File Photo: Suspected Taliban militants stand handcuffed in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Jan. 3, 2016. (Xinhua/Rahman Safi)
WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. media reported on Wednesday that the U.S. military has stopped counting the land in Afghanistan still controlled by Taliban militants.
According to a report of The New York Times, the U.S. military command in Afghanistan "has halted regular assessments of how many people and districts the government and insurgents there control."
The report quoted the military as saying that the assessments had "limited decision-making value" for commanders.
However, previous commanders in Afghanistan reportedly called these assessments "the metric that's most telling in a counterinsurgency," and military leaders have been "troubled" by the halting decision.
Moreover, the Pentagon's analysis of the situation in Afghanistan has been challenged, as some military commentators said that the land controlled by the government has been shrinking especially outside urban regions, in contrast with Washington's "desired message of success."
In his latest exchange with the Afghan side, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a call with President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani in late April, voiced Washington's disappointment over the postponed intra-Afghan dialogue, and called for an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue to be convened in the Qatari capital of Doha "as soon as possible."
The intra-Afghan dialogue had been slated for April 19-21 in Doha to find a negotiated settlement to Afghanistan's protracted war and civil strife. But the dialogue was abruptly postponed reportedly amid an eruption of internal disputes and the Taliban complaints about the composition of the Afghan government delegation.
Also on Wednesday, Afghanistan's Taliban group announced the start of a new round of peace talks with the United States in Doha.
The negotiations are aimed at securing a lasting peace agreement, which would include the Taliban's guarantees regarding terrorism and a phased withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
Zalmay Khalilzad, chief of the U.S. delegation, said the talks would ultimately focus on four main issues: withdrawal, guarantees against terrorism, a lasting ceasefire and talks between the Taliban and the U.S.-backed government of Afghanistan to establish a path toward a political settlement.
