrystal, the top American commander in Afghanistan, fears that the Western fight against the Taliban is failing.

In a long-awaited review of strategy, General Stanley McChrystal compares the campaign to a bull’s futile charges against a matador – with the bull getting weaker with each small “cut” that is inflicted.

His graphic analogy forms the centrepiece of a wholesale review of the way the eight-year-long war in Afghanistan has been prosecuted, which will be delivered to US Central Command on Monday.

The review is not expected to make any recommendations on future troop strengths, but will form part of the basis on which US President Barack Obama will make long-term decisions about the war in coming months. The White House is known to feel that the security gains made in the early years following the US-led invasion are now at risk of being squandered.

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