So, Afghanistan. How's it going? Been a while since we talked....
I thought I'd check up on what's going on with the new regime, y'know. In the interests of freedom-loving people everywhere.
As of 10:00 AM, 26 June 1003, nothing in this post is more than 12 hours old.
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Well, Pakistan is less than pleased with the foreign peacekeeping force, according to The Hindu. But contrary to what you might expect, they don't want less soldiers, they want more.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has called for quadrupling of foreign security forces in Afghanistan in order to control the warlords and extend the writ of the Kabul Government throughout the country.
Around 40,000-50,000 troops would be needed as Afghanistan slowly creates a police force and national army, Musharraf told The Washington Post in an interview.
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But at least one business is flourishing, according to the Voice of America:
A new U.N. report on illegal drugs says worldwide cocaine production is down but manufacture of heroin is up, mainly because of renewed poppy farming in Afghanistan.
The U.N. Drug and Crime report, released Wednesday, says Afghanistan has replaced the so-called 'golden triangle' of Burma, Laos and Thailand as the major producer of opium, which is derived from the poppy and the main ingredient in heroin.
Afghanistan now makes up 76 percent of the world market, compared to 12 percent before the fall of the Taleban government in late 2001.
The study also finds the increase in Afghanistan's opium market has led to increased intravenous heroin abuse in Russia and Europe and the "alarming" spread of the AIDS virus.
Oh.
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Well, at least they've stopped fighting.
OK, not really, according to the PakTribune...
US military and government targeted in north
...In this incident, which took place in Konduz Province on Saturday, there were three explosions, the first at the residence of the provincial governor and the other two near a building housing coalition forces, an unnamed coalition officer in the capital, Kabul, confirmed to IRIN.
"In the overall security context, it is a worrying development and we have made our opinion clear regarding the deteriorating security situation," Barbara Stapleton, the advocacy coordinator for the Kabul-based Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), told IRIN in Kabul. "It indicates that those with an extremist agenda are widely dispersed throughout the country and are capable of launching attacks wherever they choose to."
NGOS say this incident is part of the ongoing downward spiral of security in the country and demonstrative of the low level of security faced by ordinary Afghans in daily life, as well as the failure to protect them.
Apparently, a couple US soldiers died in another attack two days ago, but let's try to focus on the present, OK?
OK?
20 hours ago....
Two U.S. Soldiers Killed In Eastern Afghanistan (from the Palestine Chronicle):
The witnesses said that a U.S. military vehicle was patrolling Berouni square in the city of Asadabat, east of Afghanistan, and drove over a landmine planted by unidentified persons, who set off the mine through a detonator, causing the causalities.
Two passers-by, they said, were also wounded by U.S. stray bullets, adding that the attackers succeeded in making their escape.
and
U.S. troops launched Saturday, June 21, a sweeping manhunt operation on the Afghan-Pakistani borders to crack down on remnants of Taliban and al-Qaeda, believing they were holing up in the mountains of the two states of Konar and Nagarhar.
Earlier in the month, U.S. forces captured four suspected Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan during Operation Dragon Fury.
Some 500 troops, mostly from the 82nd Airborne Division, were involved in the two-day operation in a mountainous district of Nagarhar state, 40-50 kilometers (25-30 miles) from the Pakistan border.
"Intelligence sources have indicated there is a cell of al-Qaeda or Taliban operating in the mountains. This is one of the hottest areas in Afghanistan," Major Jack Marr said before the operation.
Posted by grant at June 26, 2003 10:06 AMFrom Reuters Asia, 26 August:
Afghan Taliban a Growing Menace to Stability
Tue August 26, 2003 06:52 AM ET
By Mike Collett-White
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Operating in growing numbers, the Taliban and their allies have succeeded in destabilizing large parts of Afghanistan and creating conditions that could undermine the U.S. military and central government.
Aid and reconstruction is suspended across swathes of territory in the center, south and southeast, giving Afghans the impression the international community has abandoned them now the Taliban has been formally ousted.
"Once people are discouraged, that is the point of success for them, as no one will collaborate (with the authorities)," said Khalid Pashtun, director of foreign affairs in the south of the country.
Local power brokers are also behind lawlessness in southern and central provinces, further tarnishing the image of U.S. forces in the people's already skeptical eyes.
The United States recruited warlords to help it topple the Taliban in 2001 and still works with some of them in pursuit of the hard-line militia and the al Qaeda network it sheltered.
Officials and aid workers say that most Afghans, including Pashtuns in the conservative south, oppose the ousted Taliban regime, which has stepped up attacks on government forces and is moving in groups as large as 600 fighters.
[...]
The Taliban's switch this year from attacks on foreign soldiers to "softer" targets like aid workers and Afghan forces reflects what has happened in Iraq following the deadly attack last week on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
Red "high risk" areas have spread across U.N. security maps of the country in the past month. A sharp drop in aid workers helps strengthen the impression the West is pulling out.
The international staff count at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kandahar province is down to two from 10 since the murder in March of an El Salvadoran official, and those who remain are restricted to the provincial capital.
[...]
The New York Times has reported that U.S. aid to Afghanistan could double to $1.8 billion a year. It quoted aid groups as saying President Bush was looking to present an Afghan success story in his bid for re-election in 2004.
But analysts question whether this aid boost will be enough.
[...]