Western Resistance

« UK: Brown Refuses To State If Islamist Qaradawi Will Be Banned | | UK: Hijab-Wearing Muslim Doubles Claim Against Hair Salon Owner »

January 31, 2008

Afghanistan: Islamism And The Creation Of A "Failed State"

Suicide Bombings Today

This morning, a suicide bomber struck in a mosque in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, killing six people. Among the dead was Pir Mohammed, the deputy governor of the province, who seems to have the been the bomber's target. Also killed was a small child aged four, who had been begging by the mosque door. 18 people were reported to be wounded. No-one has officially claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mohammad Hussein Andiwal is the provincial police chief. He said: "When people stood up for prayer, the bomber approached the deputy governor and detonated his explosives." The mosque stands opposite government offices.

Earlier still today, a suicide bomber blew himself up in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. This blast appears to have been aimed at a bus carrying personnel from the Afghan National Army (ANA). The bus escaped the full force of the blast, and a civilian in a taxi was killed. Several people were injured, including an army officer. The Taliban's spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed his group claimed responsibility for the Kabul attack. Last year they carried out 140 suicide attacks.

The news of the attacks is carried by RIA Novosti, AFP, Bloomberg, News.com.au, VOA News the Daily Mail, and other sources.

Yesterday, according to government officials, Islamists beheaded four road construction workers in the province of Nuristan in the east.

Most of the above-named reports draw attention to to reports which are in the process of being released, which hint that Afghanistan is in danger of collapse. One of these reports, from the Washington-based think-tank the Atlantic Council, begins with the statement: "Make no mistake, nato is not winning in Afghanistan. Unless this reality is understood and action is taken promptly, the future of Afghanistan is bleak, with regional and global impact. The purpose of this paper is to sound the alarm and to propose specific actions that must be taken now if Afghanistan is to succeed in becoming a secure, safe and functioning state. "

The report is entitled "Saving Afghanistan: An Appeal and Plan for Urgent Action". It can be downloaded as a 14-page pdf document here.

The second report is by the Afghan Study Group, published by the Washington-based Center for the Study of the Presidency. It has a foreward written by retired Marine Corps General James L Jones (who authored the Atlantic Council report) and Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, who both chair the study group. It is entitled "Revitalizing our Efforts, Rethinking our Strategies." This can be found in a 48-page pdf document here.

There is a third report which has just been released, from Oxfam. Though not officially released yet, this report is said to claim that a "major change of direction" is needed to avoid a major humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan. Oxfam has been warning of the same since October 2001. In January last year, Oxfam said that extra funds needed to spen on development, rather than military campaigns. In December 2007, on the sixth anniversary of the UN's "Bonn Agreement" which paved the way for "nation building and democracy" in Afghanistan, Oxfam warned that poverty was affecting millions of Afghans.

The latest Oxfam report was handed to Gordon Brown today. It apparently claims that poverty was driving people to join the insurgency or drug gangs. When the report is finally released, I will add an update.

The Oxfam report and the Atlantic Council and Afghan Study Group Reports are discussed by the BBC, the Guardian. The two American reports are discussed by Reuters, VOA News, the Daily Mail and Pakistan's Daily Times.

In brief, the Atlantic Council warns that "urgent changes" are needed to policy in Afghanistan, while the Afghanistan Study Group has said that it wants Iraq and Afghanistan to be "decoupled".

The Atlantic Council report states "To add insult to injury, of every dollar of aid spent on Afghanistan, less than 10 percent goes directly to Afghans, further compounding reform and reconstruction problems". It recommends improved training for the Afghan National Police (page 11), and on the same page urges that by 2009, a "credible Afghan judicial system" must be in place. It is in 2009 that elections will be held.

It states (page 9) that "if nato and the international community, together with the Karzai government, cannot put forward a coordinated and comprehensive effort that is sustainable and adequately resourced for this long-term, Afghanistan will experience only the worst of possible outcomes, and nato itself could be on the path towards irrelevancy. "

It recommends a strong, comprehensive counternarcotics effort. On page 13, it states: "We should be careful in dealing with the issue of national caveats. While we need our forces to be able to accomplish many diverse missions on the ground in Afghanistan, military capability remains the cornerstone of NATO's raison d'etre. We should respect each nation's ability to contribute directly as they are able and according to their national directives. Rather than forcing nations to undertake operations that will not be approved by domestic legislatures, commitments in kind to civil reform and non-security related actions should be valid substitutes. In lieu of military forces, these members should increase their civil support, both financial and in human resources, for Afghan reconstruction and development."

The Afghan Study Group maintains (page 11) that NATO troops (who currently number 50,000) should be increased, along with equipment, as commanders need. It recommends increasing the training and standing of the Afghan National Army and police. It recommends poppy eradication. (In August 2006, a UN report found that annual poppy production had grown to 8,200 tonnes, an increase of 34% on 2005). The poppy eradication should be combined with an "Afghan-Centric" campaign of education, and offering alternative livelihood programs.

It recommends acting on reconstruction and development aid as soon as Taliban are removed from an area. It also suggests embarking on a project to reduce the antagonism between Afghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan. It states that Pakistan should establish full control over the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), the regions closest to the Afghan border in North-West Frontier Province. At present, these are mainly governed by tribal councils, rather than national rule of law.

The report suggests that the biggest threat to AFghanistan comes from a two-year insurgency that has been bigger than any planned before. Some NATO countries are said to be waivering in their troop commitments, and it acknowledges the anti-war sentiments in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands which could undermine the coalition over the next two years.

The full reports can, and should, be read on their own terms. What is positive about them is their acknowledgement that something needs to be done both on the ground militarily, in terms of reconstruction and development, and to bring Afghanistan's police, army, judiciary and government into something resembling working order.

Senate Approves Blasphemy Death Sentence

I wrote earlier on the case of a 23-year old student of journalism who had been sentenced to death for "blasphemy" against Islam. This individual - Sayad Parwez Kambaksh - was sentenced by a court in Mazar-i-Sharif on Tuesday January 22.

I wrote that his case, and those of others accused of blasphemy, such as Dr Ahmad Ghows Zalmay who is currently in jail, reflects how poor Afghanistan is, both in its contradictory Islamist constitution and its use of tribal leaders (Loya Jirga) to have influence on formation of the government. Hamid Karzai has done nothing to address the creeping Islamism in the government of which he is head.

News now comes from CBS News, the BBC and Associated Press that confirms that the government is in favor of this travesty of justice. To sentence someone to death for blasphemy contradicts the normal forms of justice expected by NATO countries, who supply troops to protect this nearly "failed state".

Yesterday, an official confirmed that Afghanistan's Upper House had on Tuesday decided to make a statement supporting the death sentence passed against Sayad Parwez Kambaksh.

Aminuddin Muzafari, a spokesman, said that "That issue was not in the (Senate's) agenda, but when lawmakers gathered on Tuesday they insisted on talking about that case." Senators had a debate and then issued a statement supporting the killing of Mr Kambaksh. This was signed by Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, the chairman of the upper house. The statement also condemned "international interference" which had tried to have the sentence annulled.

When the government of Afghanistan is no longer dependent upon NATO troops to protect its very existence, perhaps then it can dismiss "international interference". Until then, such an arrogant action shows just what sort of ingrates are sitting in positions of power, while others fight their battles for them.

Afghanistan-based Al Qaeda leader killed

News from Agence-France Presse, Sky and the Guardian reports that a senior AL Qaeda leader from Afghanistan has been killed.

The man is Abu Laith al-Libi (pictured) whose death was reported in the Al Qaeda website Al-Ekhlaas. This website, as written earlier, was founded by convicted British-based internet nerd Younes Tsouli.

Al-Libi, whose name indicates Libyan origin, was said on this website to have fallen "as a martyr", but gave no specific details of the circumstances. This man had gone to Afghanistan in the 1980s to join the muhajideen. In the early 1990s, he had tried to overthrow Gadaafi in Libya. When this plot failed, he went to Saudi Arabia. He was arrested there for involvement in the Khobar Towers bombings of 1996.

These attacks saw 19 US military personnel killed. He was imprisoned, but either escaped or was released from his Saudi jail. He returned to Afghanistan, where he served as a link between Taliban and Al Qaeda.

There is speculation that al-Libi was killed in North Waziristan earlier this week. According to eyewitnesses, a US drone had caused the missile attack upon a militant compound (a "guest house owned by an individual called Abdul Sattar) in Khushali Wazir village, 3 miles south of Mir Ali. The attack happened in the early hours of Monday or Tuesday. 12 militants were killed, security officials said on conditions of anonymity. Of these, five were said to be "foreign militants"of Arab origin.

Two local residents claimed: "We recognise the sound and shape of the American drone and two such planes have been hovering in the sky since Monday afternoon, and people have seen them over Mir Ali and Miranshah."

A shopkeeper said: "Local Taliban cordoned off the area and barred everyone from coming near the guest house."

On another Islamist website, the Al-Fajr Information Center site, the death of al-Libi was reported thus: "We announce the good news to the Islamic world: Sheikh Abu Laith al-Qassimi al-Libi has fallen a martyr on the soil of Muslim Pakistan. The sheikh's martyrdom will only strengthen our fire and burn the enemies of our people. We tell the nation of unfaithfulness and the Crusader army that (the mujahedeen, or warriors) do not die but are killed in battle."

A Western security official said: "This individual is in the top half dozen figures in al Qaeda... who has a long record of military activity on behalf of al Qaeda."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 31, 2008 9:06 PM

Comments

Post a comment