ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: US ARMY
12February2011 5:48pmEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2011 -- To stop the Taliban and terrorists, Afghans must have confidence in their government's ability to deliver justice and resolve civil 
disputes, the commander of a "rule of law" force in Afghanistan said today.
Speaking with Pentagon reporters via video teleconference, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins said the Afghan government must deliver on establishing the rule of law in Afghan provinces, districts and sub-districts.
Afghan officials need to craft "sound governance that will enable an enduring transition of security responsibility to Afghan forces and deny this rugged country as a sanctuary for global threats," the general said.
Failure, he said, could duplicate conditions found in Afghanistan after the fall of the communist government in 1991.
"It's worth recalling that there were core grievances 20 years ago in the Afghanistan of the early 1990s that spawned and subsequently empowered the Taliban, leading to the opening of this land as a safe haven for al-Qaida," Martins said. "One of these grievances was the inability of the post-communist Afghan governments to establish a foundation at the sub-national level." (read full report)
