Kurdish officials said on Tuesday that Kurdish guerrillas have been acting as guides and scouts inside Iraqi-controlled territory, helping small teams of American soldiers to enter Iraq for missions behind the Iraqi lines.
Larger groups of Kurdish soldiers were seen moving into at least four front-line villages around Kirkuk and Mosul on Tuesday, feeding speculation that Kurdish forces would be asked to play a significant role in any US effort to open a northern front against the Iraqi army. The original plan to deploy a large US force was derailed by Turkey's refusal to allow the use of its ports and roads.
Kurdish officials also said that US Special Operations forces and Kurdish fighters are within days of launching a ground offensive against Ansar al-Islam, a militant Islamic movement. The group, which the State Department says has ties to al-Qaeda, controls a small pocket of territory sandwiched between Kurdish-controlled northeastern Iraq and Iran.
Combined with the continued attacks by allied warplanes on Iraqi positions around the cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, the pace of activity here seemed to quicken. Senior Kurdish officials in northern Iraq have expressed surprise at what they said was the slow pace of the US-led offensive, not only in the north but in southern Iraq too.
"Unless you show some visible gains, people will be emboldened," Hoshyar Zebari, a senior official in the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said of the Baghdad government and its supporters. "There will be more resistance."
Kurds who served in the Iraqi army during the Persian Gulf War contrasted the relatively light air war in the current campaign with the 38 days of pre-invasion bombardment they endured in 1991.
"From early morning until late evening, this intense bombing, I could not even move," said a Kurdish official who spoke on condition that he not be identified. "I myself left my unit and went home."
Kurds on Tuesday also appeared to have negotiated successfully with an Islamic group that posed potential risks to US soldiers in the anticipated battle against Ansar al-Islam. The group, Komali Islami Kurdistan, occupies a town and military positions adjacent to territory held by Ansar al-Islam.
US cruise missiles struck Komali military offices and barracks last weekend, raising concerns that the group, which has maintained relationships with both Ansar and the main Kurdish groups, would be driven into Ansar's ranks. Komali is believed to have between 700 and 1,200 guerrillas.
Komali, a comparatively moderate group that had never declared hostility toward the US, said on Tuesday that it had no idea why US forces attacked its bases. It said more than 40 of its members were killed, a figure smaller than the Kurdish authorities' estimate that more than 130 Komali fighters died.
Whatever the number, on Tuesday, after two days of talks brokered by Iranian intelligence officials, Komali announced that it was moving to a village away from the front.
A senior Komali member, Anwar Mohammad, said the move was not a surrender so much as a practical necessity "so we don't give another excuse for the Americans to attack."
Four militants from Ansar al-Islam infiltrated Kurdish front lines near Halabja on Monday night and attacked a Kurdish post in the village of Anab, not far from where US soldiers have been meeting Kurdish commanders.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS