AFGHANISTAN: TALIBAN TRAINED IN IRAQ AHEAD OF SPRING OFFENSIVE
Karachi, 13 March (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - After receiving special training from militants in Iraq, Afghanistan's Taliban fighters are now set to launch their spring offensive against Afghan security forces and US-led coalition troops. Sources told Adnkronos International (AKI) that up to 100 'death squads' are now ready to launch targeted attacks. Their offensive has already begun in tribal region situation on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
As the snow begins to melt in and around the Afghan cities of Kabul, Kunar and Nooristan, the Taliban have already begun their spring offensive with a strategy that appears to be more targeted and comprehensive to counter the efforts of both the US-led forces as well as the Pakistani forces in the tribal regions which lie on the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Currently there are 20,000 American troops in Afghanistan but Pakistan does not officially allow them to operate across the border. Pakistan for its part has deployed 80,000 troops in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The focus of this year's offensive is in the tribal regions and the Taliban appears to have two precise aims: the first to cripple the power of the Afghan administration and the allied forces and the second, to cripple the Pakistan army and their access to the Taliban bases so that they will then be able to launch attacks.
A fierce resistance by pro-Taliban militans in the tribal region of North Waziristan is already underway and has even reached South Waziristan. Even towns like Bannu in Waziristan have been hit, with rocket attacks on military barracks. Sources told AKI that this spread of violence in the tribal belt is part of the Taliban's strategy to engage Pakistani troops and intensify the battle along the border. The strategy has so far been successful as the Pakistan army has already concentrated all its efforts in North and South Waziristan.
In putting together this latest offensive, the Taliban has also turned to Iraq. Sources told AKI that some 500 Taliban fighters travelled to Iraq where they were hosted by an organisation known as the Islamic Army of Iraq. The group provided them with training in guerilla warfare. The men learnt how to build improvised explosive devices, lay mines, spy on their target and carry out the attacks at the most appropriate time.
AKI has learnt that up to 100 'death squads' are ready to launch targeted attacks in the Taliban’s spring offence.
Afghanistan has in fact seen a recent spate of suicide attacks, most of them in the south of the country. There have been 12 such attacks this year along, compared to 17 in 2005.
The threat of a spring offensive by the Taliban is not a new one, but the situation this time is different. For the past two years the Taliban has threatened these attacks and while they did carry them out in large numbers, the attacks did not cause significant casualties among the allied forces. Most of the time, Afghan soldiers were killed or injured in the Taliban-led activities.
It is believed that the reason for the failure was a lack of strategy. However at the end of 2003, a Taliban leader Mullah Mehmood Allah Haq Yar who had been sent by fugitive Taliban leader and founder of the hardline group, Mullah Muhammed Omar, to Iraq, eventually returned to Afghanistan. He had been told to go to Iraq where he had stayed with the Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Islamic militant group, in order to fight against the US forces based in Iraq.
Although Haq Yar stayed with the Iraqis for only a few months, he quickly picked up the techniques of urban guerrilla warfare. As a result, in 2004 he established various groups within the Taliban and assigned tasks for them to carry out the targeted attacks. The strategy appears to have worked as there have been fewer casualties among the Taliban during the attacks, with the allied forces suffering some losses.
However, the Taliban were still facing several challenges while fighting the allied forces, in particular their deterrance capability. The military bases of the US-led forces are very well-protected and fortified. The armoured vehicles they use are also made with special materials which are resistant to ordinary bombs and bullets.
In order to deal with these challenges, the Taliban fighters were sent for fresh training in Iraq on the latest explosive devices and their applications. Sources told AKI that from 2004 up to 2005, about 500 Taliban fighters were sent to Iraq in groups where they stayed with the Islamic Army of Iraq as well as Ansar al-Sunna.
It was after they returned that the spring offensive was launched, designed to tackle the high-tech deterrance of the allied forces.
Sources said that with the Taliban now ready to take-on the allied forces on a daily basis, the militant group hopes that the fear of these attacks will then alienate the Afghan security forces from the US-led troops.
