The situation in Afghanistan last fall was steadily deteriorating, with deep fractures developing in the south and west and the position of President Hamid Karzai shakier than ever before, according to a report prepared for top levels of the Canadian government.
The document that analyzed the situation in Afghanistan was prepared by the International Assessment Staff of the Privy Council Office.
The document, with large portions blacked out, was obtained by The Globe and Mail through an Access to Information request.
The report was apparently put together last November after Canadian NATO troops stationed in Kandahar went through several particularly violent months.
It states that the effectiveness of Taliban suicide attacks and roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan had brought the insurgents increased financial support and boosted "recruitment, training, equipping and morale improvements" of the Taliban. Pakistan, the Gulf states and "Jihad-minded groups and individuals" then began lending new support to the then-faltering insurgency.
However, the otherwise chilling report also said that the Taliban lacks widespread support in regions other than the south, where the insurgency is strongest.
The grim reality of the situation is that "two Afghanistans" have effectively been created, with the north and west making measurable progress while little advancement is taking place in the south and the west, The Globe reports.
The government, and Karzai himself, face questions of legitimacy due to constant challenges to the nation's leadership that continually erode the leadership, the report states.
The report referred to "mixed success" in terms of efforts to reform the Afghan justice system and described "a culture of immunity among major warlords, criminals, drug lords and political figures."
The report also says Afghanistan's security forces are "weak and under-developed."
At the same time the document was being sent out to officials, other statements from the PCO aimed at painting the Afghanistan mission as an ongoing success, discussed "signs of progress" that would have been "unthinkable only a few years ago."
