Afghanistan Update
25
April 2008
No.
34: 12 - 24 April 2008
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Summary:
- NATO
forces mistakenly supply arms to Taliban
- Pakistan
and Afghanistan agree to resume joint peace jirga
- U.S.
Commander warns of rising violence in 2008
- Tensions
rise over counternarcotics in S. Afghanistan
- Solana
visits Afghanistan ahead of donors conference
NATO forces mistakenly
supply arms to Taliban
NATO forces mistakenly delivered
military supplies to Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan
last week. The consignment, which included rocket-propelled
grenades as well as food and water, was intended to resupply
an Afghan National Police (ANP) outpost in Ghazni, a remote
area of Zabul province. Brigadier General Carlos Branco, a
spokesman for the NATO-led International Security and Assistance
Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, attributed the drop to "human
error in transcribing the latitude and longitude of the location."
Afghan politicians suspect
ulterior motives.
Pakistan and Afghanistan agree to resume joint peace jirga
Pakistan
and Afghanistan agreed
on 23 April to resume bilateral discussions through the joint
peace jirga process. Building on the recommendations of the
previous peace jirga held in Kabul in August last year, both
sides resolved to form a smaller jirga of 25 members from
each side and to intensify cooperation in counterterrorism
and narcotics control.
In related developments, Afghan Foreign
Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta expressed concern on 25 April
over reports of a possible "peace
deal" between Pakistan and pro-Taliban militants
along the Afghan border. "Past experiences have proved
that such efforts will only result in those who make such
efforts becoming the victims," Spanta said, referring
to the abortive peace accord between the Pakistani government
and pro-Taliban tribes in North Waziristan in September 2006.
Under the current proposal,
the Pakistani government would gradually withdraw their troops
from the region in return for a permanent cease-fire and a
pledge on the part of the Taliban to cut off support to foreign
al-Qaeda fighters.
U.S. Commander
warns of rising violence in 2008
U.S.
military commanders and other senior defense officials warned this week
of rising levels of violence in Afghanistan in 2008. "I
would predict that we will see some level of increasing incidences
of violence just as there has been every year and they may
well reach a higher level than they did in 2007," said
Major General Jeffrey Schloesser, the new commander of the
U.S.-led Coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan. Schloesser
attributed the dire predictions to a shift in Taliban tactics
and the prospects of increased cross-border activity in the
wake of a potential peace accord between the Pakistani government
and pro-Taliban militants. Civilians, NGOs,
and security forces that are trying to protect development
projects will be among the likely targets, warned Schloesser.
Tensions rise over counternarcotics in S. Afghanistan
Asadullah Khalid, governor of southern Kandahar province, accused
NATO troops this week of undermining the Afghan government's
poppy eradication campaign in Kandahar. Citing Taliban opposition
and mounting death tolls, Mr. Khalid expressed concern over
NATO's failure to provide support to his men during an hour-long
battle against Taliban fighters in the district of Maywand
on 6 April. "They didn't
help us, even though they were very close," the governor
said. "We gave them all the plans and programs beforehand.
They were informed, and they promised us they will help us
if something happens to our police." Mr. Khalid also claimed that NATO troops stopped his eradication teams
in Zhari district and provided contradictory information to
tribal elders in Maywand. "It's very
bad for eradication when you're telling the elders, we are
not against your poppy," Mr. Khalid said. "It means
we have different policies."
Solana visits Afghanistan ahead of donors conference
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana traveled to
Kabul on 21 April to meet with President Hamid Karzai and
other senior ministry officials. Solana also paid a visit
to the headquarters of the EU
Police Mission in Afghanistan, which currently fields
some 230 police, law enforcement, and justice experts to train
Afghan security forces.
During his discussions with
President Karzai, Solana reaffirmed the E.U.'s long-term commitment
to reconstruction of the war-torn country, while identifying
poor security and a lack of good governance as the country's
primary challenges. Solana and Karzai also discussed the upcoming
donors conference in Paris this June, which Karzai hopes will
generate $50 billion in aid over five years to implement the
Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS).
Andrew Imbrie, BASIC
Please note: BASIC does not necessarily endorse comments,
editorials, or reports listed in this update.
