HDNet's 'Dan Rather Reports' Travels to Eastern Afghanistan to Investigate What May Be Our 'One Last Chance'

HDNet's 'Dan Rather Reports' Travels to Eastern Afghanistan to Investigate What May Be Our 'One Last Chance'

An experiment in Kunar Province becomes a test case for the future of Afghanistan - TONIGHT at 8:00 p.m. ET

DALLAS, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Tonight's "Dan Rather Reports" presents a revealing look at the Afghan war from the forward operating bases of Kunar province. Rather made the trip just a few weeks ago to the front lines of the war - and what he found is not being discussed by decision makers in Washington.

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"Dan Rather Reports - Afghanistan: One Last Chance" airs tonight, December 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

In traveling the province and speaking to the soldiers on the ground, Rather found a renewed emphasis on so-called "nation building." The plan involves a brand new commitment that's not so much about guns as it is governing. It's about building an Afghan government strong enough to stand alone so that the Americans can go home.

In order to do this, the U.S. military is employing what they call a "realignment," however, our enemies in the Taliban may be calling it a "retreat."

A clip of the program may be viewed at the following link: http://hd.net/danrather.html

For years the U.S. military stationed troops at remote outposts to protect small, rural areas since that is where the insurgents were based. Often these bases, manned by a handful of soldiers, drew Taliban fire and suffered a high rate of casualties.

But when President Obama took office, general Stanley McChrystal was ordered to develop yet another new strategy for success in Afghanistan. Part of that new strategy called for a fundamental change in how troops would be deployed: abandon those remote outposts and move the soldiers and their efforts to population centers.

Col. Randy George who leads this "realignment" in Eastern Afghanistan, has instituted this strategy of pulling out of those remote outposts and building an economic and military power base in the cities--with the mentality that by pulling out of the remote areas, it promotes and forces the government to take ownership, reconnect with their tribes and the natural leaders in the area.

"We've already made progress," Col. George tells Rather. "So if those things are starting to take hold, where people are feeling connected to their government, where they're calling on the Afghan National Security Forces to respond to things, and those kind of partnerships are happening between the police and the Army and the border police, that's how I think we'll start to see success. And we're already starting to see that."

According to the United States Army, that's one of the reasons the U.S. Military is hopeful and why President Obama is sending tens of thousands of new troops to spread what is happening here to other parts of the country.

But will this "nation building strategy" work and how will the American people pay for this increase in troops to Afghanistan? While there is daily progress, the violence is still prevalent in the Kunar province and, most of the troops who are part of Obama's surge will be headed to Afghanistan's Helmand province, a region that's been neglected for far longer than eastern Afghanistan, and where the efforts to built security and governance are even further behind.

"Dan Rather Reports - Afghanistan: One Last Chance" airs Tuesday, December 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET and will re-air at 11:00 p.m. ET to accommodate West Coast Prime Time.

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