2 months into 2009, US deaths spike in Afghanistan

KABUL – U.S. deaths in Afghanistan increased threefold during the first two months of 2009 compared with the same period last year, after thousands more troops deployed and commanders ramped up winter operations against an increasingly violent insurgency.

As troops pour into the country and violence rises, another sobering measure has also increased: More Afghan civilians are dying in U.S. and allied operations than at the hands of the Taliban, according to a count by The Associated Press. In the first two months of the year, U.S., NATO or Afghan forces have killed 100 civilians, while militants have killed 60.

President Barack Obama recently announced the deployment of 17,000 additional troops to bolster 38,000 already in the country, increasing the U.S. focus on Afghanistan while a drawdown begins in Iraq. The latest casualty toll among U.S. forces could portend a deadlier year in Afghanistan than the U.S. military has experienced since the Taliban’s ouster in 2001.

“I think that because you are going to see that additional engagement, there is a risk of greater additional casualties in the short term, just as there was in Iraq,” Obama told the Pentagon Channel on Friday from Camp Lejeune, N.C. “That is something we will have to monitor very carefully.”

Twenty-nine U.S. troops died in Afghanistan the first two months of 2009 — compared with eight Americans in the first two months of 2008.

Part of the increase is due to the influx of troops. In early 2008 there were about 27,000 forces in the country, some 10,000 fewer than today.

But U.S. troops are also operating in new, dangerous areas. A brigade of 10th Mountain Division soldiers deployed to two insurgent-heavy provinces outside Kabul in January — Wardak and Logar. And American forces are increasingly operating in Taliban heartland in the south.

“It has a lot to do with the fact that we have a presence in places and going into places and disrupting insurgents in area where they haven’t been bothered much,” Col. Greg Julian, the top U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan, said Saturday. That, he said, means more battles and more attacks.

American troop deaths occurred at a much higher rate in Afghanistan than in Iraq in January and February. Thirty-one U.S. forces have died in Iraq so far this year, but there are roughly 140,000 American troops in Iraq, more than three times the number in Afghanistan.

The decreasing U.S. death toll in Iraq coincides with an overall decline in violence largely attributed to a cease-fire by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and a Sunni decision to join forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq.

Julian said that troops in Afghanistan have “maintained the pressure throughout the winter months” this season, though in previous years there had been a lull.

About a third of the 29 deaths this year were caused by roadside bombs, including an attack in Kandahar province on Tuesday that killed four U.S. troops. Julian said insurgents are using more IEDs and fewer direct attacks because militants die in large numbers when they fight the U.S. head on.

The number of other NATO soldiers killed so far this year has risen as well, but not at the same rate. Last year 13 soldiers from other NATO countries died in January and February, compared with 18 in the first two months of 2009. Of those 18 deaths, 12 were British.

Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. and NATO commander in the country, said he thinks that Taliban militants are “resilient” but not necessarily stronger.

“I’m not with the group that says everything is in a downward spiral, that the Taliban are resurgent and stronger than they were. I think they’re very resilient, but I don’t necessarily think they’re stronger,” McKiernan told the Chicago Tribune in an interview published Friday.

“And I do see some measures of progress in this country. Now I’m not going to say everything is going to improve dramatically in 2009, but I think as a military commander, I am not going to be pessimistic about this. I’m going to be glass-is-half-full.”

Violence in all categories is up in general so far this year. Militant deaths rose from 129 in early 2008 to 308 in early 2009, according to numbers compiled by The Associated Press based on figures from U.S., NATO and Afghan officials.

Civilian deaths from U.S. and NATO operations have also spiked, despite increasingly emotional pleas from Afghan President Hamid Karzai to address the problem.

Last year the Taliban set off several large suicide bombs in crowded areas, killing around 180 Afghan civilians the first two months of the year, while U.S., NATO or Afghan forces killed fewer than 10.

But the numbers have reversed this year. In the first two months of 2009 some 100 Afghan civilians have been killed by U.S., NATO or Afghan forces, according to the AP count, many during overnight missions by Special Operations Forces. Militants have killed around 60.

source : news.yahoo.com

Pakistan says Taliban beaten back in border region

KHAR, Pakistan – Pakistan has beaten the Taliban in a major stronghold close to the Afghan border, is close to victory in another and expects to pacify most of the remaining tribal areas before the end of the year, commanders said Saturday.

The upbeat assessment of conditions in the arid, mountainous regions of Bajur and Mohmand follows international criticism of Pakistan for accepting a cease-fire with militants behind a bloody campaign in Swat Valley, just next to the tribal regions.

