Operation Enduring Freedom

Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) is the "military response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States ... assigned the name Operation Enduring Freedom, was previously planned to have been called Operation Infinite Justice (this name is believed to have been changed following concerns that this might offend the Muslim community as Islam teaches that Allah is the only one who can provide Infinite Justice)."http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/enduring-freedom.htm.

Effectiveness of the invasion of Afghanistan

AFP, reporting on a news story in the Sunday, April 3, 2004, issue of The New Yorker, wrote that retired Army Colonel Hy Rothstein, "who served in the Army Special Forces for more than 20 years, ... commissioned by The Pentagon to examine the war in Afghanistan concluded the conflict created conditions that have given 'warlordism, banditry and opium production a new lease on life' ...."

Related Topics:
AFP - April 3 - 2004 - Hy Rothstein - Army Special Forces - The Pentagon

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:Rothstein "wrote in a military analysis he gave to The Pentagon in January that the US failed to adapt to new conditions created by the Taliban's collapse, the weekly magazine reported. ... 'The failure to adjust US operations in line with the post-Taliban change in theater conditions cost the United States some of the fruits of victory and imposed additional, avoidable humanitarian and stability costs on Afghanistan,' Rothstein wrote in the report. ... 'Indeed,'" he wrote, "'the war's inadvertent effects may be more significant than we think.'"

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Rothstein continues to say that the "'military should have used Special Forces to adapt to new conditions' and that the war 'effectively destroyed the Taliban but has been significantly less successful at being able to achieve the primary policy goal of ensuring that al Qaeda could no longer operate in Afghanistan.'"

Related Topics:
Special Forces - Al Qaeda

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The New Yorker reported that the "Pentagon returned the report to Rothstein with a request he cut it drastically and soften his conclusions ... 'There may be a kernel of truth in there, but our experts found the study rambling and not terribly informative,' Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Joseph Collins told The New Yorker."

Related Topics:
The New Yorker - Joseph Collins

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The conduct of US forces was criticised in a report entitled Enduring Freedom - Abuses by US Forces in Afghanistan by US-based human rights group, Human Rights Watch in 2004.

Related Topics:
Enduring Freedom - Abuses by US Forces in Afghanistan - Human Rights Watch - 2004

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