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AFGHANISTAN UPDATE2 November 2007 No. 23: 19 October - 1 November 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:
Intense military operations continued during the past two weeks and were marked by the Taliban entering a strategic area near Kandahar, which is the largest city in the southern part of Afghanistan. On 30 October, Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops started an operation to remove Taliban from the Arghandab district, which is a vital area just north of Kandahar. It was apparently the closest that the Taliban have come to Kandahar since 2001. According to The New York Times, the death of Kandahar's Mullah Naqibullah, a powerful leader and a strong supporter of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, has contributed to the inroads that the Taliban have made during the past two weeks in Arghandab. As of 1 November, Canadian forces said that ISAF was slowing the Taliban offensive. Western newswires were reporting that at least 50 Taliban have died in this battle, but Al-Jazeera reported that Afghan residents were saying more had died. Afghan and NATO-led ISAF troops reportedly killed over 50 Taliban in battles on 28 and 29 October in Uruzgan province. NATO announced operations in this area on 25 October under the name "Spin Ghar." Further south fierce fighting took place in Musa Qala (Helmand province), which has been held by the Taliban since February. Afghan and U.S.-led forces reported that they had killed over 70 Taliban insurgents in this battle on 27 October. On 22 October, ISAF forces conducted airstrikes in southeastern Afghanistan that also resulted in the deaths of militants. Fifty anti-government fighters were targeted in the operation in Wardak province, according to a NATO press release. In other violence, the intelligence chief of Qarghayo, along with his driver and two body guards, were killed by a remote-controlled explosive device that hit their car on 30 October. On 27 October, a suicide bomber approached Bermel military base in Paktika province, which is in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. The explosion resulted in the deaths of four Afghan soldiers and one civilian. Two children were killed in a U.S. and Afghan raid in the eastern province of Nangarhar on 31 October. A Taliban militant who was engaged in the fighting allegedly holed himself up in a room with his family, and the children became victims of the crossfire. On the issue of civilian deaths, President Hamid Karzai said in an interview with the American news program "60 Minutes," that U.S. and NATO-led forces should cut back on airstrikes because of the subsequent influx of civilian deaths. The program aired on 28 October. Human Rights Watch has said that 230 Afghan civilians were killed last year as a result of inadequate precautions or "indiscriminate" force by coalition troops, with about 700 dying as a result of actions by Taliban or other anti-government forces. The United Nations warned that its convoys have had terrible difficulties administering food aid to required areas in Afghanistan because of attacks, especially on the main ring road. According to the United Nations, insurgents and criminals have raided 55 humanitarian aid conveys and killed or abducted 110 aid workers so far this year. About four million Afghans need food aid each year, according to the U.N. World Food Program. The United Nations called on the Afghan government and ISAF to do more to protect food aid convoys. In international political developments, NATO defense ministers announced during an informal meeting in The Netherlands on 24 October that they were able to encourage members to contribute more troops to ISAF. Among the offers, France and Germany said that they would send additional military trainers to Afghanistan. More details should be released by the time of a "force generation" conference in November, when countries are supposed to confirm their proposed contributions. A couple of days earlier, NATO had made requests for more troops as Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer stated that the conflict was entering its most difficult phase. The Secretary General is encouraging NATO to agree to a system under which the cost of missions would be shared rather than taken only from the participating countries' national budgets. Also before the defense ministers' meeting, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized NATO members for not supplying the number of troops and resources that they had promised at the Riga Summit back in 2006. Japan's parliament allowed the expiration of the country's refueling operation that was in support of U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Japan's Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, was unable to garner enough support for the controversial mission in the Indian Ocean. Recent legislation that had been proposed to extend the mission included some changes, such as refueling only ships that would not conduct direct military strikes. The Prime Minister said that he would continue to push for the renewal of the mission. According to a source in the Pakistan government the Taliban may be willing to attend the Pakistan-Afghan Jirga scheduled for November. MNA Munir Khan Orakzai said he believed that the "growing menace of Talibanisation" could only be stopped by engaging all concerned parties. The third conference of the "Paris Pact" convened in Kabul on 31 October to address Afghanistan's illegal opium production. Fifty-five countries were represented at the two-day conference. Included in the discussion was an emphasis on generating more regional cooperation to stem the flow of opium from Afghanistan. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office has released a report that states the total financial cost for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has surpassed $600 billion. According to CBO's figures, this would come to $8,000 for every person in the United States. Chris Lindborg and Candice Boyer, BASIC
Stories and Links: Taliban leaders vows winter war spreading to north, Reuters
via Boston.com (The Boston Globe), 31/10 Defying diktats: Afghan women join police forces, Joydeep
Ray, NDTV.com (New Delhi Television Limited) 30/10 Foreign fighters bolster Taliban; Afghans warn they are more
violent, David Rohde, New York Times News Service, via Boston.com
(The Boston Globe), 30/10 No end to U.S.'s war budget woes, David Isenberg, Asia
Times, 30/10 British Get Blamed for Helmand's Security Problems, Wahidullah
Amani in Kabul and Aziz Ahmad Tassal, Afghan Recovery Report,
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 24/10 ISAF Factsheets-produced by NATO for Informal Defense Ministers meeting in Noordwijk, Netherlands, 24-25 October:
Afghanistan: Unveiling Women's Rights, Fawzia Sheikh, ISP,
23/10 Fallout From Karachi Bombing Felt In Afghanistan, Ron Synovitz,
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 19/10
Editorials, Transcripts and Reports: Afghanistan at the tipping point, Roger Cohen, International Herald Tribune, 31/10 http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/31/opinion/edcohen.php?WT.mc_id=rssfrontpage DoD News Briefing with Brig. Gen. Anderson (via teleconference
from Afghanistan) at the Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington, Virginia,
United States, 31/10 Estimated Costs of U.S. Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and
of Other Activities Related to the War on Terrorism, testimony
before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives,
Statement of Peter Orszag, Director, U.S. Congressional Budget Office,
24/10 Afghanistan -- A Once and Future Nation, Roger Cohen, Spiegel,
22/10 Fighting "The Other War": Counterinsurgency Strategy in Afghanistan,
2003-2005, Lieutenant David W. Barno, The Military Review,
September/October 2007
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