Many analysts also fear that growing political turmoil between the government and opposition could distract attention from the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban just as Washington wants more concerted action.

The United States and independent analysts have praised the offensive in Bajur, saying it has helped stem the passage of militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan, where violence against American and NATO troops is running at its highest level since the U.S. invasion in 2001.

Pakistan’s tribal regions are believed to be a likely hiding place for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders. Foreign governments fear extremists there could be plotting attacks on the West.

Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan, commander of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, said the insurgency had been “dismantled” in Bajur after six months of battles between well-armed militants and soldiers backed by tanks and helicopter gunships.

He said 1,600 militants had been killed and 150 civilians had died. Both figures were impossible to verify independently.

“Their resistance has broken down. We control the roads,” he told reporters flown to the northwestern region by helicopter. “They have lost.”

Col. Saif Ullah, commander in the neighboring region of Mohmand, said troops had repelled insurgents from most of the territory and it would soon be cleared.

“There are no more no-go areas. The militants are running away,” he said.

The army took reporters to witness a ceremony marking the victory over the militants conducted by tribal elders and military commanders close to a Bajur town that was the site of a major battle last week. Rows of shops selling household goods and furniture were destroyed, and tanks were parked amid the debris. Residents — most of whom fled before the battle — had not returned to the town in a valley leading to Afghanistan.

American commanders say the Afghan province of Kunar which borders Bajur is still one of the most treacherous areas for their soldiers. The U.S. has earmarked it for some of the thousands of reinforcements being deployed to Afghanistan this year.

Khan said the defeated insurgents were mostly Afghans and Pakistanis, with some Uzbeks and a few Arabs caught in the early days of the offensive.

He said the army had failed to capture any insurgent leaders and that they had most likely fled into Afghanistan. Asked why, he said it was the job of special forces or intelligence agencies — not the army — to capture individual suspects.

Khan said the army had done its job of restoring government rule to the region, predicting military operations in the five of the seven tribal areas under his command “would be over by the end of the year.”

He did not discuss conditions in the North and South Wazirstan regions which are not under his command. Both areas are considered major al-Qaida and Taliban strongholds and are frequently hit by missiles fired by unmanned U.S. aircraft.

The display of Pakistan’s military gains in the area came as it faces criticism for failing to dislodge militants from the nearby Swat region, where troops and insurgents are observing a cease-fire while the commander of the Taliban considers a proposed peace deal. The United States and NATO worry a deal could turn the scenic region into a militant haven.

Political developments in the desperately poor country of 170 million people have also concerned the West.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court banned opposition leader Nawaz Sharif from elected office, triggering violent protests by his supporters. Sharif says he will join demonstrations later this month by lawyers who helped bring down former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Aside from fears the confrontation will undermine the anti-terror fight, it is also raising worries about possible military intervention, a frequent result of political turmoil between civilian leaders in Pakistan.

source : news.yahoo.com

Three foreign troops killed in Afghanistan

KABUL: Three soldiers in the US-led coalition helping to fight a Taliban-led insurgency in southern Afghanistan have died after their patrol was hit by a bomb, the US military said late Friday.

The three were killed on Friday in the southern province of Uruzgan, it said in a statement. It did not give their nationalities. “Three coalition service members died of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device during a combat reconnaissance patrol in the Uruzgan province, Friday,” it said.

Many of the troops in Uruzgan — where Taliban have a strong presence — are Australian and Dutch nationals serving with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces.

The latest fatalities take to 39 the number of international troops to lose their lives in Afghanistan this year, most of them in attacks.

source : jang.com.pk

Blast damages NATO oil tanker in Pakistan: official

PESHAWAR: One person was killed and two wounded in northwest Pakistan on Saturday when a bomb exploded near a fuel tanker destined for NATO forces in Afghanistan, an official said.

The remote-controlled bomb was planted on the main highway linking Peshawar city with the Torkham border crossing, local official Fazle Akbar told by telephone.

The blast partially damaged the oil tanker, but its driver escaped injuries, Akbar said, adding a passer-by was killed and two local men were injured. A security official also confirmed the incident but gave no casualty figure.

