[A-List] Afghanistan: West Losing Its South Asian War

[Rick Rozoff]

1) One Hundred Insurgents Attack Afghan Post, Kill
Eight Government Soldiers
2) Turkish Engineer, Afghan Soldier Killed, Two
Abducted In Restive Zabul Province
3) Large US Military Force Operating On Pakistan
Border - And Points East
4) Southern Afghanistan Slips Back Into Taliban Hands
5) Botched US Assassination Attempts On Afghan
Regional Leaders Spur Intelligence Review
6) Great Britain 'Committed To Rebuilding Afghanistan'
- With Combat Troops
7) Russia: Seven Nationals Illegally Detained By US At
Guantanamo Not Involved In Armed Hostilities



1)
http://www.hipakistan.com/en/detail.php?newsId=en56410&F_catID=&f_type=source

Agence France-Presse
March 6, 2004

Taliban kill 8 Afghan soldiers 
 
      
KANDAHAR, March 5: Taliban militants killed eight
Afghan soldiers on Thursday in an attack on an army
post in the southern Spin Boldak district, bordering
Pakistan, a military commander said on Friday. 

"About 100 Taliban stormed an Afghan army post in
Sheen Nari village on Wednesday night," military
commander of the nearby Kandahar province, Gen Khan
Mohammad, said. 

"The eight soldiers were sleeping in their post when
the attack was launched," he said. "The security guard
at the post ran away, most probably he was a Taliban
accomplice," the commander said. 

Earlier, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), quoting local
military commander Lal Jan, said the attackers led by
a Taliban commander, Mullah Abdul Wadood, came from
Atghar district, southern Zabul province, and returned
to the area after the attack. 

Afghan troops launched a search for the attackers on
Thursday, but no arrest had been made so far, he said,
adding that US aircraft had also dropped bombs in the
area. Government officials in Zabul recently claimed
that Taliban remnants were regrouping in Atghar. 
------------------------------------------------------
2)
http://wbz4.com/world/Afghan-TalibanAttack-ai/resources_news_html

Associated Press
March 5, 2004

Turkish engineer and Afghan soldier killed in
suspected Taliban attack

-Dogan Kamal, a diplomat with the Turkish Embassy in
Kabul, confirmed two people including one Turk had
been killed, but would give no further details.
-[T]he shooting and abuduction Friday occurred in the
same area of restive Zabul province as several other
attacks on foreign aid workers, engineers and Afghan
security forces in recent months.
In January, suspected Taliban militants killed three
Afghan soldiers in a gunbattle with government
soldiers in Shahjoy. In May, Taliban suspects in the
area shot two Afghan deminers....
-Taliban rebels have been pressing their insurgency
over a wide-swath of the south and east, despite vows
by the U.S.-led military coalition to crush them.



KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) Suspected Taliban gunmen
killed a Turkish engineer and an Afghan soldier Friday
after stopping their car along a main road linking the
capital with the turbulent south, a local army
commander and Turkish officials said.

Another Turkish engineer and the car's driver were
abducted, said Naimatullah Khan, army commander for
Zabul province. The attack occurred in the early
afternoon along the Kabul-Kandahar highway in the
district of Shahjoy, in Zabul province.

``The Taliban carried out this attack. Afghan soldiers
are combing through the district looking for them,''
Khan said, adding that the soldier had been in the car
to protect the engineers.

Dogan Kamal, a diplomat with the Turkish Embassy in
Kabul, confirmed two people including one Turk had
been killed, but would give no further details.

Turkish and Indian engineers, most of them involved in
a project to repave the Kabul-Kandahar highway, have
been abducted several times in the past. The Taliban
was to blame for at least one of the incidents.

Also, the shooting and abuduction Friday occurred in
the same area of restive Zabul province as several
other attacks on foreign aid workers, engineers and
Afghan security forces in recent months.

In January, suspected Taliban militants killed three
Afghan soldiers in a gunbattle with government
soldiers in Shahjoy. In May, Taliban suspects in the
area shot two Afghan deminers after a failed attempt
to find foreigners.

Taliban rebels have been pressing their insurgency
over a wide-swath of the south and east, despite vows
by the U.S.-led military coalition to crush them.
------------------------------------------------------
3)
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_6-3-2004_pg7_51

Daily Times (Pakistan)
March 6, 2004

‘Large force involved in Pak-Afghan operation’
Staff Report

-Asked if the US would cooperate were Pakistan to ask
for “assistance on their side of the border,” Mr
DeRita answered, “Well, without discussing sort of
military operations, or indeed, speculative military
operations, the Government of Pakistan is being very
cooperative in the global war on terror and is being
very cooperative in particular with the hunt for
Taliban and Al Qaeda in their country.”



WASHINGTON: A Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday that
the US had “many people” along the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border and was continuing to
“work offensive operations to capture and kill” key
operatives of Al Qaeda.

