International   

Taliban on the rise again in Afghanistan

Declan Walsh

PHOTO: AP

Villagers look at a vehicle blown up in a bomb blast on the outskirts of Kabul on Saturday.

Ghazni (AFGHANISTAN): Afghanistan has just gone through a summer of chaos. In the south war has gripped Kandahar and Helmand provinces, where British and Canadian troops are stationed. In the past fortnight NATO has launched a blistering offensive, killing more than 500 Taliban, to stave off an attack on Kandahar city — a previously unthinkable notion.

Elsewhere, suicide bombers are striking with Baghdad-like brazenness. In the boldest attack yet, last week two American soldiers and 14 Afghans were shredded by a huge blast outside the U.S. embassy in Kabul, one of the country's most tightly guarded areas.

Opium cultivation has soared. This year Afghanistan will produce more heroin than western addicts can consume. The main hub of cultivation is British-controlled Helmand. Since August 1 Britain and Canada have each lost 11 soldiers in combat, a high toll for what was originally presented as a peacekeeping mission.

It was not meant to be like this. When American troops started to flounder in Iraq after 2003 President George Bush lauded Afghanistan as a major victory. When presidential and parliamentary elections passed peacefully, his generals wrote the insurgency off. ``The Taliban is a force in decline,'' declared Major General Eric Olson 18 months ago.

Today, to many observers those words look foolish. While northern and western Afghanistan remain stable, President Hamid Karzai is isolated and unpopular. Afghans have a long history of ejecting foreign armies. The good news for NATO is that most still believe the military visitors are a force for good.

``People are tired of fighting. Nobody wants to go back to that,'' said one official in Ghazni, who requested anonymity. ``But if the people are disappointed much more, they could unite against the foreign forces. History could repeat itself.'' —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

America, Britain have no place on U.N. Council: Ahmadinejad
Latvian President joins U.N. race
Probe begins into aid workers' killing
Shanghai Group moots energy pool
Threat was a joke: suspect
Taliban on the rise again in Afghanistan
Quake rocks Indonesia
Referendum on reunion
Close race in Sweden
India leads campaign for revision of IMF reform plan
Crew of migrants boat held in Canary Islands

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu