Persistent reminders that U.S. troops remain embroiled in a tough fight greeted Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates as he toured eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, days before the Obama administration is scheduled to complete a major review of its war strategy.
A few miles from the Pakistani border, in Konar province, Gates pinned combat medals on a dozen soldiers as U.S. commanders reported a litany of challenges in attempting to secure the area. At another border-region base, in Nangahar province, Gates offered condolences to an Army platoon that suffered six deaths last week when an Afghan police officer opened fire on his U.S. trainers.
“I know you all have had a rough go of it, taken a lot of losses,” Gates told soldiers at Forward Operating Base Connolly in Nangahar, not far from the Tora Bora district, where Osama bin Laden narrowly escaped U.S. and Afghan forces nine years ago.