Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
October 15, 2008
Pg. 10
By John F. Burns
KABUL, [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]Afghanistan[/FONT] — American military successes in Iraq have prompted growing numbers of well-trained “foreign fighters” to join the insurgency in Afghanistan instead, the Afghan defense minister said on Tuesday.
The minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, said at a news conference that the increased flow of insurgents from outside Afghanistan had contributed to the heightened intensity of the fighting here this year, which he described as the “worst” since the American-led forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001. American commanders have said that overall violence here has increased by 30 percent in the past year and have called for more troops.
The defense minister said that “the success of coalition forces in Iraq” had combined with developments in countries neighboring Afghanistan to cause “a major increase in the number of foreign fighters” coming to Afghanistan.
“There is no doubt that they are better equipped than before,” he said. “They are well trained, more sophisticated, and their coordination is much better.”
His reference to neighboring countries appeared to mean Pakistan, where Islamic militants with bases in tribal areas along the border have intensified their operations, both inside Pakistan and in support of the insurgency in Afghanistan.
American commanders have said that most of the foreign fighters operating in Afghanistan are Pakistanis, Arabs, or from Muslim countries and communities in Central Asia and the Caucasus, including Chechens. But a great majority of the insurgents here are Afghans.
American commanders have noted that some militant Islamic Web sites have been encouraging fighters to go to Afghanistan rather than Iraq, where rebel operations have been sharply reduced in the past 18 months. Recent postings to some sites have celebrated the rising tempo of the insurgency here, and referred to the appeals for more soldiers and growing concerns among NATO nations that contribute troops.
About 33,000 American troops are in Afghanistan, with more than 23,000 from about 40 other NATO countries.
The Afghan minister spoke on a day when insurgents struck across wide areas of Afghanistan using roadside bombs and, in Kandahar, committed a drive-by assassination.
The NATO command said three coalition soldiers were killed Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb. It did not give the victims’ nationalities, but most of the 24,000 coalition troops in the eastern region are Americans.
The Kandahar assassination occurred when two gunmen on a motorbike attacked the car carrying the chief of the province’s social affairs department to work. The official, Dost Muhammad Arghestani, was killed instantly, with his driver, a police spokesman said. A NATO statement of condolence said that Mr. Arghestani’s duties had included helping disabled people.
The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack. “We killed him because he was working with the government, and we will carry out more targeted killings of senior officials and people working with foreign organizations,” the Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said in a telephone call to local news agencies. Last month, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a similar attack, involving gunmen on a motorcycle, that killed the most senior woman among Kandahar’s police officers.
Another roadside bomb in Deh Rawood, in Oruzgan Province, in the southwest, killed nine Afghan civilians on Tuesday, including three children, said the provincial police chief, Juma Gul Himat.
He blamed the Taliban and said they had planted the explosive on a road regularly used by NATO and Afghan troops.
Sangar Rahimi contributed reporting from Kabul, Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Souad Mekhennet from Frankfurt.
October 15, 2008
Pg. 10
By John F. Burns
KABUL, [FONT=Times New Roman, Times]Afghanistan[/FONT] — American military successes in Iraq have prompted growing numbers of well-trained “foreign fighters” to join the insurgency in Afghanistan instead, the Afghan defense minister said on Tuesday.
The minister, Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak, said at a news conference that the increased flow of insurgents from outside Afghanistan had contributed to the heightened intensity of the fighting here this year, which he described as the “worst” since the American-led forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001. American commanders have said that overall violence here has increased by 30 percent in the past year and have called for more troops.
The defense minister said that “the success of coalition forces in Iraq” had combined with developments in countries neighboring Afghanistan to cause “a major increase in the number of foreign fighters” coming to Afghanistan.
“There is no doubt that they are better equipped than before,” he said. “They are well trained, more sophisticated, and their coordination is much better.”
His reference to neighboring countries appeared to mean Pakistan, where Islamic militants with bases in tribal areas along the border have intensified their operations, both inside Pakistan and in support of the insurgency in Afghanistan.
American commanders have said that most of the foreign fighters operating in Afghanistan are Pakistanis, Arabs, or from Muslim countries and communities in Central Asia and the Caucasus, including Chechens. But a great majority of the insurgents here are Afghans.
American commanders have noted that some militant Islamic Web sites have been encouraging fighters to go to Afghanistan rather than Iraq, where rebel operations have been sharply reduced in the past 18 months. Recent postings to some sites have celebrated the rising tempo of the insurgency here, and referred to the appeals for more soldiers and growing concerns among NATO nations that contribute troops.
About 33,000 American troops are in Afghanistan, with more than 23,000 from about 40 other NATO countries.
The Afghan minister spoke on a day when insurgents struck across wide areas of Afghanistan using roadside bombs and, in Kandahar, committed a drive-by assassination.
The NATO command said three coalition soldiers were killed Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb. It did not give the victims’ nationalities, but most of the 24,000 coalition troops in the eastern region are Americans.
The Kandahar assassination occurred when two gunmen on a motorbike attacked the car carrying the chief of the province’s social affairs department to work. The official, Dost Muhammad Arghestani, was killed instantly, with his driver, a police spokesman said. A NATO statement of condolence said that Mr. Arghestani’s duties had included helping disabled people.
The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack. “We killed him because he was working with the government, and we will carry out more targeted killings of senior officials and people working with foreign organizations,” the Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said in a telephone call to local news agencies. Last month, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a similar attack, involving gunmen on a motorcycle, that killed the most senior woman among Kandahar’s police officers.
Another roadside bomb in Deh Rawood, in Oruzgan Province, in the southwest, killed nine Afghan civilians on Tuesday, including three children, said the provincial police chief, Juma Gul Himat.
He blamed the Taliban and said they had planted the explosive on a road regularly used by NATO and Afghan troops.
Sangar Rahimi contributed reporting from Kabul, Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Souad Mekhennet from Frankfurt.