[R-G] Brains, not brawn, in Afghanistan

Wed Apr 30 11:21:34 MDT 2008

South Asia
Apr 29, 2008
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JD29Df01.html

Brains, not brawn, in Afghanistan
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - Sunday's brazen attack on a military parade in the Afghan  
capital Kabul at which President Hamid Karzai was officiating marks  
the beginning of a new phase in the Afghan insurgency in which  
attrition will be the focus.

Taliban fighters armed with machine guns and grenade launchers sent  
salvos into the back of the stage on which Karzai was seated with a  
host of Afghan and foreign dignitaries gathered to mark the 16th  
anniversary of the fall of the last communist government.

Three Afghans and three Taliban were killed. Sunday's event was also  
aimed at showcasing the Afghan army's new training and equipment,  
mainly from the United States. It had been planned for weeks and  
security was at maximum levels, yet the Taliban came within 500 meters  
of the stage.

Sunday's attackers penetrated no fewer than 18 security rings around  
the parade's venue and they used their latest weaponry - small mortars  
that are only manufactured by a few Western countries, including  
Israel. In Al-Qaeda adds muscle to the Taliban's fight (Asia Times  
Online, April 19, 2008) it was reported how the Taliban will use  
specialized weapons to launch precision attacks on high-profile targets.

Asia Times Online contacts say the armed men belonged to legendary  
Afghan mujahid Jalaluddin Haqqani's network and were facilitated by  
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami network in Kabul. Hekmatyar is an  
Afghan warlord and politician par excellence.

Ironically, Sunday's parade celebrated the victory of the mujahideen  
over the communists, which in turn led to several years of the  
country's worst-ever factional fighting until the student militia -  
the Taliban movement - seized power in 1996 and kicked out all the  
mujahideen leaders from governance.

The parade was attended by senior North Atlantic Treaty Organization  
(NATO) and United Nations officials, tribal leaders, diplomats and  
parliamentarians and was the most high-profile assault by anti-Western  
coalition militants since the suicide attack on the Serena Hotel in  
Kabul on January 14.

The incident serves as a sharp reminder to people in the capital that  
the Taliban are not a spent force, as senior US commanders in  
Afghanistan like to relate.

Last week, Karzai criticized US-led coalition forces for their conduct  
in the "war on terror" in Afghan villages, alleging the real terrorist  
threat lay in the sanctuaries of the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Pakistan,  
not in Afghanistan.

These differences highlight the complex nature of the struggle in  
Afghanistan, and the constant changes both sides make as they try to  
exploit and bleed each other's weak spots.

The Taliban, for instance, have forgone their traditional direct- 
confrontation offensives against NATO's powerful war machine, while  
NATO is becoming less reliant on indiscriminate large-scale aerial  
bombing.

The Taliban tried to chop off NATO's supply lines through Khyber  
Agency in Pakistan, and this time NATO responded with intelligence  
rather than bullets, managing to get the Taliban's key patron in the  
agency to change sides. (See Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass  
Asia Times Online, April 26, 2008.)

Lessons of the battle of Nuristan
This month, US-led troops and Afghan security forces, backed by air  
power, reported they had killed a "significant" number of militants in  
a fight in the northeast province of Nuristan.

Initial reports said the attack involved Hekmatyar's fighters.  
However, the operation was conducted by a special Taliban guerilla  
group commanded by Shaheen Abid, whom Asia Times Online interviewed  
last November at Nawa Pass on the Pakistan border with Afghanistan.  
(See Death by the light of a silvery moon.)

In a change from previous years, NATO has made it a priority to  
understand the workings of the Taliban. So it was able to identify  
Abid as the leader of the attack, and tracked him back to Nawa Pass,  
where he was placed under surveillance.

On April 22, Abid's group launched another attack, on the Afghan  
National Army in eastern Afghanistan. But this time his movements were  
followed, and while returning to Nawa Pass he and nine of his group  
were killed.

By being smart, rather than relying on "smart bombs", NATO has  
eliminated a highly skilled Taliban combat group.

Similarly, commanders such as Haqqani have refined their methods, in  
Haqqani's case by orchestrating suicide attacks and missions such as  
Sunday's in Kabul.

Indeed, the Taliban have lined up a stream of attackers to target  
Kabul to rattle the Afghan government and NATO forces in coming days  
and weeks.

Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He  
can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002 at yahoo.com

Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass
(Apr 26, '08)

Taliban reap a peace dividend (Apr 24, '08)

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