Kabul Speaks
"Airstrikes are a matter of concern for the Afghan people. The National Security Council said there should be an immediate end to all operations and airstrikes by foreign forces."
Afghan National Security Council statement
"The operation was requested by the governor in response to those conditions [the area had fallen under Taliban control ahead of April 5 presidential conditions]. The resulting plan, approved through the Ministry of Defence, was a deliberate clearing operation to disrupt insurgent activity, based on intelligence obtained primarily by Afghan forces.
U.S.-led international military coalition
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| Pablo Martinex Monsivais / The Associated Press |
A team of over 70 Afghan commandos along with several U.S. Special Operations Forces carried out an operation approved by the Afghan Ministry of Defence, according to senior American military officials. When the commandos came under heavy fire as they arrived last week in the target area, an Afghan commando and an American soldier were killed.
"At that point, the ANSF (Afghan National Security Force) and coalition advisers were unable to manoeuvre or withdraw without sustaining significant casualties. The combined force required defensive air support in order to suppress enemy fire from two compounds", explained a coalition statement. The decision to call for air support was taken "in extremis" b the Afghan ground commander.
The result was two civilians killed and one wounded. Which led Afghan President Hamid Karzai to convene his National Security Council for the purpose of discussing the two-day operation against insurgents in eastern Parwan province. Treating it as though it represented a purely U.S. initiative, and not the Afghan-led effort that it was, carried out at the request of the government.
And providing for President Karzai the cover he uses as a shield to prevent him from signing an agreement to agree to a small contingent of U.S. forces to remain past the planned withdrawal date when all other foreign forces are prepared to follow suit. President Karzai insisted he would sign once it was approved by a Loya Jirga. Signed, he still declined his signature.
The Taliban wait patiently for that withdrawal of all foreign troops. In the meantime, they staged a bold assault in the country's capital, in an highly secured area where foreign embassies are located, where if anywhere in the country should be safe from attack by the Taliban it is that area of Kabul. Instead of government offices this time, the target was a restaurant popular with foreign diplomats, government bureaucrats and wealthy businessmen.
A mix of foreign and Afghan people were killed outright, some 21 in number with a handful of others wounded. A suicide bomber exploded himself at the guarded, sand-bagged entrance to the modest appearing restaurant, giving the opportunity to two AK-47-armed Taliban to make their entrance from the back, spraying everyone with bullets in a hugely successful terrorist attack.
President Karzai is demanding of the United States that it recommence efforts to communicate with the Taliban to work out potential guidelines for power-sharing with the withdrawal of foreign forces. Such negotiations once seen as a possible effort resulting in an agreement were cut off by the Taliban. It is clear enough that sharing anything is not in their lexicon of future results. When they ruled Afghanistan they didn't share power with al-Qaeda, they gave it companionable haven.
The population of Afghanistan is not al-Qaeda, and they will not be given haven. They will be given hell on Earth once again. The hundreds of thousands of Afghan military and police that foreign trainers have schooled in the art of modern military warfare have a tradition of viewing their loyalty to their country in a rather casual manner. For a nation of warriors under warlords they seem incapable of forging a fighting force to protect the country and the vulnerable within it.
Hundreds of Afghan citizens gathered outside the Lebanese restaurant in Kabul in a protest against the Taliban assault. It will take more than hundreds of concerned and fearful Afghans to mount a protest effective enough to give the government second thought, let alone stave off a takeover by the Taliban at the earliest opportunity.
Labels: Afghanistan, Communication, Conflict, Diplomacy, Taliban, United States
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, January 21, 2014
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