The explosion occurred in the troubled tribal district of Khyber, where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents have carried out a series of attacks on NATO vehicles and terminals outside the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The NATO and US-led forces in landlocked Afghanistan are hugely dependent on Pakistan for their supplies and equipment, around 80 percent of which are transported through the neighbouring country. Militants earlier this month blew up a key bridge on the main supply route for NATO forces and torched several trucks bringing goods from the southern port of Karachi for forces battling a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

source : jang.com.pk

Kyrgyzstan set to approve US air base closure

BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan’s parliament is set to approve a government proposal on Thursday to close a U.S. airbase, which is a vital transit point for U.S.-led troops fighting in nearby Afghanistan.

The closing of Manas, the last remaining U.S. air base in Central Asia, poses a challenge to new U.S. President Barack Obama’s plans to send additional troops to Afghanistan to boost NATO and U.S. military efforts to defeat Taliban insurgents.

No victory against Taliban soon: Australia

SYDNEY: Australia’s defence minister warned Thursday he did not expect victory against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan in the near future and would not commit more troops unless NATO members did so too.

Warning that Australia’s 1,000-strong contingent was likely to remain in the war-torn country for years to come, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that other countries needed to do more.

“Australia could double its troop numbers tomorrow and without significant additional contributions from others it would make no difference,” he said.

“We have always said this is not about numeric. It’s about ensuring, before we even consider doing more, that those NATO countries, which I believe are under committed, are prepared to do more.”

Fitzgibbon was speaking from Poland where NATO defence ministers were gathering to reassess strategy on Afghanistan as the United States prepares to deploy 17,000 more troops to fight Taliban-led insurgents.

Asked how long Australian troops would remain in Afghanistan, Fitzgibbon replied: “No-one believes we will meet with success any time soon. The reality is we are talking years.

“How many years we don’t know because we don’t yet know how much will there is amongst the NATO partners to achieve success.”

source : jang.com.pk

Afghan civilian deaths rose 40 percent in 2008: UN

KABUL: The U.N. says civilian deaths in Afghanistan rose 40percent in 2008 to a record 2,118.

An annual U.N. report says militants were responsible for 55percent of civilian deaths last year, or 1,160. But the world body says U.S., NATO or Afghan troops killed 829 _ 39 percent of the total.

The remaining 130 deaths couldn’t be accounted for because of issues like crossfire.

The U.N. report released Tuesday says the number of civilians killed by U.S., NATO or Afghan forces rose 31 percent from 2007 to2008. In 2007 those forces killed 629 civilians.

source : jang.com.pk

NATO, US-led troops give Afghans larger role

KABUL: NATO and US-led troops in Afghanistan have agreed to include more Afghans in counter-terrorism operations to improve coordination and minimise civilian casualties, the military said Friday.

The agreement was reached after consultations between Defence Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak and the top international commander in Afghanistan, US General David McKiernan, a joint statement said.

Tensions have increased between Afghanistan and its Western allies over mounting civilian casualties as a result of military operations and nighttime house searches that Afghans say are aggressive and intrusive. They agreed “to include more Afghan representatives in the planning and execution of counter-terrorism missions, with more attention to night operations, actions in populated areas and searches,” the statement said.

source : jang.com.pk

Top US general condemns Kabul attacks

KABUL: The top international military commander in Afghanistan condemned Wednesday a series of deadly attacks on government offices in the capital, as the “barbaric” face of the Taliban.

At least seven Taliban suicide attackers stormed the justice and education ministries and the prisons directorate in attacks that killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 50 others, officials said.

“This attack shows the real face of the Taliban, who have claimed responsibility for this barbaric action,” US General David McKiernan said.

“Once again the Taliban have displayed that they have no respect for Afghan citizens or any desire to see a peaceful future in Afghanistan,” he said, offering sympathies for the “callous and indiscriminate attack.”

McKiernan heads a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force of about 55,000 soldiers from nearly 40 nations. A separate US-led coalition, which focuses on hunting insurgents, also falls under his command.

The general praised the “swift” reaction of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in dealing with the multiple attacks.

source : jang.com.pk

Two NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

KHOST: A bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday killed two soldiers from the NATO-led force helping to fight an escalating Taliban-led insurgency, a military spokeswoman said.

The blast, similar to scores of others orchestrated by the Taliban against security forces, was on the outskirts of the eastern town of Khost on a road leading to the main US base in eastern Afghanistan.

“Two alliance soldiers were killed by an IED (improvised explosive device) and one wounded,” Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Neilson-Green, a spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told. She could not disclose the nationalities of those killed in the blast but most soldiers in eastern Afghanistan are US nationals.

