Taliban lurches back to power

[Pikache]

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040228.wtalib28/BNStory/Front/

By HAMIDA GHAFOUR
From Saturday‘s Globe and Mail

E-mail this Article
Print this Article



Advertisement





Shah Joy, Afghanistan â ” The intimidation tactics are simple, if horribly brutal.

A convoy of about 20 Honda motorcycles surrounds a house, looking for people who support the United States or President Hamid Karzai. If they find one, they kill him. If not, the householders are beaten to serve as a warning to others.

In the village of Shah Joy, about 300 kilometres southwest of Kabul, the return of the Taliban has been swift and harsh, as it is in about one-third of Afghanistan‘s southern regions where the ousted regime has regrouped and is widely thought to be preparing for a spring offensive against the Karzai government and its U.S. allies.

Even as U.S. and Pakistani forces carry out a major operation against al-Qaeda supporters to the east, the people of Zabul province have come under attack by a much more entrenched enemy. According to officials here, Shah Joy is like 70 per cent of the province â ” it is either controlled by supporters of the Taliban or completely lawless.

"They come day and night. They are lying near the mountains and sometimes even in the mosques," said Haji Mohammed, a 28-year-old soldier who said his two brothers were severely beaten because he works for the local government.

"My brothers were beaten in the mosque in open daylight. Their hands and feet were tied and the men wanted to take them away. But with the help of the village elders they were released. Since one year I cannot go home. They would not let me live."

Local military officials believe that 700 Taliban fighters â ” all ethnic Pashtuns â ” have crossed the border from the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Quetta, where they are trained and funded. The insurgents have offered a motorbike, AK-47 assault rifle and satellite telephone to anyone willing to steal from, rob or bomb a government target. A successful hit is worth $265,CDN according to military officials. Killing an enemy comes with a $1,200 bonus.

General Ayoub Khan, the security commander for Zabul, says some of the Taliban commanders are Pakistani, although it is difficult to confirm because many extended Pashtun families straddle the border.

"In the Dai Chopan district there are reports of Punjabi commanders," Gen. Khan said.

"We arrested two [Taliban members] a month ago and they told us Pakistani colonels told them to destabilize Afghanistan."

If the Taliban‘s strategy is to make Zabul too difficult for the central government and international aid agencies to work in, it has worked. The situation is so volatile that the United Nations and large non-government organizations have stopped working in Zabul. According to local officials, Taliban commanders have also issued death warrants against any journalist entering the province.

The villagers of Shah Joy, about two-thirds along the only road from Kabul to the former Taliban base of Kandahar, say they are torn: They can either support a moderate government struggling to rebuild the country, or support the Taliban in a bid to survive.

"They are taking advantage of our poverty," Gen. Khan said of the Taliban. "The administration is weak and incapable of controlling an area, therefore the local people are not relying on them."

Along the main road through the province, the Taliban have set up daytime road blocks. They scrutinize vehicles for potential targets to kill or kidnap. Four engineers working on that road have been kidnapped, and 15 Afghans working for the central government have been killed in the past three months.

Mohammed Azghar, a former member of the Taliban who is now a soldier working for the local government, said that in villages where there are virtually no jobs, and the grape and almond farms have been turned to dust by a seven-year drought, the money is tempting.

"I killed two Taliban commanders and they had 200,000 Afghanis [$6,200] in their pockets and a pistol," he said. "A soldier here does not make that much money. The commanders distribute the money to fighters and say, ‘Go burn a school, we will give you money. Go rob a house, we will give you money.‘."

Mr. Karzai has replaced Zabul‘s governor three times in the past 15 months. The previous one survived an assassination attempt at his home. The current one, Mullah Khail Mohammed Hosani, is a former Taliban member who is trying to persuade district commissioners allied to the militants to support the central government instead.

"We are optimistic," he said. "When I met with some tribal leaders they said they are not against the non-governmental organizations but against cruel men in the current administration. In the two decades of war, the government was imposed on the people. I am negotiating with local communities so we can understand each other."

