Etikett: Talibaner

  • USA och NATO förlorar i Afghanistan

    Att NATO och USA håller på och förlora kriget i Afghanistan är uppenbart för de flesta observatörer. När som i den senaste attacken i Kunar Afghansk gerilla kan ta sig innanför en position bemannade av amerikanska soldater och döda 9 och såra 20 var steget inte långt borta att hela postionen hade förintats. Det närmar sig en kapacitet liknande den vietmin hade under vietnamkriget att i regelrätta strider ta sig an och besegra amerikanska soldatet. Inte ens i Irak har större amerikanska trupp positioner varit nära att förintas vad jag vet. Att det skede samtidigt som flera liknande anfall på andra platser visar på ’command and control’ från den Afghanska gerillan.

    Än mer oroväckande är hur man direkt skjuter från den pakistanska gränsen in till Afghanistan mot Amerikanska och NATO trupper. Samt uppbyggnaden av de pakistanska talibanerna med regeringsstöd i gränsområdena som Asia Times rapporterar om här.

    Med Indien, Pakistan, Iran, Kina, Ryssland, USA och Väst-Europa inklusive Sverige alla involverade har Afghanistan kriget redan utvecklats mot en regional konflikt. Precis som I Irak.

    I Sverige sägs det som vanligt inget om Afghanistan och det krig vi skickat soldater till. Mer än i korta telegram som Aftonbladets nedan eller Svd’s

    Aftonbladet: Aftonbladet telegram: Amerikaner dödade i Afghanistan
    Vid
    en attack mot en amerikans militärbas vid gränsen till Pakistan dödades
    nio soldater och femton skadades i den dödligaste attacken mot
    amerikaner i Afghanistan på tre år.

    Det var ett hundratal människor som gav sig på basen med granater och maskingevär.

    Talesmän för den amerikanska armén säger att attackerna blivit intensivare och bättre koordinerade än för ett år sen, uppger AP.

    9 Americans Die in Afghan Attack – NYTimes.com
    The attack, the worst against Americans in Afghanistan in three years, illustrated the growing threat of Taliban militants and their associates, who in recent months have made Afghanistan a far deadlier war zone for American-led forces than Iraq.

    The assault on the American base in Kunar Province was one of the fiercest by insurgents since the American-led invasion of Afghanistan routed the Taliban and Al Qaeda militants in late 2001.

    The militants have since regained strength in the tribal areas of Pakistan, which they have often used as a base for raids into Afghanistan, an increasingly sore point for the American and Afghan governments.

    The new American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan emphasized that issue on Sunday in an interview that took place before details of the Kunar attack were disclosed, asserting that the militants were not only entering Afghan territory but also firing at targets from the Pakistan side.

    “It all goes back to the problem set that there are sanctuaries in the tribal areas that militant insurgent groups are able to operate from with impunity,” said the commander, Gen. David D. McKiernan, who took over the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in June.

    General McKiernan said insurgents based in Pakistan had carried out some kind of attack on Afghanistan “almost every day I have been here.”

    It was the first time a senior commander had stated so clearly that militant groups were not only infiltrating from across the border to attack but were also firing from positions inside Pakistan.

    NATO officials reported that nine soldiers were killed in the Kunar attack but did not specify the nationalities, in accordance with the policy of letting member countries report them first. A senior military official in Washington said that all nine were American.

    The Kunar attack also left at least 15 other NATO soldiers — almost certainly Americans — and 4 Afghan soldiers wounded, and it was one of at least three significant attacks on Sunday, including a devastating suicide bombing in a southern city’s bazaar that killed at least 25 people, 20 of them civilians.

    This year of the Afghanistan war is already proving to be the deadliest since the American-led invasion. Bush administration officials are now considering a redeployment of troops to Afghanistan from Iraq to help deal with the rising threat.

  • Afghanistan-Pakistan kriget flyter ihop

    För den som är intresserad av det s.k kriget mot terrorismen I Afghanistan som Sverige delta i med soldater har Asia Times en ganska intressant rapport från gränstrakterna. Att amerikanska predator plan för tredje gången i rad attackerat på pakistanskt territorium eller att amerikanska specialstyrkor tränar pakistanska visar om något att kriget håller på att dra in pakistan på allavar.

    Rapporten är intressant även om den är på engelska. Förövrigt är det någon som kommer ihåg 80-talet och den sovjetiska styrkor man slogs mot då?

