Afghanistan - The War With No End

Afghanistan - The War With No End

Pakistan Tribune
11-17-5

KABUL - British troops have come under attack in Kabul and Nato
forces were targeted in two co-ordinated suicide car bombings in which at
least four people died.

The attacks took place as ministers revealed that units are
preparing to extend Britain's role in Afghanistan when it takes command of
the international peacekeeping operation next year.

John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, told Parliament that
Britain faced a "prolonged" involvement in the country. But MPs warned last
night that British troops faced being mired in a long-term military
commitment to a country in the grip of a growing insurgency.

They insisted yesterday's extension of Britain's role in
Afghanistan, four years after troops first arrived, also reflected the size
of the task facing coalition forces in Iraq.

Fears for Afghanistan's future emerged in the wake of suggestions,
by the British and Iraqi governments, that British troops could begin
pulling out of Iraq by the end of next year.

For British troops, however, yesterday's violence in Kabul was a
taste of what they will face next year when they deploy to the turbulent
province of Helmand as part of a move by Nato to take over security in the
Taliban heartlands.

At least four people were killed in the attacks, including one
German soldier and an Afghan child, but the implications of the attacks were
far wider. The insurgency that has been worsening while the world's
attention has been focused on Iraq has now reached Kabul.

Mr Reid said British troops had to open fire to defend their camp in
Kabul against "unauthorised entry". Few further details emerged, but Mr Reid
said British troops were not targeted in the car bombings.

A German soldier died when the Nato vehicle he was travelling in was
rammed by a Toyota Corolla stuffed with explosives just after 3pm local
time. Two German soldiers and three Afghan civilians were wounded.

An hour later, another Nato vehicle was rammed in a near-identical
attack on the same road. Three Afghan civilians were killed, including a
young boy, and two Greek soldiers were wounded. The Taliban claimed
responsibility for the attacks.

"We have plans for more of the same," Mullah Dadullah, a top-ranking
Taliban commander, said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

The insurgency in Afghanistan has been largely confined to the
Pashtun area in the south and east. Until now, British troops have operated
in Kabul and the north....

But in the south there is widespread support for the insurgency and
opposition to any Western presence in Afghanistan.

Helmand in particular is notorious even among Afghans for the
ferocity of its tribesmen. British troops are moving into the province under
a plan for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) to
take over security in the area. And it was no coincidence that yesterday's
attacks specifically targeted Isaf troops in Kabul.

The message from the Taliban was clear: this is what is waiting for
Isaf in the south. But the message was also that the Taliban can now strike
in Kabul, which until now has been an oasis of stability largely unaffected
by the insurgency.

Kabul is home to 3,000 foreigners, most working for NGOs, who live
in an city that often seems utterly disconnected from the rest of the
country.

Replete with bars and expensive restaurants that sell alcohol to
foreigners, but not Afghans, Kabul even boasts two designer boutiques for
women's clothes.

Yesterday another Afghanistan came crashing up against that world.
Both car bombings came on the Jalalabad Road, which has long been the scene
of the most serious attacks in Kabul.

There was a suicide bombing on that road in September, and there
have been countless improvised bombs hidden along it - partly it is because
there are several Western and Afghan military bases, and the UN's
headquarters, on it.

The road runs through a Pashtun suburb of Kabul where the Pashtun
Taliban can operate freely.

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=125619



.