The Americans, on the other hand, are attempting to win the hearts of Afghans with the promise of reconstruction. Next month, the military plans to set up a provincial reconstruction team in Qalat, the local capital. The unit will consist of up to 100 people and provide security and aid to rebuild roads, schools and clinics. It is hoped the team‘s presence will establish a secure environment, especially in the remote villages, for other charities to return.

"The key thing is reconstruction," said Lieutenant-Colonel Jim Ellifrit, the team‘s commander. "The stories are getting around the province that Qalat has roads and electricity. When some of those guys realize the country is progressing and they are being left behind, they will ask themselves, ‘What are we fighting for?‘."

The province has been a hotbed of anti-American sentiment since the Taliban regime collapsed in October of 2001 under heavy U.S. bombing and advancing forces from the Northern Alliance. Senior Taliban members are thought to have sought refuge in the mountains that run from here to the Pakistani tribal areas, where, according to widespread but unconfirmed reports, Osama bin Laden is hiding along with his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Zabul‘s deputy governor, Malawi Mohammed Omar, said the Americans face a difficult task because they are not talking to the local communities to find out who is an enemy and who is not. Many Taliban fighters are from local villages and it is easy for them to hide in homes of relatives.

"They would not recognize Mullah Omar if he stood in front of them," the deputy governor said. "All the Taliban have to do is put down their gun and say hello â ” no one would know him. Until the Americans are on the ground, and negotiating with the local community leaders and disarming them, they will not win.

"People are too afraid of the Taliban. But they are not optimistic about the government‘s future so they support them. If they fight against the Taliban, they will have nothing."

 

[Spr.Earl]

Back to square one again!

Well hindsight say‘s old George should have cleared up Afghanistan first before going after Saddam.
So what will the States do now?

 

[K. Ash]

Great timing for Canada to be pulling out too. In a way, just when were needed most.

 

[MG34]

Canada is not pulling out but reducing it‘s comittment to possibly include PRTs (Provincial Reconstruction Teams) basically they will be going out of Kabul into outlying areas of the country to prevent exactly this type of thing.

 

[K. Ash]

Yea sorry about that. What I meant to say was how the number of troops are decreasing.

 

[karpovage]

Spr. Earl. Isn‘t hindsight great? Makes you look so smart. So with your way of thinking do you suppose President Roosevelt (WWII) should have taken care of Japan first then gone after Germany and Italy? Kind of easy to put things in such simply perspective. Kind of like a Monday morning quarterback, eh?

What Bush will continue to do is a word called "resolve".It means sticking to the operation until the mission is complete regardless of the punches you suffer on the way. That is what I admire about Bush and what our military admires about him. He backs his talk with action. Quick action. Unlike former President Clinton who "loathed" the military and proved his resolve early in his administration in a place called Mogadishu. One black eye and Clinton ran with his tail between his legs. The message that Commander in Chief sent to the rest of the world, especially terrorists, was weakness. And then he cut our military to its all time lows. And he cut CIA human intelligence to all time lows. hence - Look at all the terrorist attacks that happened against America directly after the Clinton pullout and his lack, time and again, of aggressive retribution and you get the whopper of 9-11.

As far as know earl you fight many battles in a war and this war isn‘t going to be over anytime soon. So yeah, the taliban may have had a good week killing some women and children but the U.S. has the memory of 9-11 to keep our fire going!

 

[koalorka]

Karpovage, I admire you‘r patriotism, I only wish you could combine that with some common sense. The logic of you‘r reasoning eats itself, if president G.W. Bush would have stuck to "Resolve" in the first place, he would have not shifted the military effort to Iraq, which had nothing to do with the war on terror.
It‘s also puzzling that every failure can be easily associated with Bill - typical.
Do you know where Bush got the money and resources to wage war against terrorism? It‘s got something to do with the huge surplus Bill managed to create, which ol‘ George turned into the biggest deficit in history. But Bush is not to blame, he‘s just a media character. The cowboy type of guy that you could go and have a beer with, that‘s why he seems apealling to you military guys.

