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02-18-2010, 04:19 AM
February 18, 2010
Operation Mushtarak’s daunting task
By Salman Ansari Javid
More than eight years after the invasion of Afghanistan by the U.S., the country still remains in a state of lawlessness, with innocent civilians becoming victims of NATO or Taliban bombings on a daily basis.
Prior to the invasion former U.S. President George W. Bush asked the Taliban government to hand over Osama bin Laden, who was blamed for the September 11 attacks on the U.S. The Taliban refused to oblige. The Anglo American air strikes began on October 7 and by November 13 Kabul fell to the Northern Alliance.
Today, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leader Mullah Omar remain elusive, believed to be hiding in the region between Afghan and Pakistani border.
Today, Afghanistan is the largest producer of opium in the world, supplying some 90 percent of the world’s demand for the illicit trade. During the Taliban regime the UN reported a drop in the opium production when a ban was enforced.
As far as law and order is concerned, apart from Kabul and some major cities, most of the regions in the southern part of the country are literally controlled by the Taliban. The regions under the Taliban control produce most of the opium, the revenues from which finance the militancy operations.
Operation Mushtarak, which commenced on Saturday with the participation of 15,000 U.S., NATO and Afghan soldiers, is the biggest joint U.S.-led operation since the 2001 invasion. It is meant to root out Taliban from their southern Afghanistan strongholds, with a specific goal of keeping the Taliban out of the captured villages in the region.
According to news reports, some 300 to 1,000 Taliban fighters dug in the city of Marja, a city of 80,000 and Taliban’s former stronghold in Helmand Province. Only sporadic skirmishes have been reported.
The militants have been using the porous Pakistani border to find safe haven after conducting attacks on the NATO forces. Many of the militants have fled to Pakistan or Helmand’s neighboring provinces.
In the recent past the number of drone attacks across the border on the Pakistani side has drastically increased, despite objections by Pakistan. The U.S. administration has also put pressure on Pakistan to tighten its control over the Afghan border.
According to U.S. officials the Taliban military commander for the Helmand Province region, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was captured in Karachi recently in a joint Pakistani-U.S. intelligence operation. Weather his capture can cripple Taliban’s operations remains a question.
Mission objectives
The short-term goal of evacuating the Taliban militants dug out in the region will be an easy one. However, keeping them out is another question.
Another major goal of Operation Mushtarek is to win the hearts and minds of the Afghanis in the region.
This goal met with a stumbling block on Monday when 12 Afghans were killed, including six children, in an American rocket attack. The top NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal apologized for the incident and suspended the use of weapons system used in the attack.
At a news conference on Monday Interior Minister Mohammed Hanif Atmar said that the casualties included 3 insurgents who had forced the civilians to give them refuge.
Two critical objectives need to be fulfilled before the Afghan hearts and minds can be won. Number one, once the Taliban have been flushed out of the region, they should be kept out. In the past after capturing villages controlled by the Taliban NATO forces have abandoned the village, only for the Taliban to return and punish those who cooperated with foreign and Afghan forces.
If the Taliban can be kept out and some law and order can be established in the region, the next factor will be creating jobs. By investing in the infrastructure projects such as roads, telecommunications, hospitals, schools, etc. not only many people in the region will have an alternate source of income, other than opium poppies, but more importantly they can find hope.
When looking at the present situation in Afghanistan one should keep in mind that for more than 30 years this nation has been invaded by two major forces. Soviet Union invaded the country in Dec. 1979. The withdrawal of the Soviet troops was completed by Feb. 1989.
With a 100,000-strong army, the Soviets were only able to control the major cities while the guerillas contested the countryside. The Soviet efforts to build on the country’s infrastructure also failed due to the U.S. and Pakistani-backed insurgency. Two years after their withdrawal the Soviet Union fell apart. Many analysts attribute the Soviet downfall to their failure in Afghanistan.
