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| Afghanistan |
| Afghanistan: Taliban attacks increase in new strategy, says NATO general |
| 2008-09-25 |
| (AKI) - By Giovanni Del Re - NATO's top military commander, General John Craddock, has expressed concern about the growing number of civilians being killed or wounded in Afghanistan by a resurgent Taliban. In an exclusive interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), Craddock said that the Taliban had changed its strategy and there was greater insecurity in Afghanistan. "There is greater insecurity, increased violence, but it is generally located in the east and the south, (and) it is not unexpected," Craddock said. "There is growing activity on the border of Pakistan-Afghanistan, there is an increased number of border fighters, I think there is an increased complexity." Craddock spoke to AKI during a visit to NATO's ISAF mission, the international force which includes 52,000 troops from 40 countries. Speaking about the Taliban in Afghanistan, Craddock said there had been an increase in the deployment of improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers. "They have changed tactics, there is an increased number of civilians killed or wounded, Afghan police forces are targeted and attacked," he told AKI. "I am concerned about the increase of violence, concerned about the governance, it seems not to be working in the way it should." Craddock expressed particular concern about the dangers along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "The border with Pakistan if not the problem, is the problem we focus most in terms of security," he said. "We have got to have coordination with forces on the ground: Afghan forces, ISAF forces, and Pakistani forces on the other side." He said ISAF has opened the first border coordination centre at the Khyber pass and there are plans for five others on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. "That's a start to get a common picture on the ground and be able to trade information back and forth on the Taliban invaders," he said. Craddock said while there was no increase in attacks in Kabul, there were more IED bomb attacks and suicide bombings elsewhere. "It is very difficult to understand what's going on because of the complexity of tribal affiliation. I think what we are seeing here is also due the fact that, when the efforts in the south are effective, they push the insurgency to the west and mostly in the central part of the country." He said attacks in Kabul should be seen in perspective. "Of course, every suicide bombing, every attack reported will be seen as lack of security. But in a city of that size you can't prevent every IED, every attack, and insurgency knows that an attack captures the attention of the media, and will reported over and over again." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 You may be right, Joe. Certainly the islamicists are playing a long, deep game - longer and deeper than the west seem to recognize or respond to. Bush's attempt to secularize / free up Iraq and to intervene in Afghanistan as a proxy for confronting Pakistan (actually, pressuring the ISI from within and outside Pakistan) is the only counter-example that comes to mind. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-09-25 07:53 |
| #2 IMO Radical Islam had caused RUSSIA to become unsettled ala GEORGIAN WAR, plus of course INDIA - can they do the same vee Paki ally CHINA [NOKOR + Taiwan issues]??? As argued or inferred times before, NUCLEARIZING IRAN desires to keep a MSM/DIPLOM-CORRECT "LOW -PROFILE" AMAP ALAP, at least until it conducts its first official indigenous NUKE BOMB TEST(S) which IMO must ideally occur NLT 2010. Thusly PAN-ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION + POST-DUBYA POTUS PERIOD = the PDENIABLE BURDEN OF WAR + JIHAD MUST OVERTLY AND PREDOMIN FALL ON THE MILITANT-TERR GROUPS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-09-25 01:30 |
| #1 Spread poppy diseases. Cause an opium crop failure. Rinse and repeat. Same for the marijuana growing there. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-09-25 00:21 |