AFGHANISTAN UPDATE

14 June 2007

No. 5: 7-13 June 2007

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Previous editions of BASIC's Afghanistan Update are available here.

Summary:

• President Karzai survives Taliban assassination attempt; police general killed
• Former Taliban leader defects to Afghan government; Jalaluddin Haqqani dead?
• Claims of Iranian support for Taliban escalate; Iran accuses Britain of supporting terrorism in Afghanistan
• United Nations demands Afghan government take stronger action against corruption; ICRC urges NATO to reduce civilian casualties
• Deployment updates

The Taliban made an assassination attempt on President Karzai during a press conference in Ghazni province on Sunday. Several rockets were fired but landed harmlessly a few hundred meters from Karzai, who finished his speech in spite of the attack. It was the third attempt on the Afghan president's life since 2001 and was called an "outrage" by Tom Koenigs, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan. Seven suspects were subsequently arrested but were released on the orders of President Karzai according to a report by National Afghanistan TV on Tuesday. On Saturday an Afghan police general, Mohammad Daud Saleh, was killed in a brazen attack by Taliban gunmen whilst leaving a barbershop in Kandahar. The Washington Times reported on Friday that Afghan police have been killed at a record rate in 2007, with losses since March surpassing 200. Eight died on Tuesday in a 'friendly-fire' incident with U.S. troops. President Karzai described the incident as "heartbreaking" and attributed it to a lack of coordination between Afghan and international security forces.

The Taliban suffered their own losses during the weekend, when the former head of the television and radio directorate, Ishaq Nizami, defected to the Afghan government. The Taliban confirmed his defection, claiming he had been 'brainwashed.' The Afghan daily newspaper Weesa reported on Tuesday that the infamous insurgent leader Jalaluddin Haqqani died in Dubai last week from hepatitis. Haqqani has fought against the Afghan government and international forces since 2001 and was in a position to assume greater prominence in the insurgency since the death of Mullah Dadullah last month. NATO also reports that Mullah Mahmood Baluch, a senior Taliban leader, was killed in an airstrike on 9 June whilst attempting to move weapons into Helmand province.

Western officials have made further accusations against Iran, with U.S. Secretary of State Nicholas Burns explicitly linking the Iranian government to the flow of weapons to the Taliban, stating in a press conference in Paris on Tuesday that it was an attempt by Iran to "flex its muscles." Speaking from a U.S. military base in Germany on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he could not confirm official Iranian sanction of the weapons flow but countered that it was "hard to believe" that such a significant transfer of arms could be taking place without the knowledge of the Iranian government. Iranian officials have struck back at the recent comments from Western sources with their own claims, as Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday that British officials have conducted secret negotiations with the Taliban and that British policy has sought to further destabilize Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan agreed to closer cooperation in counter-narcotics efforts following a meeting in Vienna on Tuesday. Describing the drugs-trade as "a trans-national threat which requires a cooperative solution," the three nations will share intelligence, conduct joint-sweeps and operations, and increase border security.

Tom Koenigs warned at a press conference on Monday that rampant corruption in the Afghan government and the failure of donor nations to demand action is contributing to the insecurity. Koenigs indentified problems such as the presence of former warlords and drug-smugglers within the Afghan government and the unreliable and under-equipped Afghan police, as specific issues which have undermined the Afghan justice system and the rule of law in the country. The International Committee of the Red Cross, meanwhile, stated on Tuesday that NATO must take greater care to ensure the safety of civilians. Pierre Kraehenbuehl, Director of Operations for the ICRC, said that aerial bombing by international forces and indiscriminate attacks by the Taliban had caused significant civilian casualties, and called on both to prevent further loss of life among non-combatants. In response to recent civilian deaths, NATO ministers will address this issue and examine NATO procedures in Afghanistan at a meeting in Brussels later this week.

Georgia, which is a NATO partner country and is seeking full-membership, is considering deploying troops to Afghanistan. According to a report by Georgian TV station Rustavi-2 on Wednesday, talks have been held with the French Defense Ministry about a possible mission, as any Georgian troops sent to Afghanistan would serve alongside their French counterparts. Albanian news agency ATA reported that Albania's government voted overwhelmingly in favor of dispatching a peacekeeping contingent to Afghanistan last Thursday, although no information on personnel numbers or a deployment date was given. Nikolas Sarkozy took further steps to dispel speculation of a French withdrawal from Afghanistan last Friday, and committed an additional 150 troops to help train the Afghan security forces, which will bring France's total deployment to 1,150.

Other nations are being pressed by their allies in Afghanistan to increase or extend their commitments to the international effort. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper discussed the extension of Holland's deployment to Afghanistan with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende on Monday. Holland's 2200 troops are committed through 2008, and a vote on the extension of their mission will take place in August. The United States has requested that South Korea maintain its participation in Operation Enduring Freedom, which is due to finish at the end of 2007. U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Richard Lawless made the request in Seoul last Friday, according to South Korean news service Yonhap, and discussed the possibility of transferring the 110-strong South Korean contingent from the OEF mission to NATO's ISAF.

Cameron Scott
BASIC

Stories and Links:

Promises, threats in Afghan valley rid of Taliban, Reuters, 7/6 http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSB79616920070607?feedType=RSS

Pressure mounts for aerial poppy-spraying, Integrated Regional Information Networks, 7/6 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-73XMNY?OpenDocument

Iran forces the issue in Afghanistan, Asia Times Online, 8/6 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IF08Df01.html

Taliban gone, but burqa still here - with new fabrics, less fuss, The Associated Press, 8/6 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/09/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-Burqa-Comeback.php

In pivotal Afghan town, an uneasy peace follows battle, Reuters, 8/6 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/B856096.htm

Analysis: Afghan Hearts and Minds, United Press International, 8/6 http://www.upi.com/Security_Terrorism/Analysis/2007/06/08/analysis_
afghan_hearts__minds__part_1/9834/

An insurgency beyond the Taliban, Asia Times Online, 9/6 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IF09Df01.html

NATO pins Afghan hopes on a single road, Reuters, 11/6 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/B116816.htm

Afghan mothers use opium as surrogate medicine, Der Spiegel, 12/6 http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,487539,00.html

Blair warns of fiercer Afghan insurgency, Reuters, 12/6 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L12845540.htm

A Taliban surrender and a mass attack, Asia Times Online, 12/6 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IF12Df01.html

Germans in Afghanistan await terror attack, United Press International, 12/6 http://www.upi.com/International_Intelligence/Briefing/2007/06/12/germans_in_afghanistan_await_terror_attack/7213/

For southern Afghan women, learning is for the brave, Reuters, 12/6 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/B142890.htm

Opium poppy harvest to grow, The Washington Times, 13/6 http://washingtontimes.com/world/20070612-101811-3082r.htm

NATO acts on Afghan death rate, The Financial Times, 13/6 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1ded8cfe-194a-11dc-a961-000b5df10621.html

Afghanistan grapples with drug addiction, Reuters, 13/6 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL76280.htm

Editorials, Interviews and Reports:

The west has to accept that there is no military solution, Jonathan Steele, The Guardian, 8/6 http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,2098336,00.html

The Afghans are sick of our armies killing their people, Leo Docherty, The Guardian, 13/6 http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/comment/story/0,,2101514,00.html

AP Interview: Iran aids Afghanistan, but may have helped Taliban too: NATO general, the Associated Press, 11/6 http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/11/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-Iran.php

The Father of the Taliban: Interview with Maulana Sami ul-Haq, Asia Times Online, 13/6 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IF13Df01.html

To return or remain: The dilemma of second-generation Afghans in Pakistan, Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, 8/6 http://www.areu.org.af/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=&task=doc_download&gid=479

Is Iran abetting the Taliban? The Council on Foreign Relations, 11/6 http://www.cfr.org/publication/13578/