Neilson-Green said it was not immediately clear what kind of device caused the explosion. Khost has seen a rash of suicide attacks over the past few months, most claimed by the Taliban. Afghan police confirmed the blast and also said the cause was not immediately clear. “It was against a coalition convoy,” provincial police chief Abdul Qayoum Baqizoi told.

source : jang.com.pk

Two NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan

KHOST: A bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday killed two soldiers from the NATO-led force helping to fight an escalating Taliban-led insurgency, a military spokeswoman said.

The blast, similar to scores of others orchestrated by the Taliban against security forces, was on the outskirts of the eastern town of Khost on a road leading to the main US base in eastern Afghanistan.

“Two alliance soldiers were killed by an IED (improvised explosive device) and one wounded,” Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Neilson-Green, a spokeswoman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told. She could not disclose the nationalities of those killed in the blast but most soldiers in eastern Afghanistan are US nationals.

Neilson-Green said it was not immediately clear what kind of device caused the explosion. Khost has seen a rash of suicide attacks over the past few months, most claimed by the Taliban. Afghan police confirmed the blast and also said the cause was not immediately clear. “It was against a coalition convoy,” provincial police chief Abdul Qayoum Baqizoi told.

Russia poses no military threat to EU, NATO: Sarkozy

MUNICH: Russia poses no military threat to Europe or the NATO military alliance, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said here Saturday.

NATO chief lashes European allies over Afghanistan

MUNICH: The head of NATO joined Saturday a chorus of criticism of European allies refusing to step up their efforts in Afghanistan, as the United States prepares to send in thousands more troops.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned the Europeans that they were undermining their leadership credentials and upsetting the balance within the world’s biggest military alliance, as it battles a Taliban-led insurgency. “I am frankly concerned when I hear the United States is planning a major commitment for Afghanistan, but other allies ruling out doing more,” he said, at a major international security conference in Munich, southern Germany. “That is not good for the political balance of this mission, he said

source : jang.com.pk

NATO, Russian envoys meet after 5-month hiatus

BRUSSELS: Ambassadors from NATO nations and Russia are meeting to restart relations suspended since conflict in Georgia five months ago.

NATO officials say Monday’s informal talks are part of a gradualre-engagement with Moscow.

Ties were suspended following the war in August between Russia and Georgia.

NATO urgently needs to open up alternate supply lines for its force in Afghanistan because its routes through Pakistan have been repeatedly interrupted by militants.

source : jang.com.pk

NATO for enhanced military cooperation with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) have agreed to boost military cooperation to fight extremism.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer held talks with Foreign Minister, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi here on Thursday on the regional situation, Indo-Pak tension and security along the Afghan border.

“The talks were focused on “border security, NATO supplies, (and the) general regional situation,” Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart.

“A secure and stable Afghanistan is vital to Pakistan,” NATO secretary general said.
Scheffer lauded Pakistan’s role in war against terror and said Pakistan army has sacrificed tremendously in fight against extremism. He said Indo-Pak tension; extremism and terrorism pose big threat to regional security.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that allied forces would never violate Pakistan’s territorial integrity and military cooperation would be enhanced between Pakistan army and NATO to tackle the challenge of extremism and terrorism.

Responding to various questions on the occasion, foreign minister Qureshi said that Pakistan and NATO agreed to enhance strategic cooperation. He said that NATO secretary general was briefed on measures that Pakistan took after Mumbai carnage. He said Pakistan wanted peace with India. Qureshi also hailed US president Obama’s statement on Muslim world. He, however, expressed concerns over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

source : jang.com.pk

NATO leader blasts Afghan government

WASHINGTON: The head of the NATO alliance publicly took on the Afghan government Sunday, insisting that the current Afghan authorities were almost as much to blame for the country’s dire straits as the resurgent Taliban.

While avoiding mentioning Afghan President Hamid Karzai by name, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer insisted that the Afghan government was plagued by corruption and lacked efficiency in solving problems. “The basic problem in Afghanistan is not too much Taliban; it’s too little good governance,” de Hoop Scheffer wrote in an op-ed article in The Washington Post. “Afghans need a government that deserves their loyalty and trust; when they have it, the oxygen will be sucked away from the insurgency,” he added. The NATO head said the international community must step up its support of the elected Afghan government and the Afghan people.

source : jang.com.pk

NATO soldier killed in Afghanistan

KABUL: A soldier with the NATO-led force was killed in a clash with insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the alliance’s International Security Assistance Force said Sunday.

