March 12,2008:
With the Taliban taking a beating on both sides of the Pakistan border,
NATO commanders see an opportunity to finish off the Islamic extremist movement
if they have a few thousand more combat troops. These can be used to quickly
stomp on the few remaining Taliban combat groups, and demoralize the rest. NATO
is unlikely to deliver, as many member nations refuse to allow their troops to
be used for combat operations. Thus is appears that the existing NATO/U.S. force
will repeat last year, and just kill thousands of Taliban fighters over eight
months of warm weather campaigning this year. Eventually, the pro-Taliban
tribes will get tired of this. More of these tribes have been offering to make
peace with the government. This is not entirely a good thing. What the tribes
mean by "peace" is no more (or just "less") support for the Taliban, so the
tribal warriors can go off and make some real money in the drug business.
Religion is important, but you got to make a living. The warriors want to get
paid, and al Qaeda is running short of cash.
Iran is
going through with its plan to expel a million Afghan refugees. Many of these
have been in Iran for over two decades, and have put down roots. But the
Afghans are a source of manpower and support for the Afghan drug smuggling
gangs. The refugees also compete for jobs with Iranians, and harbor criminals
that prey on Iranians. Moving that many refugees back into Afghanistan will
cause an increase in crime and much misery, as Afghanistan is not ready to deal
with that many returnees. Iran doesn't care, and is angry at Afghanistan constantly
saying they are not ready to receive the refugees, which Iran has supported for
decades.
Al Qaeda
in Afghanistan web sites are trying to portray the terrorist organization as
victims of the evil West. This campaign includes pictures and stories about
recently killed (in Pakistan) al Qaeda leader Abu Laith al Libi. The web sites
also make a big deal about political cartoons in Denmark condemning Islamic terrorism.
Some of these cartoons use images some Moslems find offensive, so
demonstrations have been organized in Afghanistan, to provide video to be used
to further intimidate Westerners. These videos also reinforce the attitude that
the West is oppressing the Moslem world. The Danish political cartoonist who
started the cartoon flap now lives under police guard, because so many Moslems
have threatened to kill him.
Pakistan
Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has been formally charged as the mastermind of
the assassination of Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto. This has caused
something of a state-of-war between the Taliban and the Pakistani government,
and continues to decrease support for the Afghan Taliban.
The
Taliban and al Qaeda will continue their use of suicide and roadside bomb attacks this year.
Last year, they made 228 suicide bomb attacks, although 30 percent of those
were detected before they could be carried out. In 2006, there 140 attacks, of
which 12 percent were thwarted. These attacks have, so far, mostly killed
civilians, and just made the terrorists more unpopular. However, the strategy
of sending groups of gunmen around the countryside to intimidate the population
has not worked either, given the NATO ability to hunt down and kill the gunmen.
The
Taliban damaged two cell phone towers outside the southern city of Kandahar,
when the cell phone companies refused to shut down service at night. The
Taliban believe NATO is using cell phone signals to track Taliban movements at
night. Actually, NATO has several ways to track the Taliban at night.
Meanwhile, the Taliban are continuing to attack UN relief and reconstruction
projects, since these efforts make the recipients more likely to provide
information on Taliban movements and operations. The Taliban are also
continuing to hamper polio vaccinations. This is part of a world-wide effort to
eliminate polio completely. But it has been hampered in several parts of the
world. By paranoid Islamic clerics, who believe the vaccinations are part of a
Western campaign to poison Moslems.