All change in the US's Afghan mission
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The direct costs of the seven-year "war on terror", which includes
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, have reached US$752 billion, if the current
year's appropriation of $188 billion is included, according to the non-partisan
US Congressional Budget Office.
With the situation in Afghanistan further than ever from being settled, the US
response, much like the financial crisis, is to throw more money and resources
at the problem.
US General David McKiernan, who commands the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's (NATO's) forces in Afghanistan, said after a meeting in
Afghanistan with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week that he needed a
permanent increase in troop levels
and other assets such as reconnaissance planes.
Although President George W Bush has said he will send an additional brigade
(4,000 to 5,000 troops), McKiernan said he needed three brigades beyond that
"to counter the increasing violence and speed up progress in the war". There
are currently about 33,000 US troops in the country and if McKiernan gets his
way, potentially more than 20,000 troops could be added once support units are
counted.
Gates said the George W Bush administration was considering possible changes in
its war strategy in Afghanistan, without going into detail. The Independent of
London has reported that the US is pushing for sweeping changes to the military
command structure in Afghanistan, so the head of international forces reports
directly to US Central Command (CENTCOM) instead of NATO.
The newspaper reported that one possibility under consideration was for NATO to
continue to be in charge of logistics, force protection and public affairs,
while direct counter-insurgency operations would be run from CENTCOM by General
David Petraeus, who now oversees US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
From the US perspective, seven years after the invasion that toppled the
Taliban, progress and speed are certainly needed in this very costly war.
Independent Western think-tanks paint a picture in which the Taliban have a
presence in over 54% of the country, including all the important towns around
the capital Kabul.
The influential international policy think-tank the Senlis Council reported
recently, "Research this summer shows that over half of Wardak province - which
neighbors Logar province, and is just 45 minutes from Kabul by road - is under
Taliban control, according to local Afghans. This information was gathered by
Senlis Council researchers in June 2008, and is proof of the Taliban's
resurgence in and around the capital, as well as in their southern and eastern
heartlands."
Asia Times Online has reported on Taliban preparations to reach Kabul and its
surroundings (Taliban
have Kabul in their sights February 27, 2008).
Taliban activities in Wardak are recorded in a recently released video by the
Taliban's newly formed media organ, al-Samood. Footage shows camouflaged
Taliban fighters on the main highway into the capital attacking a NATO supply
convoy, driving around in captured Afghan police vehicles, ferrying ammunition
and making preparations for a raid.
Neither the NATO military spokesperson in Kabul nor the Afghan presidential
spokesperson responded to Asia Times Online's requests for comment on the video
and the security situation around the capital.
The war theater expands
Given the lack of progress in Afghanistan, the US is actively taking the war
into Pakistan, where the Taliban have sanctuaries in swathes of the tribal
areas across the border.
Admiral Mike Mullen, on his fifth visit to Pakistan since he became chairman of
the US joint chiefs of staff a year ago, on Tuesday tried to reassure Islamabad
that the US would respect Pakistan's sovereignty. But the very next day there
was a further Predator drone missile attack in South Waziristan in which it was
claimed that a pile of the Taliban's rockets had been hit. This follows several
other drone missions over the past few weeks and an operation by US special
forces that killed about 15 people.
The Pentagon says Pakistan's military and civilian government are onboard with
the missile attacks, a claim Pakistan dismisses.
Either way, the US incursions have unprecedented unity between local tribesmen,
the Taliban and the rank-and-file Pakistani security forces deployed on the
border regions. Tribal sources tell Asia Times Online that the next time
American ground forces venture into Pakistan they will meet stiff opposition
from these now-combined forces.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can
be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
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