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| Afghanistan |
| Al Qaeda frontline moving to Afghanistan? |
| 2006-01-13 |
| EFL HUNDREDS of foreign Islamic fighters are gathering in Afghanistan ahead of the deployment of 4,000 British troops to the country in the spring. British intelligence sources have told The Scotsman Islamic radicals sympathetic to al-Qaeda see Afghanistan as their new frontline and are starting to shift the focus of their anti-western campaign from Iraq. Does this mean they see themselves as having lost the battle for Iraq? The fighters, including Jordanians, Yemenis, Egyptians and Gulf Arabs, stepped up their campaign two months ago with a series of suicide bombings against NATO peacekeepers, United States troops and Afghan government leaders. "Attacks in Afghanistan are now running at more than 500 a month - it's getting as dangerous for westerners as Iraq in some places," said a British officer involved in planning the NATO peacekeeping mission in the south-west of the country. Particularly worrying for British troops has been a spate of battles over the past month in the area where paratroopers of 16 Air Assault Brigade are due to deploy from April on peace-keeping and anti-drug duties. US special forces teams patrolling Helmand and Uruzgan provinces called in air support on five occasions over the past three weeks. RAF Harriers based in Khandahar joined in two of these incidents, in which large groups of insurgents openly battled with US troops and allied Afghan forces. Teams of suicide bombers are reported to be active in Kabul and several other major towns, according to British sources. Groups of insurgents regularly mount raids from mountain hideouts against US patrols and units of the Afghan army. In rural areas, insurgents are becoming increasingly proficient in the use of improvised roadside bombs, many of which are similar to those that have taken such a heavy toll on coalition forces in Iraq. Are they getting help from Iranian bomb specialists? The foreign fighters are making common cause with remnants of the Taleban regime hiding in southern Afghanistan and with local tribesmen who resent efforts by the Kabul regime, backed by the US and Britain, to clamp down on the drugs trade. Washington's decision to pull out 4,000 troops from south-west Afghanistan, ahead of the NATO deployment, has emboldened insurgents, who claim it is the start of a complete defeat of US troops who have patrolled the country since late 2001. British intelligence officers say the drugs trade and the growing Afghan insurgency are inextricably linked with the dramatic increases in heroin exports, allowing pro-Taleban groups to buy in supplies of weapons and fund foreign fighters. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #6 Shortens the ISI's supply lines. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-13 22:15 |
| #5 It is probably a combination of the discontent among certain farmer groups, and the withering of Iraq as a viable front, that has Al-Q moving back to Afghanistan. Also, the Iraqi military and police are rapidly becoming very effective and killing the foreigners in good numbers. Plus, Afghanistan has always been a loosely-governed and loosely-policed area, which makes operations easier for Al-Q. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-01-13 22:09 |
| #4 I wonder how much of this is "come to beautiful Afghanistan and kill Americans!" There is nothing quite like luring your enemy into a kill zone. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-01-13 17:40 |
| #3 I believe the reason we are pulling US ground troops demonstrates that the islamo-cockroach problem in Afghanistan is a world problem and not a US-9/11 problem. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-01-13 17:14 |
| #2 The British military establishmen used to be pretty stoic. During the Napoleonic Wars, WWI and WWII, they took their lumps and kept on swinging at their adversaries without panicking. These days, they're like the pretty co-eds in horror movies, screaming at the top of their lungs at the slightest unexpected noise or movement. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-01-13 14:02 |
| #1 "Washington's decision to pull out 4,000 troops from south-west Afghanistan, ahead of the NATO deployment, has emboldened insurgents, who claim it is the start of a complete defeat of US troops who have patrolled the country since late 2001. " Why did we do this? Less PR problems for AQ in Afghanistan. They migh wind up killing muslims, but they won't be Arab muslims, which helps greatly with fundraising. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2006-01-13 13:49 |