At the same time, renowned Taliban commanders like Mullah Dadullah, Mullah Akhtar
Usmani, Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani and others will also be in the field, using persuasion or force to encourage those in the tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistan border, to join the Taliban-led insurgency.
As the snow begins to melt in and around the Afghan cities of Kabul, Kunar and Nooristan, the Taliban have already begun their spring offensive with a strategy that appears to be more targeted and comprehensive to counter the efforts of both the US-led forces as well as the Pakistani forces in the tribal regions which lie on the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Currently there are 20,000 American troops in Afghanistan but Pakistan does not officially allow them to operate across the border. Pakistan for its part has deployed 80,000 troops in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
The focus of this year's offensive is in the tribal regions and the Taliban appears to have two precise aims: the first to cripple the power of the Afghan administration and the allied forces and the second, to cripple the Pakistan army and their access to the Taliban bases so that they will then be able to launch attacks.
A fierce resistance by pro-Taliban militans in the tribal region of North Waziristan is already underway and has even reached South Waziristan. Even towns like Bannu in Waziristan have been hit, with rocket attacks on military barracks. Sources told AKI that this spread of violence in the tribal belt is part of the Taliban's strategy to engage Pakistani troops and intensify the battle along the border. The strategy has so far been successful as the Pakistan army has already concentrated all its efforts in North and South Waziristan.
In putting together this latest offensive, the Taliban has also turned to Iraq. Sources told AKI that some 500 Taliban fighters travelled to Iraq where they were hosted by an organisation known as the Islamic Army of Iraq. The group provided them with training in guerilla warfare. The men learnt how to build improvised explosive devices, lay mines, spy on their target and carry out the attacks at the most appropriate time.
AKI has learnt that up to 100 'death squads' are ready to launch targeted attacks in the Taliban’s spring offence.
Afghanistan has in fact seen a recent spate of suicide attacks, most of them in the south of the country. There have been 12 such attacks this year along, compared to 17 in 2005.
The threat of a spring offensive by the Taliban is not a new one, but the situation this time is different. For the past two years the Taliban has threatened these attacks and while they did carry them out in large numbers, the attacks did not cause significant casualties among the allied forces. Most of the time, Afghan soldiers were killed or injured in the Taliban-led activities.
It is believed that the reason for the failure was a lack of strategy. However at the end of 2003, a Taliban leader Mullah Mehmood Allah Haq Yar who had been sent by fugitive Taliban leader and founder of the hardline group, Mullah Muhammed Omar, to Iraq, eventually returned to Afghanistan. He had been told to go to Iraq where he had stayed with the Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Islamic militant group, in order to fight against the US forces based in Iraq.
Although Haq Yar stayed with the Iraqis for only a few months, he quickly picked up the techniques of urban guerrilla warfare. As a result, in 2004 he established various groups within the Taliban and assigned tasks for them to carry out the targeted attacks. The strategy appears to have worked as there have been fewer casualties among the Taliban during the attacks, with the allied forces suffering some losses.
However, the Taliban were still facing several challenges while fighting the allied forces, in particular their deterrance capability. The military bases of the US-led forces are very well-protected and fortified. The armoured vehicles they use are also made with special materials which are resistant to ordinary bombs and bullets.
In order to deal with these challenges, the Taliban fighters were sent for fresh training in Iraq on the latest explosive devices and their applications. Sources told AKI that from 2004 up to 2005, about 500 Taliban fighters were sent to Iraq in groups where they stayed with the Islamic Army of Iraq as well as Ansar al-Sunna.
It was after they returned that the spring offensive was launched, designed to tackle the high-tech deterrance of the allied forces.
Sources said that with the Taliban now ready to take-on the allied forces on a daily basis, the militant group hopes that the fear of these attacks will then alienate the Afghan security forces from the US-led troops.
At the same time, renowned Taliban commanders like Mullah Dadullah, Mullah Akhtar
Usmani, Maulana Jalaluddin Haqqani and others will also be in the field, using persuasion or force to encourage those in the tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistan border, to join the Taliban-led insurgency.
posted by Marko at 3/13/2006 12:35:00 PM
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