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Taliban pose increasing threat in Afghanistan
The number of Taliban fighters in Uruzgan has increased, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is as leaky as a sieve, and the Taliban are now using types of bombs previously used mainly in Iraq. These are just some of the conclusions contained in the latest annual report the MIVD, the Dutch military intelligence and security service.The MIVD has been looking at the situation in Afghanistan for some two years, with its work in the last 12 months focussing mainly on the province of Uruzgan, where Dutch troops will be deployed as from 1 August this year. It has been and still is the task of the military intelligence service to provide military command and the political world with reliable and objective information about the real situation in Afghanistan. To that end, all available means have been put to use: 'observers' on the ground, monitoring satellite and radio communications, aerial photographs and local information sources. In an exclusive interview with Radio Netherlands, the outgoing director of the MIVD, Major General Bert Dedden, talked about the situation in southern Afghanistan and about the work of the service he leads. With regard to Uruzgan, Major General Dedden reports a growth in the of Taliban fighters in this province where The Netherlands will deploy a 1400-strong military - as part of a NATO operation - starting this August. Only a year ago, the MIVD counted some 300-350 Taliban fighters in Uruzgan; now that figure is estimated to be around 500. A big problem, according to General Dedden, is the 'porous' border with neighbouring Pakistan. According to his service's annual report, al-Qaeda has shifted its attention from Iraq to Afghanistan, although this 'attention' mainly consists of al-Qaeda training camps in the border area and a flow of money from the Gulf region used to finance these camps and other 'training activities'. Despite the presence of some 100,000 Pakistani security troops along the border, the Taliban seem to be able to cross over into Afghanistan almost without hindrance. According to the MIVD report: "Although the Pakistani security forces are busy rounding up foreign militants in the areas bordering Afghanistan, supporters of the Taliban are largely being left undisturbed," so says the 2005 annual report from the MIVD. Not only are fighters being 'imported' with support from al-Qaeda, methods and materials previously unknown in Afghanistan are also starting to make an appearance: suicide bombings for example, a phenomenon rarely seen before in Afghanistan, and certain types of improvised bomb which, until now, were mainly used in Iraq. And while the actual number of Taliban fighters in Uruzgan may not seem particularly high, they pose a threat nonetheless. General Dedden explains, "The problem is that this element [...] can move through the region very quickly, and that they can also merge in very easily among the population." This is why one of the tasks of the Dutch troops who will be operating in the province later this year is that of winning the confidence of the local population by means, for example, of running aid projects which produce real results. This kind of support and assistance could result in valuable information coming in from local people about the whereabouts of the Taliban. Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-05-03 |
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