US commanders say the Taliban is a viable resistance force in Afghanistan even three years after the Islamic radicals fell, but the US military's fight to undermine their influence and bring stability is showing signs of progress.
The assessment follows a stretch in which US troops in Afghanistan have been killed at a higher rate than those in Iraq, where there are about eight times as many American soldiers and where the situation is widely perceived as more dangerous.
Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, plans to meet US President George W. Bush at the White House today. It will be his first Washington visit since his inauguration in December as Afghanistan's first democratically elected president.
Optimism
Combat in Afghanistan has intensified in recent weeks, as expected, after a winter lull. US commanders, however, say they think their plan for improving security -- including the expansion of Afghan army, border patrol and police forces -- is on track.
Brigadier General Greg Champion, a deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76, said in a telephone interview on Friday from his headquarters at Bagram airfield that the recent increase in insurgent violence was mainly because of a more aggressive approach by US and Afghan forces.
"We have not taken a posture of waiting" for the Taliban to begin their usual spring offensive, he said. Instead, US and Afghan forces have been "going on our own offensive."
Attacks continue
Insurgent attacks continue, however. Suspected Taliban militants gunned down six Afghan employees of a US-funded anti-drug project in southern Afghanistan on Thursday. Also, an Italian aid worker was kidnapped this past week in Kabul, the capital, adding to the fears of relief groups that are vital to the reconstruction effort.
The US has about 16,700 troops in Afghanistan, with 22 allied nations contributing an additional 1,600. NATO operates a security force of about 8,000 international troops.
As a proportion of their total numbers, US troops in Afghanistan recently have been dying at a slightly higher rate than in Iraq, where there are about 135,000 troops.
Since early March, 27 US military personnel have died in Afghanistan, according to Pentagon figures, or about 1.6 per 1,000; the latest death came from a bombing on Saturday, with a purported Taliban spokesman claiming responsibility.
During the same time period in Iraq, at least 124 have died, a rate of about 0.9 per 1,000.
Karzai has said he will press Bush for a "strategic partnership" encompassing long-term political, economic and military assistance.
He also is expected to request that Afghans detained at the detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at military jails in Afghanistan be turned over to Afghan authorities.
Bush has not set a timetable for completing the military mission in Afghanistan and US commanders say they have no reliable data on the number of Taliban fighters still in the resistance.
Champion said the militants also include elements like the Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin, or HIG, an Islamic extremist group founded in the 1990s.
Strategy
The US strategy has been to develop an Afghan army, border patrol and police force that can handle the insurgents, while encouraging the central government to expand its authority outside of Kabul as the international community plays a bigger role developing the economy.
In an indication of the military's optimistic view, General John Abizaid, the commander of all US forces in the Middle East and Central Asia, said last week that an Army battalion of several hundred soldiers that was to deploy to Afghanistan this summer has been called off. Instead the unit will be on call in the US in case of an emergency.
"We're pretty confident that we're moving in a good direction there," Abizaid said.
The movement is not quick, however.
During a visit to Afghanistan in April, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was told by the top commander there at the time, Lieutenant General David Barno, that the capabilities of the Afghan police ranged from "pretty good to extraordinarily bad."
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS