Taliban fire off spring
warning By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Recent Taliban operations in
southwestern Afghanistan's Helmand province and
Pakistan's anti-Taliban swoop in its southwestern
province of Balochistan mark a broadening of the
struggle into Pakistani territory.
The
Taliban claim to have overrun the Kabul-installed
administration in Nawzad district headquarters in
Helmand and all surrounding villages.
This
only confirms the belief among North Atlantic
Treaty Organization officials that until a broader
strategy is devised that
takes
in the whole region - including the Pakistani
border areas - there can be no level playing field
between NATO and the insurgency, and NATO will be
the loser.
"The Taliban besieged NATO
bases and offices of the Afghan administration [in
Nawzad] during [the] whole winter season. We did
not attack them because of the difficulties of a
winter mobilization of men, and the sustainability
of battle remains a problem," Taliban commander
Abdul Khaliq Akhund told Asia Times Online by
satellite phone from Nawzad district.
"Nevertheless, we just curtailed the mobility of
the Afghan administration and NATO forces
throughout the winter and it was a real blow to
their morale.
"As soon as the summer
started, we announced the end of the ceasefire
with the [Hamid]-Karzai backed administration of
Nawzad district and the Taliban and moved into
district headquarters. I gladly inform you that
the Taliban are now fully in control of Nawzad
district headquarters and all villages around it."
A NATO spokesperson in Kabul did not
respond to an Asia Times Online request for
comment on the Taliban's claim to have taken
control of Nawzad.
During a visit to
Helmand province last November, this correspondent
observed the ceasefire between the Taliban and
NATO forces in Nawzad district (see Time out from a siege,
Asia Times Online, December 9, 2006). NATO saw the
ceasefire as a chance slowly and peacefully to
extend the influence of NATO forces as well as the
writ of the Afghan government. However, the scheme
seems to have come to nothing.
"The fall
of Nawzad is the start of the Taliban-led uprising
in southwestern Afghanistan, and soon the entire
province of Helmand will be in the hands of the
mujahideen," Abdul Khaliq claimed.
As
events in Nawzad illustrate, the Taliban are
unlikely to receive much opposition from
Kabul-backed administrations across the province.
To stop the rot, as it were, NATO wants to
take the fight into Pakistani territory - from
where the Taliban receive logistical support - as
its "ceasefire" tactics seem to have failed.
A new focus on Balochistan
Recent clashes between NATO forces and the
Taliban in Gramser, Helmand, left dozens of
Taliban wounded. Some of them retreated to
Naushki, Kuchlak and Quetta in Balochistan, where
they were admitted to various hospitals. Their
colleagues stayed with the Afghan diaspora in the
area.
NATO followed the movement of these
people in Pakistan and eventually passed on
information to the US Federal Bureau of
Investigation's proxies, which have deep influence
in the Pakistani police. As a result, under the
direct surveillance of the FBI, Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence led an operation to
capture dozens of Taliban.
A Pakistani
newspaper claimed one of the arrested was Mullah
Obaidullah, one of Taliban leader Mullah Omar's
top aides. Pakistani state authorities denied the
claim, including the Ministry of Interior.
Nevertheless, sources in the security agencies did
say that during a raid in Quetta some "very
important persons were sorted out" and that Mullah
Obaidullah might indeed be in the area.
These developments reinforce the Afghan
government and NATO view that Quetta is an
important command and control post for the Taliban
and that they have to be rooted out from there.
The areas of Naushki and Gardi Jungle in
Balochistan have also been identified by the
British Task Force in Helmand as the main supply
lines of logistics and manpower into Helmand
province.
"Local Baloch youths are very
active supporters of the Taliban in the region of
Naushki and it is the main supply line of weapons
and manpower to the Taliban," commented a British
military official based in Helmand province,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
In
return for the heat being turned on them, the
Taliban will target the US proxy intelligence
network in Balochistan. These include Police
Intelligence Unit and FBI collaborators among
Muslim clerics and other anti-Taliban elements.
It's all very well, though, for NATO to
recognize the necessity of becoming more proactive
across the border. There is an obstacle - and a
big one. As reported by Asia Times Online (Pakistan makes a deal with the
Taliban, March 1), the Pakistani
establishment has struck an accord with the
Taliban through a leading Taliban commander that
will extend Islamabad's influence into
southwestern Afghanistan and significantly
strengthen the resistance in its push to capture
Kabul.
As the Taliban begin the first
phases of their spring offensive, the battlefield
is getting bigger, as is the number of
contestants.
Syed Saleem Shahzad
is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He
can be reached at
saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
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2007 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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