Major General David Rodriquez Talks About Afghanistan
The situation in Afghanistan has gotten much better, and will continue to improve, according to comments made by Major General David Rodriquez. General Rodriquez is the NATO Commander for East Regional NATO Command, and spoke to reporters.
General Rodriquez met with Navy Admiral Mike Mullin, the chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff during his swing though Europe and the Middle East. Together they toured the Korengal Valley area, which has been one of the more active regions for fighting in Afghanistan.
Following their trip Major General Rodriquez spoke to reporters. “A number of positive factors have worked together to reduce Taliban presence and infiltration in the region of Afghanistan,” said General Rodriquez. There has been a slow steady decrease in Al Qaeda and Taliban in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan, but it is still a problem that the NATO and Coalition command has to deal with.
One of the issues is the porous border with Pakistan. The mountains and rough terrain leads to a lot of smuggling even during peacetime according to General Rodriquez.
“The overall surveillance, intelligence and reconnaissance situation and efforts out here on our part are excellent,” said General Rodriquez. “Nothing will be solved overnight, that is why our continued vigilance and working together with our Afghanistan partners is vital,” said General Rodriquez.
NATO is working to coordinate a new border intelligence-sharing plan. Under the new plan, NATO, Pakistan, and Afghanistan will share border information and intelligence, each working to help keep the border security at a high level. The first stage of this new system goes into effect later this spring.