| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Al-Qaeda reorganizing forces to help Taliban |
| 2005-09-10 |
| AL-QAEDA is pushing foreign fighters back into Afghanistan, in a bid to retake the battlefield from which it launched its seminal September 11 attacks against the United States four years ago, western and local sources said. The terror network is providing training and support for a comeback by the Taliban, the Islamic regime deposed by US forces in the aftermath of 9/11 for harbouring al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, they said. "We really thought we had won, but we are seeing more and more fighters coming over the border from Pakistan and this presents a long-term security problem for us," a top Afghan official who declined to be identified, said. Islamabad strenuously denies the charge, pointing out it recently moved 9,500 extra troops along the border and has captured a string of key al-Qaeda operatives. Regardless of where they come from, experts say the presence of foreign fighters amongst Taliban remnants in undeniable. "We do feel that there is a foreign fighter presence in Afghanistan," US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara said. US and Afghan officials were not long ago predicting the Taliban and al-Qaeda were a spent force, after last October's Afghan presidential elections passed with little bloodshed. But with US forces already battling an al-Qaeda-linked insurgency in Iraq, analysts and officials suspect the organisation may be trying to open a "second front" in Afghanistan. It is already proving a thorn in the side of international efforts to rebuild the country after a quarter century of war, and to prepare for landmark parliamentary elections which are due to take place next week. While the carnage is far less intense than that in Iraq, there are many similarities in the way Afghanistan's new crop of insurgents operate, officials said. The Taliban, who enforced medieval Islamic laws across Afghanistan from 1996-2001, have sometimes in the past presented a shambolic and disorganised force. But there has been a rise in suicide bombings, a tactic notoriously favoured by Iraqi insurgents and previously rarely seen in Afghanistan, while the militants' roadside bombings are increasingly accurate. "Fighters are coming in with better skills and we are seeing a transfer of skills from Iraq," a Western security source in southern Afghanistan said on condition of anonymity. "The insurgency is much worse this year." Last month, Al-Arabiya television aired a video purportedly depicting foreign militants in Afghanistan, including Europeans, Arabs and others, preparing to attack US troops and Afghan officials. "These foreign guys are pretty well-armed," said a US paratrooper on patrol in Orgun-E, an area in south-eastern Paktika province, where six US soldiers have died in the bloodiest year yet for the US military in Afghanistan. "They have expensive weapons you can't get in this country." The video went on to claim al-Qaeda's responsibility for the worst blow ever suffered by the US military in Afghanistan, the shooting down of a giant Chinook helicopter in June that killed all 16 people on board. While Afghanistan's fledgling 30,000-strong army is using embedded trainers from the US to hone their skills, experienced Islamic fighters from Iraq and elsewhere are doing the same for Afghan insurgents. The militants "do have foreign nationals operating with them, but they are instructors. "The operational leaders remain Afghan," Christian Willach, security coordinator for the Afghan Non-governmental Organisation Security Network, said. al-Qaeda training camps which moved into Pakistan's lawless tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan after the US invasion may now have crossed back after a crackdown on militants by Islamabad, he said. The Western security source said there had been "an increase in foreign fighters: Chechens, Arabs, Middle Easterners". "We can see this from the dead bodies but also from the radio traffic we pick up in different languages," he said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #8 The first would be how the foreign fighters would hope to get to Afghanistan in the first place. The first assumption would be Pakistan, but the Paks are kicking out the foreigners, or almost all of them. So how are large numbers of non-Pak al-Qaeda going to get there? 1. The Pakistanis are not kicking all of the foreigners out or, 2. There are other 'Stans' to the north. if the great Taliban-al-Qaeda advance into Afghanistan is at the point of a bayonet from Pakistan, is it an advance, or is disordered retreat towards enemy lines? Unknown. Third, the article notes "Iraqi suicide bombing" tactics. But Iraqis abhor suicide bombings, which are done almost exclusively by foreigners. Agreed. The Iraq angle is in there to reinforce a meme. Last, equipment. If they can barely get themselves in country, how can they get any appreciable amount of equipment? The only possible way would be if both the personnel and equipment were coming *directly* from Iran. Possible. But again, there are 'Stans' to the north. There's also the 'other neighbor'. And, as much as we detest each other, that is far too direct an approach for Iranian tastes. Perhaps. But it doesn't mean they aren't doing it. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-09-10 12:55 |
| #7 Another problem is that most Al Quaida people are Arabs and will be far easier to detect in Afghanistan than they are in Irak. That plus the fact that they will not benefit from the "national sympathy" that they get between Sunni Arabs. In fact from e-mail exchanges with Pashtoons and scanning at their web sites my impressions is that except for a small minority of hardline Talibans most Pashtoons (even between the islamists) held themselves as superior to Arabs and will have little sympathy for Arab intruders, while Al Quaida types will be attacked on sight if they venture in Tajik or Hazara zones. |
| Posted by: JFM 2005-09-10 11:20 |
| #6 There are several glaring problems in this story. The first would be how the foreign fighters would hope to get to Afghanistan in the first place. The first assumption would be Pakistan, but the Paks are kicking out the foreigners, or almost all of them. So how are large numbers of non-Pak al-Qaeda going to get there? Second, if the great Taliban-al-Qaeda advance into Afghanistan is at the point of a bayonet from Pakistan, is it an advance, or is disordered retreat towards enemy lines? Third, the article notes "Iraqi suicide bombing" tactics. But Iraqis abhor suicide bombings, which are done almost exclusively by foreigners. Last, equipment. If they can barely get themselves in country, how can they get any appreciable amount of equipment? The only possible way would be if both the personnel and equipment were coming *directly* from Iran. And, as much as we detest each other, that is far too direct an approach for Iranian tastes. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-09-10 10:32 |
| #5 your might be better than you'are. <<: |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-09-10 10:19 |
| #4 nothing wrong with the coffe TW, you're observation is salient. |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-09-10 10:18 |
| #3 I must be slow this morning. Anonn.'s post makes no sense to me -- what am I missing? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-10 08:25 |
| #2 Tony, you need to reason looking in the past that the long arms of US has been in the center of Pakistani military powers as it was in Iran. In the case of Iran, France stabbed in the back of US to get Iran out of US influence. This time, China will do what France did to get Pakistan out of US hands and to control India. It is almost a done deal. Every one will know this soon after president Bush is out of power. The cold war never ended except for the change in the players who actually want to control the supply of oil. In this regard, the infighting among the western powers will be worst than what was during the world war two only to the benefit of China. The best logical options for US are simply two. if US could get it. Allow China to establish power bases in east and south Asia then tell Pakistan go to hell after evaporating a few hills with nuclear devices between the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan just to demonstrate that US will not hesitate to destroy any land and population of the world who harbor enemy of US interest. |
| Posted by: Annon. 2005-09-10 07:25 |
| #1 Simple answer - nuke Pakistan. Let's face it, it's a total hell-hole and noone would miss it if it were gone. |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2005-09-10 01:06 |