CAMP
SALERNO, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's porous southeastern
border with Afghanistan has in recent months attracted
unusual international attention. US marines based at
Camp Salerno near the border say this has happened for
all the wrong reasons. Although engagements with
insurgents have become more frequent, the marines say
that is the result of a more active US military posture.
Officials say Khost and the provinces to the
north deserve more attention for the way US troops
support reconstruction work and help train Afghan army
and police units.
Lance Alford is a colonel in
charge of a battalion of marines at Camp Salerno and
other smaller outposts. This is how he describes the
threat currently posed by Taliban insurgents: "Weak.
They're coming across trying to hit some different
places along the border and we smash them every time
they come across."
Alford said most insurgents
come across the border from Pakistan. Top officers at
Camp Salerno confirm a clear increase in enemy activity
in recent months. Maps shown to reporters indicate the
lion's share of combat activity takes place at or near
the border.
Major-General Eric Olson heads
the task force that oversees the 18,000 combat troops that
form the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom. He said this
increase in activity has been misunderstood by much of
the international press. "It's been translated as a
deteriorating security environment, and it's not that at
all. Coalition forces have been much more active,
they've been out much more than they have in the past,
we've been initiating engagements more than we have in
the past, I think the security environment is actually
improving. The engagements you're hearing about are
engagements that we're initiating and terminating on our
terms. As opposed to being attacked, we're out there
conducting offensive operations," Olson said.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's top
general, James Jones - himself a US marine - told troops at
Camp Salerno that a large-scale threat from the Taliban
and al-Qaeda had been virtually eliminated. At the same
time, both officials cautioned that this does not mean
either organization has lost the ability to cause
massive damage.
Olson said, "The problem, of course,
is that the Taliban have an asymmetric advantage
in this struggle. They don't have to be strong, they
just have to be lucky. If they pull off a spectacular event
in a critical part of the nation that sends
shock waves around the international community, or
scares off international organizations that have signed
up to support elections - we will have a
challenge."
Olson said that as a group with the
potential to disrupt elections, especially the
presidential polls due in early October, the Taliban
are a "force to contend with" and must still be taken
seriously.
Almost 10 million Afghans had put
down their names and thumbprints as registration drew to
a close on Sunday, though in the troubled southern
province of Kandahar Pashtuns demanded more time to
register.
However, Colonel Alford noted that his marines
had not seen "a whole lot of disruption" so far. He
said the United Nations agency in charge of voter registration in
Afghanistan had not been forced to cancel a single
scheduled visit in any of the four Pashtun provinces his
troops cover. Whenever UN officials report a potential
risk, the marines go in, supported by Afghan forces.
Alford said that voter registration in Khost and
surrounding areas is going well and that people are
anxious to vote. He also noted that the two outposts his
troops have set up both have a successfully functioning
provincial reconstruction team (PRT) attached to it.
Alford said one rifle company together with a PRT has
been deployed in Jalalabad, a city on the main road
leading to Pakistan.
Another company is located
in Gardez, again with a PRT attached. Both PRTs, as well
as another in the province of Khost itself, have given
priority to building schools and digging wells.
Alford says all four companies in his battalion
work closely with the Afghan National Army. He says this
has greatly increased the trust of the local population
in their contacts with coalition forces.
The chief of police for southern Kandahar province
said on Sunday that Taliban rebels had killed six Afghan
army soldiers who were defending a check post in a
remote part of the province. Kandahar was a former
Taliban stronghold and the home province of Taliban
leader Mullah Omar.
The Afghan government is sending 1,500
US-trained Afghan troops to the western province of Herat to
calm an outbreak of factional violence. Defense
Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimy said 500 troops were being
sent into the region on Sunday, with 1,000 more
following soon. The troops are being sent to an area in
Herat where fighting between forces loyal to Herat
Governor Mohammad Ismail Khan and rival local commanders
has killed 22 people since Friday.
Copyright
(c) 2004, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of
Radio Free Europe/Radio
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