Hoping ‘fragile’ progress holds

With 10,000 mostly noncombat U.S. troops withdrawing by year’s end, and an additional 23,000 departing by next September, a senior NATO official said that the gaps would be filled by a larger and increasingly capable Afghan army.

“This is real progress, but I still classify it as fragile,” he said. “If we don’t continue to put pressure, then it could be reversible.”