Putting Afghan President Ghani's Comments In Context

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: Now, as we were talking with President Ghani, Tom Bowman was listening in. Tom is NPR's Pentagon correspondent. He has spent a lot of time reporting on Afghanistan, reporting in Afghanistan. He's in our studio now. Hey there. TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise. KELLY: We heard President Ghani lay out a real specific goal there - having his security forces control 80 percent of the country in four years. Have we heard that before? Is that new? BOWMAN: We have not heard that before. Right now the government controls roughly 60 percent of the country. And that means about one third of all Afghans, or 11 million people, are living under Taliban control or in contested areas with the government. It's mostly in the south around Helmand and Kandahar. KELLY: Is it a realistic goal that Afghan security forces would control 80 percent of the country in four years? BOWMAN: Probably not. People I talk with say Ghani is being overly