The U.S.-led NATO will have to face the same daunting task. Flushing the Taliban out of their stronghold will be a short-term victory. The real challenge is keeping them out and winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan residents in the region.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=214401
Operation Mushtarak’s daunting task
By Salman Ansari Javid
More than eight years after the invasion of Afghanistan by the U.S., the country still remains in a state of lawlessness, with innocent civilians becoming victims of NATO or Taliban bombings on a daily basis.
Prior to the invasion former U.S. President George W. Bush asked the Taliban government to hand over Osama bin Laden, who was blamed for the September 11 attacks on the U.S. The Taliban refused to oblige. The Anglo American air strikes began on October 7 and by November 13 Kabul fell to the Northern Alliance.
Today, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leader Mullah Omar remain elusive, believed to be hiding in the region between Afghan and Pakistani border.
Today, Afghanistan is the largest producer of opium in the world, supplying some 90 percent of the world’s demand for the illicit trade. During the Taliban regime the UN reported a drop in the opium production when a ban was enforced.
As far as law and order is concerned, apart from Kabul and some major cities, most of the regions in the southern part of the country are literally controlled by the Taliban. The regions under the Taliban control produce most of the opium, the revenues from which finance the militancy operations.
Operation Mushtarak, which commenced on Saturday with the participation of 15,000 U.S., NATO and Afghan soldiers, is the biggest joint U.S.-led operation since the 2001 invasion. It is meant to root out Taliban from their southern Afghanistan strongholds, with a specific goal of keeping the Taliban out of the captured villages in the region.
According to news reports, some 300 to 1,000 Taliban fighters dug in the city of Marja, a city of 80,000 and Taliban’s former stronghold in Helmand Province. Only sporadic skirmishes have been reported.
The militants have been using the porous Pakistani border to find safe haven after conducting attacks on the NATO forces. Many of the militants have fled to Pakistan or Helmand’s neighboring provinces.
In the recent past the number of drone attacks across the border on the Pakistani side has drastically increased, despite objections by Pakistan. The U.S. administration has also put pressure on Pakistan to tighten its control over the Afghan border.
According to U.S. officials the Taliban military commander for the Helmand Province region, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was captured in Karachi recently in a joint Pakistani-U.S. intelligence operation. Weather his capture can cripple Taliban’s operations remains a question.
Mission objectives
The short-term goal of evacuating the Taliban militants dug out in the region will be an easy one. However, keeping them out is another question.
Another major goal of Operation Mushtarek is to win the hearts and minds of the Afghanis in the region.
This goal met with a stumbling block on Monday when 12 Afghans were killed, including six children, in an American rocket attack. The top NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal apologized for the incident and suspended the use of weapons system used in the attack.
At a news conference on Monday Interior Minister Mohammed Hanif Atmar said that the casualties included 3 insurgents who had forced the civilians to give them refuge.
Two critical objectives need to be fulfilled before the Afghan hearts and minds can be won. Number one, once the Taliban have been flushed out of the region, they should be kept out. In the past after capturing villages controlled by the Taliban NATO forces have abandoned the village, only for the Taliban to return and punish those who cooperated with foreign and Afghan forces.
If the Taliban can be kept out and some law and order can be established in the region, the next factor will be creating jobs. By investing in the infrastructure projects such as roads, telecommunications, hospitals, schools, etc. not only many people in the region will have an alternate source of income, other than opium poppies, but more importantly they can find hope.
When looking at the present situation in Afghanistan one should keep in mind that for more than 30 years this nation has been invaded by two major forces. Soviet Union invaded the country in Dec. 1979. The withdrawal of the Soviet troops was completed by Feb. 1989.
With a 100,000-strong army, the Soviets were only able to control the major cities while the guerillas contested the countryside. The Soviet efforts to build on the country’s infrastructure also failed due to the U.S. and Pakistani-backed insurgency. Two years after their withdrawal the Soviet Union fell apart. Many analysts attribute the Soviet downfall to their failure in Afghanistan.
The U.S.-led NATO will have to face the same daunting task. Flushing the Taliban out of their stronghold will be a short-term victory. The real challenge is keeping them out and winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan residents in the region.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=214401