The multinational ISAF did not give the nationality of the soldier killed on Saturday or details of the incident. “An ISAF soldier was killed yesterday afternoon during an engagement with insurgent forces in southern Afghanistan,” it said in a statement. Two other foreign soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Saturday, one of them in a suicide bombing in Kabul and one after a chopper made a hard landing in eastern Afghanistan. Seventeen international soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan this year. There are between 60,000 and 70,000 international troops in Afghanistan, helping to fight an insurgency led by the extremist Taliban group which was in government between 1996 and 2001.

source : jang.com.pk

6 troops, 40 militants killed in Pakistan attack

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Hundreds of militants, many from Afghanistan, attacked a Pakistani paramilitary camp in a lawless northwestern tribal region early Sunday, sparking a major clash that left six security troops and 40 insurgents dead.

The brazen raid in Mohmand suggested sophisticated cross-border coordination among Taliban militants nesting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and underscored the continued strength of the militancy despite an ongoing Pakistani military offensive.

Insurgents attacked the Pakistani Frontier Corps‘ camp at about 2 a.m. (2100 GMT Saturday) with mortars and rockets, then used small arms to fire on a checkpoint near the Mohammad Ghat camp, said a paramilitary official, who gave details on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to comment to the media.

The 600 or so attackers were eventually driven off, but scattered skirmishes continued, he said.

The official said the bulk of the militants crossed over from Afghanistan and later joined with Pakistani allies. He said it was unclear when the Afghan-based militants came over. He described them as foreigners, which could also include Arabs, Uzbeks and other insurgents.

At least 40 militants were killed and scores were wounded, while six security forces died and seven were hurt, according to the official and a Frontier Corps statement.

Segments of Pakistan’s semiautonomous tribal belt are considered strongholds of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, many of whom are believed to be involved in attacks on American and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Militants frequently crisscross the porous border.

Pakistan has deployed more than 100,000 troops in its northwest to battle the militant threat, and in summer 2008, it rolled out a major offensive in the Bajur tribal region that has spread south into Mohmand as well.

Pakistan says it has killed more than 1,700 insurgents in the offensive, which the U.S. has praised for helping reduce violence on the Afghan side. The U.S. remains deeply concerned about militants finding safe havens in Pakistan, and it has stepped up a campaign of its own missile strikes on militant targets primarily in the tribal belt.

Access to the remote, dangerous mountain region is severely restricted, making it near impossible to independently verify the account of Sunday’s attack.

Talat Masood, a leading Pakistani military and political analyst, said the attack showed “the militants are still fairly powerful in some areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan,” even though foreign troops are taking on militants in Afghanistan while Pakistan pressures them on its side of the rugged border.

“There are several parts which are not under control, and others that are,” Masood said. “The border is so porous. It’s so fluid.”

Militants also often target tribesmen who do not support their aims.

On Sunday, purported Taliban fighters abducted five members of an anti-militant tribal committee in Bajur and sliced an ear off each, said local government official Israr Khan.

One victim told police at a hospital that the abductors warned them they would slash off their other ears along with their tongues if they maintained their anti-militant activities, Khan said.

Saleem Khan, a relative of one of the victims, told The Associated Press that the men had been merely standing guard.

“They did not commit any crime, but the way they were ‘punished’ is horrible and inhuman. This is very disturbing,” Saleem Khan said.

Suspected militants meanwhile abducted a government official in South Waziristan tribal region on Sunday, according to two intelligence officials who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.

Gunmen in four vehicles stopped a convoy in which Amir Latif, a political deputy in the regional government, had been traveling, the officials said. The suspected militants bundled Latif in one of their vehicles and drove off.

Also Sunday, tribesmen were blocking the southwestern supply route for NATO forces in Afghanistan at Chaman with burning tires and felled trees.

They were protesting the killing of one of their members in a raid by Pakistan’s anti-narcotics force.

Police official Karam Khan said trucks were held up well ahead of the blocked points and no damage or injuries had been reported.

Most NATO supplies travel through the famed Khyber Pass, although a smaller number get to Afghanistan by a second land crossing at Chaman.

___

Associated Press Writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Matiullah Achakzai in Chaman and Nahal Toosi in Islamabad contributed to this report

source : news.yahoo.com

U.S. says troops kill 32 insurgents in Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) – U.S.-led coalition forces killed 32 insurgents in fighting that erupted in a village in eastern Afghanistan following a raid on a hideout of bomb makers, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

The Taliban who lead the insurgency against the foreign troops and the Afghan government, said 15 civilians were killed in the U.S.-led assault.

Violence has surged in recent years in Afghanistan since the Taliban, ousted in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, regrouped in 2005 for driving out the foreign troops and to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.