Brig Gen David Rodriguez, deputy director operations
of the Joint Staff, told journalists in answer to a
question about “operations along Afghanistan’s border
with Pakistan,” that in the “border region in
Afghanistan, obviously we have CJTF-180 over there
operating. We have got many people along that border
because of the challenge that it presents, and also
the routes back and forth for the leadership of Al
Qaeda to move. And we continue to work offensive
operations to capture and kill those key operatives.”

His co-briefer, Lawrence DeRita added, “And inside
Pakistan, the government and the military of Pakistan
is very aggressive and has been quite - I would just
say aggressive again - in that region in the search
for foreigners, terrorists, suspect personnel. And
they’re rounding people up. But they’re being - the
Pakistan army is being very effective in those areas.”

Asked if the US would cooperate were Pakistan to ask
for “assistance on their side of the border,” Mr
DeRita answered, “Well, without discussing sort of
military operations, or indeed, speculative military
operations, the Government of Pakistan is being very
cooperative in the global war on terror and is being
very cooperative in particular with the hunt for
Taliban and Al Qaeda in their country.”
------------------------------------------------------
4)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$PHPNNLW31TE4JQFIQMGCFF4AVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2004/03/06/wtalib06.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/06/ixworld.html

The Telegraph (Britain)
March 6, 2004


Taliban tighten their grip on Afghan villagers with
terror tactics 
By Hamida Ghafour in Shah Joy

-It is a common dilemma in about a third of
Afghanistan's southern regions, where the Taliban are
regrouping and waiting for the spring to launch
attacks against the central government and its
American allies.
-About 70 per cent of Zabul [province] is now either
controlled by supporters of the Taliban or completely
lawless.
-Four engineers working on the main road have been
kidnapped and 15 Afghans working for the central
government have been killed in the last three months.
No foreigners venture to the province. Aid workers
fled long ago. It is estimated that about 700 armed
Afghan Taliban who are ethnic Pathans have crossed the
border from the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and
Quetta where they are trained and funded.
- "They are taking advantage of our poverty," said Gen
Ayoub Khan, the security commander for Zabul. "The
administration is weak and incapable of controlling an
area, therefore the local people are not relying on
them.
-"{]We arrested two Talibs a month ago and they told
us that Pakistani colonels told them to destabilise
Afghanistan."




The Taliban's intimidation tactics are simple. A
convoy of about 20 Honda motorcycles surrounds a
house, looking for people who support America or
President Hamid Karzai.
 
If they find one, they kill him. If not, the
householders are beaten to serve as a warning to
others.

People in the village of Shah Joy, 180 miles
south-west of Kabul, are torn between supporting a
moderate government struggling to reconstruct the
country and supporting the Taliban simply to survive.
It is a common dilemma in about a third of
Afghanistan's southern regions, where the Taliban are
regrouping and waiting for the spring to launch
attacks against the central government and its
American allies.

They are concentrating in the province of Zabul, where
the coalition never managed to root out the extremist
movement. About 70 per cent of Zabul is now 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 Mohammad, 28, a soldier whose two brothers were
severely beaten because he works for the local
government. "They 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."

On the main road linking the province to Kabul, the
Taliban set up roadblocks in broad daylight and
scrutinise vehicles for potential targets to kill or
kidnap.

Four engineers working on the main road have been
kidnapped and 15 Afghans working for the central
government have been killed in the last three months.
No foreigners venture to the province. Aid workers
fled long ago. It is estimated that about 700 armed
Afghan Taliban who are ethnic Pathans have crossed the
border from the Pakistani cities of Peshawar and
Quetta where they are trained and funded.

The commanders are offering a motorcycle, an AK47 and
a satellite telephone to anyone willing to rob or bomb
a government target.

A successful hit is worth £110. Killing an enemy has
an added incentive of a £495 bonus.

The strategy appears to be to make Zabul too difficult
to work in, angering the local population and turning
support away from central government to the Taliban.
"They are taking advantage of our poverty," said Gen
Ayoub Khan, the security commander for Zabul. "The
administration is weak and incapable of controlling an
area, therefore the local people are not relying on
them.

"In the Dai Chopan district there are reports of
Punjabi commanders. We arrested two Talibs a month ago
and they told us that Pakistani colonels told them to
destabilise Afghanistan."

Mohammad Azghar, a former Taliban member now a soldier
working for the local government, said 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 [£2,500] 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'."

The Americans are trying to win the hearts of the
Afghans with the promise of reconstruction. Next
month, the military will form in Qalat, the capital, a
provincial reconstruction team, quasi-military units
of up to 100 people who provide security and help to
rebuild roads, schools and clinics. It is hoped their
presence will also establish a secure environment,
especially in remote villages, for other charities to
return.

But the deputy governor, Malawi Mohammed Omar, said
the Americans had a difficult task because they were
not talking to village elders willing to co-operate
and identify the enemy.