 

[karpovage]

FUBAR, good to hear from you again. Your common sense humors me when phrases come out of your replies such as Iraq "had nothing to do with the war on terror." Hmmm, I suppose the $10,000 Hussein paid the families of homocide bombers in Israel had nothing to do with terrorism? There was direct evidence of this supplied by Israel. But you would probably think it was doctored Oh, and I suppose killing an estimated 3 million of your own people over three decades of rule isn‘t terrorism either in your book? So, God forbid if a leader of a "free" country steps up to the plate and finally pulls the trigger on what the UN has been threatening for twelve years. I tend to remember that the first act of terrorism on American soil was under Clinton in 1993 (the bombing of the World Trade Center) and many others followed after that. So yes, in the great concept of hindsight, I do post alot of blame on Clinton and his actions and lack of actions. Why the **** are you so worried about deficits and surpluses anyways? Sometimes in life a country has to suck it up to defend itself. I think most Americans can handle the investment and bounce back from it. Cripe, there hasn‘t been an act of terrorism on American soil since 9-11 thanks to the CINC. And I knock on wood.

 

[koalorka]

"Hmmm, I suppose the $10,000 Hussein paid the families of homocide bombers in Israel had nothing to do with terrorism? There was direct evidence of this supplied by Israel."

Direct evidence, eh? The same type of evidence that Pentagon Intelligence used to whip up war fever against Iraq? I recall hearing something about WMD‘s being the sole reason for going into Iraq..ups, I‘m out of date, the official reason has changed from "imminent threat" to liberating the Iraqi people. Without doubt removing Saddam was an altruistic act, but for example North Korea has efficient concentration camps where people are starved or executed in the tens of thousands without any US response. So if it were America‘s sole intention to liberate opressed people across the world, we would be seeing Marines in Burma, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Chechenya etc.
Besides, Syria is a main contributor of arms and money to Palestinian terror organizations, but why get them? And I believe none of the plane hijackers of 9-11 were of Iraq origin. Mostly egyptians and saudi‘s....wait, US allies!

G.H.W. Bush should have gone in and done it the first time. After GF I which decimated 2/3 of the armed forces and 13 years of economic sanctions, invading Iraq looked like bullying the weakest kid in school.

 

[Spr.Earl]

"Spr. Earl. Isn‘t hindsight great? Makes you look so smart. So with your way of thinking do you suppose President Roosevelt (WWII) should have taken care of Japan first then gone after Germany and Italy? Kind of easy to put things in such simply perspective. Kind of like a Monday morning quarterback, eh?"

Karpovage,
#1- WW2 was a differant age and time that did not have the techknowledgies we have today!.
The U.S.,Canada and the U.K. were closer then than they are today.The World was a differant place then.

#2- It‘s a fact that the U.S. is very close to being over extended with it‘s Military.
I.E. calling up Reserve and A.N.G. Unit‘s!!!

#3- The last time that happened was Viet Nam!
Think about it!

#4- I grew up in the Viet Nam era and still vividly remember watching Walter Cronkite et al every night giving the nightly casultly list and combat reports and what I see now is history repeating it‘s self even though we and you are not getting the truth!

Mark my words!!

As for Bush he has hood winked the American People in my opinion,your constitution no longer exist‘s as the Patriot Act Supercede‘s all your right‘s.

Just an opinion from a 50yr old Fart.

 

[karpovage]

Guys, first thing. Thanks for keeping this debate civil. Politics and war are very volatile subjects and it‘s easy to digress into person attacks. We have given each other a few jibes but overall it‘s not nasty.

The decision for action was based on twelve years of consistant defiance of the United Nations cease-fire agreement from Gulf War I (such as over 700 attacks on coalition aircraft patroling the no-fly zones), as well as material breaches of agreements to NOT have particular weapon systems (such as intermediate range missiles which were launched against coalition forces at the onset operations last March) AND the humanitarian aspect AND also WMD. The United Nations knew Hussein had WMD, used WMD and found little evidence in the twelve years that he destroyed the WMD. So, yes coalition forces have not found them but that doesn‘t mean they didnt and do not exist. If Bush hoodwinked the AMerican people then he hood winked every single one of those nations that voted unanimously for "serious consequences" if Iraq breached it‘s agreements one more time.