Tuesday’s operation was in a village of Laghman province and targeted a Taliban roadside bomb cell responsible for numerous attacks throughout the region, the U.S. military said in a statement.

“During the operation, as many as 75 armed militants exited their compounds and attempted to converge on the force. Shooting from rooftops and alleyways, the militants engaged Coalition forces with small-arms fire in the village,” it said.

“Coalition forces killed 32 armed insurgents including one female, detained one suspected militant, and destroyed two large caches of weapons, explosives and roadside bomb materials during an operation,” it added.

It did not mention any troop or civilian casualties in the operation.

The Taliban confirmed the U.S.-led operation, but said 15 civilians were killed in the coalition’s raid. The group did not say any thing about its reported losses.

Provincial officials were not immediately available and Reuters could not independently verify either account.

Separately, 11 civilians were killed by a heavy arms fire during a joint operation by NATO and Afghan forces against militants in an area of southern Uruzgan province this week, the interior ministry said Wednesday.

Nine more civilians were wounded in the fire, it added.

A spokesman for NATO-led force in Kabul said he would check the report which put the militants deaths to 12.

In another development, six militants were killed in an operation involving Afghan soldiers and U.S.-led forces in Farah province Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

It said one Afghan and one coalition soldier were wounded during the clash,

Some 5,000 people, nearly 2,000 of them civilians, were killed in violence across Afghanistan last year. The violence comes amid increase in number of foreign troops that stand to nearly 70,000 and will see a boost of up to 30,000 additional U.S. soldiers by summer.

The escalation of violence has created the fear that the country may slide back into anarchy.

source : news.yahoo.com

US readying south Afghan surge against Taliban

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – The U.S. is preparing to pour at least 20,000 extra troops into southern Afghanistan to cope with a Taliban insurgency that is fiercer than NATO leaders expected.

The new troops will augment the 12,500 NATO soldiers — mainly British, Canadian and Dutch — in what amounts to an Afghan version of the surge in Iraq.

New construction at Kandahar Air Field foreshadows the upcoming infusion of American power. Runways and housing are being built, along with two new U.S. outposts in Taliban-held regions of Kandahar province.

And in the past month the south has been the focus of visiting U.S. and other dignitaries — Sen. John McCain, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, U.S. congressional delegations and leaders from NATO headquarters in Europe.

For the first time since NATO took over the country in 2006, an experienced U.S. general, Brig. Gen. John Nicholson, is assigned to the south.

He says U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, NATO’s commander in Afghanistan, has made the objectives clear in calling the situation in the south a stalemate and asking for more troops, on top of the 32,000 Americans already in Afghanistan.

“By introducing more U.S. capability in here we have the potential to change the game,” Nicholson said.

The Army Corps of Engineers will spend up to $1.3 billion in new construction for troop placements in southern Afghanistan, said the corps commander in Afghanistan, Col. Thomas O’Donovan.

Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and Taliban militants now control wide swaths of countryside. Military officials say they have enough troops to win battles but not to hold territory, and they hope the influx of troops, plus the continued growth of the Afghan army, will change that.

U.S. officials hope to add at least three new brigades of ground forces in the southern region, along with assets from an aviation brigade, surveillance and intelligence forces, engineers, military police and Special Forces. In addition, a separate brigade of new troops is deploying to two provinces surrounding Kabul.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that Afghanistan could get up to 30,000 new U.S. troops in 2009, depending on the security situation in Iraq. Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. military spokesman, said Monday that one ground brigade should arrive by spring, a second by summer and a third by fall.

Nicholson said he expects the U.S. forces to be deployed in Kandahar city and along vital Highway 1, which links Kandahar to Kabul, and in neighboring Helmand province, the world’s largest producer of opium poppies for heroin.

NATO forces are well positioned in three key areas of northern Helmand, said British Lt. Gen. J.B. Dutton, deputy commander of the NATO’s Afghan mission.

“What we have not yet achieved is to join those areas up, so there is a security presence that allows locals to drive safely between those areas. That’s the sort of thing we are going to want to improve,” he said.

Since 2006, the U.S. has concentrated its forces in eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan, while the south is policed by 8,500 British troops, 2,500 Canadians and 2,500 Dutch.

Their overall commander is Dutch Maj. Gen. Mart de Kruif — who would also have command of any incoming U.S. forces in the south next year. By the fall of 2010 the top officer in the south will be American.

The infusion of U.S. power risks Americanizing a war that until now has been a shared mission of 41 coalition countries. But Dutton, the British general, suggested there was no choice. “It has to do with national capacity and a number of political considerations in those countries,” he said.

