KABUL, Afghanistan, March 13 (UPI) -- U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann, in a news conference marking his departure from the country, said he believes the Taliban has peaked.
"I don't see where the Taliban are going to increase," he told reporters in Kabul.
Neumann said that the Taliban has no foothold in major cities as insurgents do in Fallujah and Ramadi in Iraq, The New York Times reported.
"This does not tell me this is a 10-foot-tall movement," he said. "It's tough. It's resilient. It's dangerous. I just don't see it as being that strong. It is still a race, but inch by inch the government is getting a little better."
Neumann said that positive change in Afghanistan takes time, pointing out that the Afghan National Army held its first court martial four years after a military justice law was drafted.
The Taliban staged a resurgence last year, four years after the government was pushed out, involving NATO troops in fighting, especially on the border with Pakistan, he said.
