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NATO takeover of security in Southern Afghanistan |
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The NATO took up its first military combat role outside Europe since its founding in 1949 in Afghanistan on July 31. Some 18,000 NATO troops from Britain, Canada, Holland and other countries have been deployed with a view to shoring up the beleaguered government of President Hamid Karzai, containing escalating extremist violence and reconstructing Afghanistan. The force is commanded by Lt. General David Richards of Britain.
To begin with, the NATO troops have been deployed in Southern Afghanistan where the US and Afghan forces have been fighting a bloody battle with the Taliban ever since they launched Operation Mountain Thrust to wipe them out. The NATO had its first taste of what is in store for them when four Canadian troops were killed in an attack on their patrol in Kandahar province on August 3. Also, a suicide car bomber blew himself up in a crowded market in Kandahar killing 21 civilians. Another suicide attacker blew up his car near a NATO convoy again on August 4 but caused no damage or casualties. Two more road side bombs killed one Canadian soldier and wounded four. In another part of the volatile south, 20 suspected Taliban were killed a day before the NATO took over command in the insurgency-hit region. On a visit to Afghanistan, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie alleged that many Taliban fighters were crossing from Pakistan to stage attacks inside Afghanistan. He urged Pakistan to step up efforts to stop them.
The expansion of NATO operations in Afghanistan comes in the wake of America’s failure to stabilize the country, despite the alacrity with which it overthrew the Taliban regime in November 2001. Almost five years later, the war against Taliban militants continues. The NATO will therefore first take aim at checking the rising spiral of violence in southern and eastern Afghanistan which has taken a toll of more than 1,000 lives. This is a prerequisite for helping Karzai’s Government to extend its sway over the whole of Afghanistan, building stable institutions of governance, disarmament, demobilization, and developing capacity for economic development. It is anticipated that the NATO will leave in three years time. Whether Afghanistan can be made stable and secure in three years when the US and its allies have failed to accomplish that in five is questionable. Partly this is because the US, despite its leverage over Islamabad, has not been able to stop Pakistan’s terrorist-training; and Pakistan is the springboard of renewed Taliban violence. A combination of truculent warlords, drug traffickers, and tribal tensions all benefit from weak a government. Also, coordination between the countries trying to consolidate security in Afghanistan is poor. Italy is responsible for justice sector reform, Germany for building up the Afghan police, Britain heads the counter-narcotics campaign; the US trains the Afghan National Army and Japan is in charge of disarmament. The clumsy and uncoordinated handling of responsibilities by foreign powers itself highlights some of the problems involved in Afghanistan, but the situation would be worse without the presence of these countries. Britain has not had much success with its anti-narcotics campaign so far. Opium poppy growing is the major source of income for many Afghans. In 2005 only 4 per cent poppy gardens were destroyed: the opium-cart carrying the harvest of one hectare of narcotic poppies continues to earn farmers ten times more than a hectare of wheat. Justice and police sector reforms are hampered by a weak rule of law tradition and the absence of a functioning judiciary in Afghanistan. Since 2002 the US has trained about 26,000 soldiers for the Afghan National Army. But Afghanistan needs an army of at least 70,000 men to cater for its security needs, and a force of this size will not be ready before 2010. So insurgents and extremists have to be fought by NATO countries. This may not be easy: anti American violence in Kabul in May suggested that the traditional xenophobia of the Afghans could resurface if Western troops were not well disciplined.
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