Stories
and Links:
Protest
lodged with NATO, Afghan forces over border shelling,
Dawn, 25/04
http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/25/top4.htm
Danish
embassies evacuated in Algeria and Afghanistan, Daily Times, 24/04
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\04\24\story_24-4-2008_pg4_4
Pakistan:
Peace deal between Islamabad, Pro-Taliban militants rankles
U.S., Ron Synovitz, Radio
Free Europe, 24/04
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/04/f7341698-9efa-4a10-aa0c-33bc86bd5e2e.html
Fighting
the Taliban with better governance, not just arms, Carlotta
Gall, IHT, 23/04
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/24/asia/afghan.php
U.S.
considering changes to Afghanistan coalition command structure,
Al Pessin, VOA News, 23/04
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-23-voa70.cfm
RAF
destroys 10m [GBP] spy plane in Afghanistan, Stephen Adams, Telegraph,
22/04
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/22/nafghan222.xml
Afghanistan hopes for 50-billion dollars from Paris meet,
Afgha.com, 22/04
http://www.afgha.com/?q=node/7226
NATO
plans new strategy to beat Taliban, Brooks Tigner, Jane's Information Group, 22/04
http://www.janes.com/news/defence/triservice/jdw/jdw080422_1_n.shtml
Pakistan
frees cleric who fought U.S. in Afghanistan, Farsi Ali,
Reuters, 21/04
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINISL20540520080421
Army
unions call for reinforcements in Afghanistan, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 21/04
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/080421-uruzgan-dutch
Iranian,
Afghan forces clash at border, Cheragh,
20/04
http://www.cheraghdaily.af/english/spip.php?article642
Afghanistan
moves to center stage, M. K. Bhadrakumar, Asia
Times, 19/04
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JD19Df02.html
U.S.
interrogators assaulted Afghan detainees, Daily
Times, 18/04
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\04\18\story_18-4-2008_pg4_9
U.S.-Pak
joint counter-terror strategy key to restoring normalcy in
Afghanistan, Thaindian News, 18/04
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/us-pak-joint-counter-terror-strategy-key-to-restoring-normalcy-in-afghanistan-expert_10039316.html
Iran
accuses U.S. of invading Afghanistan, Iraq under pretext of
Sept. 11 attacks, China View, 16/04
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/16/content_7989419.htm
French,
Canadian foreign ministers visit Afghanistan, Afgha.com, 15/04
http://www.afgha.com/?q=node/6948
11 Afghan police,
2 NATO soldiers killed in separate attacks in S. Afghanistan,
Cheragh, 14/04
http://www.cheraghdaily.af/english/spip.php?article628
Editorials, Transcripts and Reports:
Afghan
Dilemmas: Staying Power, Col. Thomas Lynch, American
Interest, May/June 2008
http://www.the-american-interest.com/ai2/article.cfm?Id=422&MId=19
Afghan
Dilemmas: Defining Commitments, Barnett R. Rubin, American Interest, May/June 2008
http://www.the-american-interest.com/ai2/article.cfm?Id=423&MId=19
The
Bucharest summit and the way forward, Testimony before
the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Daniel Fried, 23/04
http://www.state.gov/p/eur/rls/rm/103935.htm
Afghanistan's
myriad drug smuggling routes, James Emery, Middle
East Times, 22/04
http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/04/22/afghanistans_myriad_drug_smuggling_routes/2420/
Afghanistan:
New approaches needed to defeat insurgency, Richard Weitz,
Eurasia Insight, 17/04
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav041708b.shtml
The
War in Afghanistan: More help needed, James Phillips and Lisa
Curtis, Heritage Foundation, 17/04
http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/bg2124.cfm
Let's
be frank on Afghanistan, Kingston
Whig-Standard, 16/04
http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=988136
Joint
press point with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
and the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General
for Afghanistan, Ambassador Kai Eide, NATO,
16/04
http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/2008/s080416a.html
The
ongoing lessons of the Afghan and Iraq wars, Anthony H.
Cordesman, Center for Strategic and International Studies,
14/04
http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/080415_afgh-iraqlessonbrief.pdf
The Bucharest Conference Papers,
German Marshall Fund, April 2008
http://www.gmfus.org/bucharestconference/doc/08BucharestBook_web.pdf
BASIC's
work is made possible by the generous support of our donors:
the Ploughshares Fund,
the Ford Foundation,
the Joseph Rowntree Charitable
Trust, Rockefeller Family and Associates, and individual
contributors to BASIC. We are grateful to all of them for
their support.
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