So, don‘t go telling me that all this stuff was made up. And I would suspect the players in the UN have much more to go on than us going through a little debate for hindsight‘s sake.

My personal opinion is that I particularily don‘t like the U.S being the world cop. And in fact the U.S. tried to stay out of WWI and WWII until events unfolded that drew us in. Right, another time an place. Vietnam, another time and place and different technolgies too and for different reasons. Can you say Cold War? So, don‘t make the comparison to Iraq. But alas, after WWII the United Nations was formed to stop future aggressions and the U.S. became the world‘s superpower like it or not. The U.S. pays the bulk of the finances to the United Nations and supplies an overwhelming amount of miltiary might to the United Nations as well. So, when the UN failed in its mission there comes a time for leaders to step up to the plate and grab the horns to make things happen in it‘s own interest as well as the world‘s interest.

The attack on Afghansistan was in direct response for an attack on the U.S. And I agree FUBAr, we should hold Saudi Arabia directly responsible too, along with Syria and Iran. Especially the Saudis because most of the finances are coming from the Wahabi sect in their own government. But each country you have to way the options and deal with in different ways. Some you impose sanctions, some you cut off finances, some you use diplomatic force backed by intelligence (Libya) and some ,when all else fails you consider the military option and even that is measured in response (ie, the NATO air war against Kosovo and Serbia).

I‘ve got to stop and get back to work.

 

[karpovage]

Oh, one other thing. North Korea and the United Nations are still in a cease-fire agreement since the 1950‘s. I suppose then that all those starving people would be a result of the United Nations not acting as opposed to the worlds cop not acting.

 

[koalorka]

Yes Syria, Israel, Egypt and the Saudi Monarchy should be somehow held responsible for the tragic events of 2001, they directly enabled 9-11 to happen and failed to report any suspicious terrorist activity to the US.
What‘s strange is that Israel is supposedly a US ally, but judging from their cooperation it doesn‘t seem so. I remember the incident in 1967 when Israel purposely sunk a US intelligence gathering vessel killing several american sailors, because it revealled some sinister Israeli plan towards the US. (This is not tin-foil hat material, I‘ll try to find a reference).

 

[Jarnhamar]

Didn‘t they kill that canadian who was working on the super gun. He was some ballastics expert, made a gun that would shoot satellite‘s into space or something. They killed him because he was going to sell the plans or get funding from iraq.

Iraq doesn‘t have nuclear weapons. North Korea does and they are stupid enough to use it. I think the US should kick them in the head but I don‘t blame the US for not using force in that situation. Well right away anyways.

I say Do away with the UN, put more money into nato and clean up the world before one of these dillusional countries gets some nukes AND uses them on us.

 

[Pikache]

Ghost, that sounds like plot from Frederick Forsyth‘s Fist of God. Good book.

 

[koalorka]

That artillery piece was suppose to lob nuclear projectiles into Israel.

 

[Engineer Corporal]

Maybe we are all looking at this wrong. Lets step back for a minute and ask why? Why would people kill themselves voluntarily and take 3000 innocent people with them in the sept 11th attacks? Alot of terrorists are‘nt illiterate drones that just take orders they are university educated men or women who still think violence will win. Why is this? Osama says and has been saying that U.S. military forces in saudi arabis is a big reason. NOt to say I support osama or anything god no... but it‘s smart to step back and see why your enemy hates you.Terrorists are always trying to get a seat at the big table and using violence as a weapon to acheive that goal. What they don‘t realize is that go back to 4th grade "Violence only creates more Violence". Not a hard concept to wrap your head around. When weapons of Mass destruction were‘nt found, the U.S. falling back and saying well saddam was evil so he must be removed, was convient. Now if the United States will attack a country just cause their leader is evil and persecuting their people. THen why the double standard? I think North Korea is more of a threat then iraq could ever be. Bigger and badder military and all. But North Korea does‘nt have vast resources of oil so no reason to attack. They can just be isolated and confined and as far as there ppl goes "who cares" is the attitude. How can you put one type of ppl above another and not become hypocrites? If you think the U.S. will ever let the IRaq‘s democratically elect a leader who does‘nt like the U.S. your dreaming. They will eventually leave Iraq but they will leave it on their terms with a puppet government in place and there forces in secure possession of who does what with whom to the oil fields.

