The reduction of US troop numbers in Afghanistan over the past year — and the resulting sharp drop in military operations initiated by such forces — has ‘remove[d] the key driver of the [insurgents’] campaign’ and led to a substantial reduction in the number of Taliban-initiated attacks, according to a July report by the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office (ANSO).
It has long been clear that military escalation has been fuelling the war and destroying the possibilities of a negotiated peace…