    The tribal area that borders the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nooristan is said to be the hiding ground of al-Qaeda kingpins Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri and their confidants, and it serves as a vital corridor for the Taliban.
    Last week’s drone attack was the third of its kind, indicating that

    US intelligence is closely monitoring the area, acutely aware of its importance. The strike had some success, taking out two senior al-Qaeda leaders – Sheikh Osman, know for his amputated hand, and Sheikh Soliman. However, a famous Taliban commander, Dost Muhammad, escaped unhurt.

    The heavyweight al-Qaeda members had traveled to Damadolah to instruct a select group of Taliban leaders in the safe use of satellite telephones.
    Sheikh Osman in particular was a big loss. He was wanted by the US for his role in al-Qaeda’s global operations as the right-hand man of Dr Junaid al-Jazeri, pin-pointed by Washington as the main engine behind al-Qaeda’s strategies in North Africa and Europe. (Two years ago, in another drone attack on Damadolah, Zawahiri apparently narrowly escaped death after leaving a dinner party early.)
    There is fierce debate over how the drone was able to target Damadolah. Pakistani opposition parties allege that Islamabad played a key role in providing intelligence. But the issue is not as simple as that, as will emerge.
    Unlike in Helmand province, in Kunar the Taliban do not independently run districts. However, among the craggy outcrops and lush green forests, they have established safe havens and also have the support of large sections of the population. This allows the Taliban to maintain an edge against the American forces in the area by launching daily attacks on their bases, as well as those of the Afghan National Army and intelligence centers.
    Kunar and Nooristan provinces also serve as the start of a natural route up to the northeastern province of Kapisa, from where, ultimately, the Taliban hope to enter into Kabul.
    All regional intelligence agencies are certain that bin Laden and Zawahiri are still in this area. The US considers it pivotal for the success of the ”war on terror”. The Taliban on the other hand have built all their resources all around this region.
    And neither side wants to give up ground.
    […]
    Finally we arrived at our destination, a village in the Sarkano district, and we made our way to the house of Zubair Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman in Kunar.

    The first thing I noticed was a big portrait of a black-bearded man, although it was partly covered by curtain.

    ”He is my elder son, Abdul Rahman,” Zubair’s elderly father, Enayat, told me.

    ”He was the pride of the village. He was a Talib. After the US invaded Afghanistan [in 1991], we were approached by the governor of the province through tribal elders that Abdul Rahman should surrender. We were promised that he would not only be pardoned, but that he would be made a commander of the local police setup.

    ”After a lot of guarantees, we sent him to surrender. He was welcomed by the governor, but American forces then came and he was arrested. Four days later, his dead body was sent to our village. He had been killed through the worst kind of torture. From that day on, this whole village vowed to take up arms to fight against the Americans,” Enayat said.

    ”Every other month we are offered a truce and friendship, but because of Abdul Rahman’s death, nobody is ready to believe them [Americans]. Once or twice in a month American special forces come to arrest the youths of the village, but they are clever enough to dodge them each time,” Enayat said.

    By evening it was clear that the village only comprised elderly women and men, and some children. A few farm workers were the only youths in the area. They were working the main crop of the area – poppy. The village was also full of mulberry trees.

    A while later, my contact Zubair arrived and he immediately instructed the farm workers to leave the fields and take up arms in positions in and around the village.

    Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan

  • Talibanhot mot Telia Sonera

    Är det bara jag som undrar över rubriksättningen ovan. Vad sysslar DN och SVD med som sätter rubriker som dessa. Eller är det brist på nyheter som gör att man tar med historier som dessa. Det handlar ju knappast om att talibaner skulle angripa telemaster i Sverige. Vilket ju rubriken antyder.

    Slarv eller tas artiklar in automatiskt om TT har orden sverige och talibaner i ett telegram?

    Den afghanska talibanmilisen gav på måndagen landets fyra mobiloperatörer order om att inom tre dygn stänga av trafiken mellan klockan 17 och 07. Om de inte lyder tänker talibanerna angripa mobilmaster och företagens kontor, säger en milistalesman per mobiltelefon från okänd ort.
    Orsaken till hotet är att talibanerna anser att de amerikanska och andra utländska styrkorna använder mobilnäten till att försöka spåra milisen.

    Talibanhot mot Telia Sonera