 

[Paul F]

Iraq invaded it‘s neighbors in the past and was a ticking time bomb to do it again. Anyone remember Gulf War 1 or the Iran-Iraq war?

North Korean has invaded nobody. The last time they invaded someone was in the 1950‘s and the US, along with it‘s allies responded harshly and pounded the North Koreans back into their own territory.

Yeah, Kim Dung il (or whatever his name is) is a brutal dictator and needs to be taken care of, but military action is definantely not the way to go with North Korea. They have artillery pieces aimed at Seoul, South Korea that could kill thounsands, maybe even hundreds of thousands in a matter of minutes. If a war broke out on the Korean peninsula, the North Koreans would start lobbing sh!t all over the place, at Japan, at South Korea, maybe even at western Canada and the western USA. The North Koreans know that if they do anything stupid the world will move in and topple the regime there.

The USA has the North Koreans by the balls, they are severely isolated from the rest of the world. They rely on the rest of the world to feed their people and for many other things as well. North Korea does anything stupid and even it‘s friends (Russia, China) will probably turn against them.

But if/when the time comes to go into North Korea, it will probably be a very similar situation to Iraq, cities will fall like dominos. The North Korean people are so oppressed, they don‘t know **** all about the outside world, they work from dusk till 10 at night, they are starved, beated, raped, babies are killed for simply being born to a foreign father, etc. Once the North Korean people realize what they have been missing for the past number of decades, I am sure they will crumble. If not, the US will bomb the country to the ground. Either way, the US will come out victorious when they go into North Korea to take that piece of crap Kim Dung il out of power.

 

[Engineer Corporal]

Umm who supplied the iran-iraq war uhh U.S. You just answered my question for me also.
"They have artillery pieces aimed at Seoul, South Korea that could kill thounsands, maybe even hundreds of thousands in a matter of minutes. If a war broke out on the Korean peninsula, the North Koreans would start lobbing sh!t all over the place, at Japan, at South Korea, maybe even at western Canada and the western USA." Yet!!! you say the Iraqi‘s where more dangerous????? Was Iraq gonna lobb anything at western canada or U.S. uhhhh no. So what your saying makes no sense. The U.S. would be hurting to invade north korea without taking thousands of casualities. Also China did‘nt want a american protectorate state in the 1950‘s on their border they definately would‘nt want it now.

 

[1feral1]

Afghanistan: 13th century mentality with 21st century technology = danger!

Remember war is in their culture, and if they can‘t fight with another nation, they will simply fight with each other.

A century from now it will be the same thing.

As for US invlovement in Iraq prior, say pre 1985, sure they were as were the UK, France, Russia, and a host of other countries, so the blame should not be directed at the US alone. Iraq appeared to be on the side of the west.

I remember the 1980-88 war with Iran and Iraq and we all pretty much sided with Iraq then, after how unstable iran hada become with that Kohmeni (spelling) bloke.

I knew this Iraqi-Canadian girl (yes she was a stunner)who was going back to fight against Iran in the final yr of the war. She used to come up to the mess and have a few drinks with the lads. She asked if I wanted a souvenir, I asked for an Iraqi Coke botle. When she returned after 18 months, there she was with my arabic Coke bottle, which I still have.

Now say from 1991 to present, would we be so friendly having an Iraqi ‘soldier‘ in any mess now?

The US is openly condemmed for every time they commit their troops by the bleeding hearts and granola eaters, but in reality, at the end of the day, no matter what they have done, I believe that the world is a more safe, and better place, and besides if they did not get involved, soon everyone would be saying ‘where are the Americans‘?

Cheers,

Wes