In Canada and many European countries, governments face low public support for keeping troops in Afghanistan combat zones.

Dutton said the British contribution is “significant,” as well as that of Canada, which he noted has lost more troops per capita in Afghanistan than any other nation.

Nicholson, the U.S. general, said the Canadians have fought “heroically” but simply don’t have enough forces to secure all of Kandahar. The Canadian Embassy declined to comment.

More U.S. troops — 151 — died in Afghanistan in 2008 than any of the seven years since the invasion to oust the Taliban, and U.S. officials warn violence will probably intensify next year.

“If we get the troops, they’re going to move into areas that haven’t been secured, and when we do that, the enemy is there, and we’re going to fight,” said Nicholson, who spent 16 months commanding a brigade of 10th Mountain Division troops in eastern Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007.

That fighting should eventually clear the way for security and governance to take hold, he said.

“If you want to summarize that as it’s going to get worse before it gets better, that’s exactly what we’re talking about,” he said.

___

Straziuso reported from Kabul, and Faiez from Kandahar.

source : news.yahoo.com

US readying south Afghan surge against Taliban

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – The U.S. is preparing to pour at least 20,000 extra troops into southern Afghanistan to cope with a Taliban insurgency that is fiercer than NATO leaders expected.

The new troops will augment the 12,500 NATO soldiers — mainly British, Canadian and Dutch — in what amounts to an Afghan version of the surge in Iraq.

New construction at Kandahar Air Field foreshadows the upcoming infusion of American power. Runways and housing are being built, along with two new U.S. outposts in Taliban-held regions of Kandahar province.

And in the past month the south has been the focus of visiting U.S. and other dignitaries — Sen. John McCain, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, U.S. congressional delegations and leaders from NATO headquarters in Europe.

For the first time since NATO took over the country in 2006, an experienced U.S. general, Brig. Gen. John Nicholson, is assigned to the south.

He says U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, NATO’s commander in Afghanistan, has made the objectives clear in calling the situation in the south a stalemate and asking for more troops, on top of the 32,000 Americans already in Afghanistan.

“By introducing more U.S. capability in here we have the potential to change the game,” Nicholson said.

The Army Corps of Engineers will spend up to $1.3 billion in new construction for troop placements in southern Afghanistan, said the corps commander in Afghanistan, Col. Thomas O’Donovan.

Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and Taliban militants now control wide swaths of countryside. Military officials say they have enough troops to win battles but not to hold territory, and they hope the influx of troops, plus the continued growth of the Afghan army, will change that.

U.S. officials hope to add at least three new brigades of ground forces in the southern region, along with assets from an aviation brigade, surveillance and intelligence forces, engineers, military police and Special Forces. In addition, a separate brigade of new troops is deploying to two provinces surrounding Kabul.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that Afghanistan could get up to 30,000 new U.S. troops in 2009, depending on the security situation in Iraq. Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. military spokesman, said Monday that one ground brigade should arrive by spring, a second by summer and a third by fall.

Nicholson said he expects the U.S. forces to be deployed in Kandahar city and along vital Highway 1, which links Kandahar to Kabul, and in neighboring Helmand province, the world’s largest producer of opium poppies for heroin.

NATO forces are well positioned in three key areas of northern Helmand, said British Lt. Gen. J.B. Dutton, deputy commander of the NATO’s Afghan mission.

“What we have not yet achieved is to join those areas up, so there is a security presence that allows locals to drive safely between those areas. That’s the sort of thing we are going to want to improve,” he said.

Since 2006, the U.S. has concentrated its forces in eastern Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan, while the south is policed by 8,500 British troops, 2,500 Canadians and 2,500 Dutch.

Their overall commander is Dutch Maj. Gen. Mart de Kruif — who would also have command of any incoming U.S. forces in the south next year. By the fall of 2010 the top officer in the south will be American.

The infusion of U.S. power risks Americanizing a war that until now has been a shared mission of 41 coalition countries. But Dutton, the British general, suggested there was no choice. “It has to do with national capacity and a number of political considerations in those countries,” he said.

In Canada and many European countries, governments face low public support for keeping troops in Afghanistan combat zones.

Dutton said the British contribution is “significant,” as well as that of Canada, which he noted has lost more troops per capita in Afghanistan than any other nation.

Nicholson, the U.S. general, said the Canadians have fought “heroically” but simply don’t have enough forces to secure all of Kandahar. The Canadian Embassy declined to comment.

