Afghanistan security in question

MANKATO FREE PRESS (MANKATO, Minn.)

April 30, 2008 12:26 pm

— The number of violent, insurgent-led incidents continues to grow in Afghanistan, with the near assassination of U.S.-backed leader Hamid Karzai highlighting a need for much better security.

So while U.S. troops continue to deal with a rise in violence in Iraq, there also appears to be a need for more troops in Afghanistan. The demands for more troops, of course, come against a backdrop of tight supplies. Troops in Afghanistan have already done tours in Iraq.

The attempted assassination of Karzai Sunday comes at a time when, according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor, the Taliban are actively recruiting students to their cause at Kabul University. U.S. military leaders testified to Congress that the Taliban is moving out of its strongholds in southern Afghanistan to parts east, west and south.

Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told a Senate subcommittee in February that the insurgency has not been contained in Afghanistan. Said McConnell: “It’s been sustained in the south, it’s grown a bit in the east, and what we’ve seen are elements of it spread to the west and the north.”

A security firm in Afghanistan told the Christian Science Monitor that insurgent attacks in the areas outside the Taliban strongholds of the south increased 35 percent during the first quarter of 2008. Attacks in the central region around Kabul are up 70 percent.

Meanwhile, the illicit opium trade is growing and increasingly average Afghans are becoming frustrated with the lack of progress from the Afghan government lead by Karzai. On Tuesday, three top security leaders to Karzai held onto their jobs despite saying they knew there would be a threat to Karzai’s life but “failed,” in their own words, to prevent it.

A police officer was arrested in connection with the assassination attempt, leading some to believe that the Taliban had infiltrated Afghan security forces. Once the attack was made, it took about two minutes to suppress the attacker who fired from a nearby rooming house. All three assailants died, one from being shot and the others from a self-inflicted bomb.

Clearly, the security situation is deteriorating in Afghanistan, where many have argued is the safe haven for Osama bin Laden and al Qaida. Troops being withdrawn from Iraq may find themselves in Afghanistan very soon.

The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.