"The US would not recognise Mullah Omar if he stood in
front of them," said Mr Omar. "Until the Americans are
on the ground and negotiating with the local community
leaders and disarming them they will not win."
------------------------------------------------------
5)
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_6-3-2004_pg4_22

Daily Times (Pakistan)
March 6, 2004

Failed US Afghan strike spurs intelligence review: Dow
Jones

-Eventually the US dropped a dozen 2,000-pound
satellite-guided bombs on the area in the Pak-Afghan
border area where the militia leader was believed to
be located at the time. Defence officials assume the
targets were there but got away. 
The officials said there were also problems around the
same time with a separate strike aimed at insurgents,
in which US aircraft strafed a village in northeastern
Afghanistan and mistakenly killed some villagers.



WASHINGTON: A failed military strike on senior Afghan
militia leaders late last year has led to a high-level
review of how intelligence is relayed and employed by
special-operations units and other troops in
Afghanistan, senior US defence officials said. 

The classified study, initiated at US Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s request, is part of a
broader initiative under way at the Pentagon to
reshape the military’s intelligence apparatus so it is
better suited to helping locate terrorists and *other
elusive enemies,* reports Dow Jones Newswire. 

In the botched raid, US defence officials believed
that they had solid intelligence on the whereabouts of
a high-level Afghan militia leader believed to have
links to Al Qaeda. But Pentagon officials say the
study is examining whether intelligence flowed as
quickly as necessary to the troops and whether they
were best positioned to take advantage of the
information. It is also looking at whether technical
problems some satellite-guided bombs failed to release
from planes circling the battlefield hindered the
strike. 

“We’re asking ourselves, how do we tweak the process
so we get it right the next time?” said one official
familiar with the study. 

Intelligence officials said they did their own review
of the incident. “It showed the flow of information
worked pretty well; in fact, it worked remarkably
well,” said a senior intelligence official. 

The operation began after a tip about the militia
leaders’ whereabouts was received by US intelligence
agencies and efforts were made over several days to
corroborate it, the intelligence official said. He
added that intelligence analysts were in constant
contact with the military before and during the
strike. Eventually the US dropped a dozen 2,000-pound
satellite-guided bombs on the area in the Pak-Afghan
border area where the militia leader was believed to
be located at the time. Defence officials assume the
targets were there but got away. 

The officials said there were also problems around the
same time with a separate strike aimed at insurgents,
in which US aircraft strafed a village in northeastern
Afghanistan and mistakenly killed some villagers.
Senior military officials visited the area a short
time later to apologise. 

The Pentagon study is part of a broader initiative to
change the military-intelligence apparatus, which was
built to collect information about armies on a
battlefield. Some of the moves, outlined in an
internal Pentagon report prepared for Lt Gen William
Boykin, Rumsfeld’s deputy undersecretary for
intelligence, call for more of a focus on gathering
intelligence on Al Qaeda and distributing that
information to special-operations troops. 

“We need Intelligence Forces to conduct operations to
penetrate the network, to shape and deceive and to
produce intelligence that drives new operations,” the
presentation reads. 

The report also notes that despite the Bush
administration’s push to remove barriers that prevent
intelligence from being shared quickly, significant
roadblocks remain. “The enemy moves at the speed of
business. What speed do we move at? The speed of
process,” the report reads. 

The intelligence reforms are reflected in a new
Pentagon push to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden. The
Pentagon recently received permission from the White
House to implement a new war plan for Afghanistan on
capturing Bin Laden, Taliban leader Mulla Omar and
other top fugitives. The plan contains timelines for
sending more forces to the border and for expanding
operations. —NNI
------------------------------------------------------
6)
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_6-3-2004_pg4_25

Agence France-Presse
March 6, 2004


‘UK committed to rebuilding Afghanistan’

KABUL: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw reaffirmed
London’s commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan during a
lightning visit to Kabul on Friday.

“When I first visited ... exactly two years ago I said
that the United Kingdom has committed to Afghanistan
for the long term,” Straw said after talks with
President Hamid Karzai. “We have to stay through that
commitment and it’s showed in the presence of British
troops, in the opening a new British embassy
building,” he said. His Afghan counterpart Abdullah
Abdullah described Straw’s talks with Karzai as “very
fruitful.” 
------------------------------------------------------
7)
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=4018226&startrow=1&date=2004-03-06&do_alert=0

Russian Information Agency (Novosti)
March 6, 2004

NO EVIDENCE OF RUSSIANS' PARTICIPATION IN WARFARE IN
AFGHANISTAN 


MOSCOW, March 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has not got
documentary evidence of participation by seven
Russians extradited by Americans in warfare in
Afghanistan, said Russian Deputy Prosecutor General
Sergei Fridinsky. 

"The American side has not passed documentary evidence
of participation by the accused in the warfare on
Taliban's side to Russian investigation bodies," Mr.
Fridinsky told the Rossia television channel. 

He said these people had already been noticed by
Russian law enforcement bodies. 

"Most of them, even before they left Russia and were
detained on other states' territory, were noticed by
law enforcement bodies," Mr. Fridinsky said. "One of
them in connection with the fact that he evaded
military service, and another because he was suspected
of preaching radical Islam; a third of was suspected
of involvement with illegal armed formations." Seven
Russians detained by Americans in Afghanistan and held
later at the Guantanamo military base were passed to
Russia in late February. 



 


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