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Afghan resistance takes
shape
By
Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Notwithstanding
the changing of the guard in Kabul, which sees the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization taking over command of the
International Security Assistance Force, the resistance
network that covers large swathes of the country is
firmly in place.
This consists of Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar's Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan, the Taliban and
fighters of Osama bin Laden's International Islamic
Front grouped under the banner of the Saiful Muslemeen
(the Sword of Muslims). Previously restricted to the
countryside and attacks on foreign soldiers, the
resistance has now targeted cities.
This week
has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan for more than a
year, with more than 50 people killed in bombings and
fighting across the country in incidents orchestrated by
the Saiful Muslemeen, which in turn, according to
security sources, is run by senior Taliban leaders holed
up in the southern Pakistani city of Quetta and its
outskirts. Currently, their main targets are the
southern regions of Afghanistan, including Zabul,
Hilmand, Kandahar and Urugzan.
The resistance
does not necessarily want to take control of towns,
rather it wants to send a message to the embattled
interim administration in Kabul headed by Hamid Karzai
that local governments are at their mercy. This happened
in Zabul, as reported in Asia Times Online on May 1 (Afghanistan, once more the melting
pot ) when the town was overrun, then
abandoned.
Subsequently, Taliban guerrillas
again captured Zabul and hoisted their white flags on
government buildings. And once again they melted into
surrounding mountains after a short time, where this
time they held their positions. The mountains are such
that for people with local knowledge, they provide
excellent coverage, even from aerial bombing. The
apparent aim is to be in position to cut the supply
lines of southern Afghanistan from Kabul. Already, some
districts, including Hilmand and parts of Kandahar and
Urugzan, have to rely on tortuous routs for supplies, or
wait for air drops.
Another, and very new, part
of the strategy adopted by the resistance involves the
use of remote-controlled devices. These include the
remote manipulation of missiles and bombs, which will
significantly increase the effectiveness of the
guerrillas. The arrival of this new technology also
indicates that the resistance has established supply
lines to the outer world, which will make the job of the
coalition forces even more difficult.
The
evolving situation in Afghanistan - and Iraq for that
matter - represents the designs of the International
Islamic Front, which aims to draw the enemy (US) to
battlefields, where it will be engaged in protracted
warfare that will reap a heavy human and economic toll -
much as happened to the former Soviet Union in its
misadventure in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
To
this end, the Front is recruiting fighters from around
the world - and especially from Pakistan and the Central
Asian republics - to become its new martyrs on the
killing fields of Afghanistan.
(Copyright 2003
Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact content@atimes.com for information
on our sales and syndication policies.)
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