More U.S. troops — 151 — died in Afghanistan in 2008 than any of the seven years since the invasion to oust the Taliban, and U.S. officials warn violence will probably intensify next year.

“If we get the troops, they’re going to move into areas that haven’t been secured, and when we do that, the enemy is there, and we’re going to fight,” said Nicholson, who spent 16 months commanding a brigade of 10th Mountain Division troops in eastern Afghanistan in 2006 and 2007.

That fighting should eventually clear the way for security and governance to take hold, he said.

“If you want to summarize that as it’s going to get worse before it gets better, that’s exactly what we’re talking about,” he said.

source : news.yahoo.com

Operation launched to secure Nato supplies

PESHAWAR/BARA: Curfew remained clamped on many towns of the Peshawar district on Tuesday as the security forces, backed by gunship helicopters, tanks and artillery, launched an operation against the militants in Jamrud subdivision of Khyber Agency to secure the main supply route for the Nato forces in Afghanistan.

Choppers and artillery of the Army and the Frontier Corps (FC) targeted the base camps of suspected militants in Ghariza, Wali Baba, Sheikh Siddiq Killay, Ghundi, Shahkas, Tedi Bazaar and many other areas.

The police and the Frontier Constabulary were on high alert in villages close to the Khyber Agency. Nobody was allowed to move to the tribal areas. There was no traffic between Khyber and Peshawar while the Karkhano Market, housing thousands of shops, was also closed.

Five base camps of suspected militants were razed to the ground during the action while 20 tribesmen were rounded up from different areas. No resistance was witnessed in any part of Jamrud.

“We are there to destroy 27 dens, already identified, and others, if found, during the operation. There are six different groups operating in the agency, including militants and outlaws. They will be flushed out before the operation is wound up,” Khyber Agency’s Political Agent (PA) Tariq Hayat told the media on Tuesday.

A minor, Zakir, was killed and two women sustained injuries when a shell hit their house in Ghariza area. A tribesman, Mewa Gul, was killed and another injured in firing on a moving car in Jaladin Kilay while Swat Khan was gunned down in Tedi Bazaar. Some sources put the death toll during the operation at eight, including two women and two children, saying at least 12 other tribesmen were wounded. However, any senior official did not confirm it.

The political agent avoided giving any specific details of the progress made by the security forces on the first day of the operation, saying damage assessment was being done and would be revealed to the media after getting the exact information.

The supply for the Nato troops was suspended temporarily because of the operation, as the Peshawar-Jalalabad Road remained blocked for all kinds of traffic. An official admitted the supply to the Nato forces had been suspended temporarily because of the operation, but it would soon resume.

The operation was launched after continuous attacks on Nato logistics, trans-shipment terminals on the Ring Road in Peshawar and other goods being transported to Afghanistan through Jamrud. Container terminals were attacked six times on the Ring Road where over 300 military vehicles and containers laden with expensive goods were reduced to ashes, causing losses of billions of rupees to the Nato forces.

Kidnapping for ransom incidents in Jamrud subdivision and the nearby parts of Peshawar had also become a headache for the federal and provincial governments and was earning a bad name for the rulers.

Roads linking the provincial capital with the Khyber Agency — Bara Road, Jamrud Road and other routes connecting many phases of Hayatabad with the tribal region — and the main Kohat Road that links the Peshawar city with Darra Adamkhel remained blocked when the military was targeting the militants’ hideouts.

The firing from the artillery and gunship helicopters could be easily heard in Hayatabad, where most of the population got panicky after hearing the explosions early in the morning. The same was the situation in rural parts of the district, sharing boundary with Jamrud.

Curfew remained imposed on several villages on both sides of the Kohat Road after 6 am. The locals were not allowed to move out of their homes after announcements were made through loudspeakers of mosques. The curfew was later relaxed and people were allowed to visit bazaars.

Thousands of people remained stranded after the roads connecting Peshawar with the Khyber Agency and Darra Adamkhel were closed. Large contingents of police were deployed at Pishtakhara Chowk, Phase V Chowk and Scheme Chowk to stop vehicular traffic.

The political agent informed newsmen that initially the operation would be carried out in areas inhibited by Kokikhel and Jandokhel tribesmen as the two tribes had failed to curb the militancy. He added that considerable time was given to the two tribes as well as to the Mullahgori tribe to kick out the “anti-state elements” from their areas.

“No action will be taken against the latter because the Mullahgori tribesmen have raised a private Lashkar and have effectively controlled the anti-state activities in their area,” Tariq Hayat added.

source : jang.com.pk