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AFGHANISTAN UPDATE31 August 2007 No. 16: 23 - 30 August 2007 If you would like to receive this update, please email basic-wash at basicint.org with the phrase "subscribe to Afghanistan Update" in the subject line. Feedback on format and content is also gladly received. In particular we are keen to hear feedback of how useful you find this update. Please contact Chris Lindborg by email at clindborg at basicint.org with comments or suggestions. Previous editions of BASIC's Afghanistan Update are available here. Summary:
Afghanistan is slated to have a record-breaking opium poppy crop, according to the U.N. executive summary of its survey on opium production. The results of the survey, which were released on 27 August, cited progress in the central and northern regions of Afghanistan, but highlighted the explosive growth of the crop in the western and southern regions. The flow of opium from Afghanistan has been seen as a major problem in the United Kingdom and critics are citing the survey as evidence of poor U.K. policies at home and in Afghanistan, especially in Helmand Province where U.K. forces have 7,000 troops deployed and opium production has increased by almost 50 percent in 12 months. U.S. officials reported that insurgent attacks were at their highest level since the 2001 invasion and numerous accounts of casualties have streamed out of Afghanistan in the past week. U.S.-led forces reportedly killed 100 'insurgents' in Kandahar after they were ambushed and more than 10 NATO troops have been killed in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Among the coalition deaths, a suicide bomber killed three American NATO soldiers who were building a bridge in Paktia Province on 28 August. Also, a U.S. Air Force bomb killed three British soldiers and injured two who were on foot patrol in Helmand Province on 23 August. A British soldier reportedly had called in support after being ambushed by Taliban forces. NATO officials said that the bombing would be investigated. Afghan elders and U.S. officials continued to debate a recent incident in which 12 Afghan civilians died. U.S. and other NATO officials have said that the deaths were the result of Taliban fire whereas Afghan representatives have said that NATO airstrikes killed the civilians. Overall, NATO has said that Taliban militants have been fabricating reports of civilian casualties to discredit the coalition. After NATO officials initially claimed that forces had permission to conduct operations within Pakistan on 25 August, The Daily Times (Pakistan) reported on 29 August that alliance officials were apologizing for strikes inside Pakistan and that crossing the border was a result of miscommunication. A controversy has brewed in general over whether U.S.-led and NATO forces are allowed to conduct military operations in Pakistan without the prior approval of Pakistani authorities. Pakistani officials have repeatedly said that they have not given permission for the forces to enter their country, but according to the Associated Press, documents from the United States have revealed that the U.S. military had a series of contingencies drawn up in 2004 in which operations in Pakistan would be allowed by U.S. authorities without prior permission from Pakistan. Several key developments transpired in the latest hostage crises. The Taliban released 12 South Korean hostages on 29 August and the remaining seven the next day. Originally the Taliban had captured 23 South Koreans on 19 July 2007 and killed two of the hostages shortly afterward, and released two more several weeks later. Some were criticizing the recent negotiations, which included the South Korean government reiterating plans to withdraw its 210 troops by the end of the year and to restrict South Korean missionaries from entering Afghanistan. The Taliban had wanted a prisoner exchange in addition to the commitment to withdraw troops, but the Afghan government refused. Taliban spokesperson, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said that the deal will encourage them to take more hostages in the future. A German hostage still in Taliban custody, Rudolph Blechschmidt, was shown on Afghanistan television on 23 August. Taliban forces had captured the 62-year old engineer, and one other German and four Afghan colleagues, on 18 July, a day before the South Koreans were kidnapped. Al-Arabiya described the newscast that also showed four Afghans. According to the television station's presenter, Taliban forces are demanding that Germany withdraw its 3,000 troops from Afghanistan in exchange for releasing the hostages. The United States, the European Union, and the United Nations agreed on 27 August to standardize Afghan police training. The agreement authorizes the coordination of training methods by various countries, including the United States and Germany, under the authority of the Kabul-based International Police Coordination Board Secretariat. On 23 August, the International Herald Tribune reported on the continuing problems confronting EU police trainers, including lack of intelligence information, due in part to problems with information sharing between NATO and the EU. On 30 August, the International Crisis Group released an extensive report with recommendations for improving the training of Afghan police. In other policy developments, on 29 August German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Japan and reiterated her wishes for Japan to continue supporting security efforts for Afghanistan. Japan has conducted refueling in the Indian Ocean in support of coalition missions. The Japanese operations are under special legislation that expires in November and opposition leaders have threatened to hold up a renewal decision in parliament. French President Nicholas Sarkozy announced that France will increase its troop contribution to Afghanistan operations by 150 trainers, adding to its current level of 1,000 troops. Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, was under increasing pressure from the Bloc Quebecois to establish a deadline for Canadian troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. In the United States, the Air Force plans to deploy a new pilotless airplane to Afghanistan this fall. Called the "Reaper," the aircraft will apparently have the bombing power of an F-16 and be able to fly three times as fast as its well-known predecessor, the Predator. Angus-Reid released the results of a poll on 27 August showing that 49% of Canadians are skeptical of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, while Europeans polled expressed even higher rates of doubt: British (63%), French (63%), Italians (66%) and Germans (69%). The poll was conducted in late July and early August. In a separate poll, the think tank Lowy Institute for International Policy asked Australians, "Should Australia continue to be involved militarily in Afghanistan?" Forty-six percent of respondents said "yes" and an equal percentage said "no." The Institute conducted the poll during the last two weeks of May and early June and released the results on 30 August. Australia has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan.
Stories and Links: Afghan police Afghan police fight to survive, Jason Motlagh, Asia Times
Online, 29/08 Afghan police training to be standardized, Judy Dempsey,
International Herald Tribune, 27/08 Letter from Germany: Bickering between NATO and EU hampers training
of Afghan police, Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune,
23/08 Hostage crises Korean hostages freed - at a cost, Jennifer Veale, Time,
29/08 German hostage in Afghanistan begs for his life, Al-Arabiya,
23/08 Other Into thin air: he's still out there. The hunt for bin Laden.
Evan Thomas, Newsweek, 03/09 issue Britain hits low point in opium war, New Zealand Herald,
29/08 Afghanistan 'at the Crossroads', Chuck Crumbo, The State
(Columbia, South Carolina), 26/08 Strategy that fails to win hearts and minds, Declan Walsh,
The Guardian, 25/08 Three British soldiers killed by bomb from American jet,
James Kirkup, The Scotsman, 25/08 Afghanistan: Return to the lair of bin Laden, Tom Coghlan,
The Daily Telegraph, 24/08
Editorials, Transcripts and Reports: Opium Drugs war: Eradication or legalisation? How to solve Afghanistan's
opium crisis [survey of expert opinion], Declan Welsh and Ian
Black, The Guardian, 29/08 Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007, Executive Summary, United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, August 2007 Opium Licensing in Afghanistan: Its Desirability and Feasibility,
Vanda Felbab-Brown, Brookings Institution Policy Paper, No. 1, August
2007 Other Australia and the World: Public Opinion and Foreign Policy,
Lowy Institute for International Policy, 30/08 Reforming Afghanistan's Police, International Crisis Group
Report, 30/08 The Afghan War: Which Side is DOD On? Winslow Wheeler, Center
for Defense Information, 28/08 Afghanistan and Pakistan's problems preclude action on terror,
Amin Saikal, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), 27/08
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