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Al-Qaida militants raise fears of a Taliban resurgence
Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Monday June 20, 2005
The Guardian
Fears of a bloody Taliban resurgence, bolstered by newly arrived al-Qaida militants, are rising in southern Afghanistan amid a string of Iraq-style attacks, executions and a steadily rising US death toll.
Yesterday the Taliban claimed to have executed a district police chief, Nanai Khan, one of at least 13 officers being held hostage since an ambush in Kandahar province last week.
Hours earlier a rocket exploded near an American Special Forces base in Kandahar city. No casualties were reported.
Afghanistan is fast becoming the forgotten eastern front of President George Bush's "war on terror". Twenty-nine US soldiers have died since early March, about a fifth of the entire death toll including the Taliban offensive in 2001.
Although a helicopter crash claimed 15 of the recent casualties, attacks on US and Afghan forces have become increasingly deadly, a trend that officials link to a renewed collaboration with al-Qaida.
Earlier this month a bomb ripped through a mosque in central Kandahar, killing 20 people including the Kabul police chief. The victims were attending a funeral service for a pro-government mullah who had been assassinated a few days earlier.
Then last week another suicide bomber wounded four US soldiers after exploding himself near their vehicle in Kandahar. Until recently, suicide bombings were rare in Afghanistan.
The defence minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, said the two bombers were part of a group of six Arab militants who had slipped into the country over the past three weeks. "We have gotten reports here and there that they have entered - at least half a dozen of them," he told Associated Press. "It looks like there has been a regrouping of al-Qaida and they may have changed their tactics, not only to concentrate on Iraq but also on Afghanistan."
The Taliban insurgency has dogged the 18,000-strong American force in Afghanistan and its 10,000 allies from Britain and other, mainly Nato, countries. However Afghan security forces, aid workers and civilians have borne the brunt of the violence.
A Taliban spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, taunted the government to collect the body of Mr Khan. "They said his crime was high so he should be executed," he told Reuters. The statement could not be verified and Mr Hakimi has made unreliable claims in the past.
Predictions of a Taliban collapse, made by US commanders after last October's peaceful presidential election and a long winter lull, look increasingly hollow.
Insurgents were carrying out the same number of attacks as this time last year but with greater effectiveness, said Christian Willach of Anso, an aid agency security group.
"Last week they attacked one southern district and held it for a few hours before moving off. That never happened before," he said.
An increase in targeted assassinations, usually of "soft" targets, marks another tactical shift. On Saturday night gunmen in Helmand province, west of Kandahar, killed three civilians - a judge, an intelligence worker and a civil servant, said a spokesman for the governor.
But senior US officers and Afghan officials insist the in surgency is under pressure. Last April the former commander, Lt Gen David Barno, predicted that a government amnesty offer would split the leadership.
The US claims to have killed more than 150 Talibs this year and yesterday the Afghan National Army said it had captured a Taliban intelligence chief in Ghazni province.
But the recent violent surge bodes ominously for September's parliamentary elections, said Mr Willach. Voter intimidation, especially in the southern belt, was more likely. "Insurgents may try to influence voters in favour of ex-Taliban candidates running for office," he said. "We have reports that it has started already."
Kathianne said:I was wondering when this would get some print. It was the 'united' war, but quickly forgotten, though not by those that are continuing to fight there. Much poorer than Iraq and much tougher terrain.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,12469,1510131,00.html
Up to 20 Taliban killed in Afghan air raid
www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-20 13:40:32
BEIJING, June 20 -- Up to 20 Taliban militants were killed in a US air raid in southern Afghanistan on Sunday.
Warplanes and attack helicopters were called in after US-led troops came under small arms and rocket fire in Helmand province.
But no US-led coalition soldiers were injured in the fighting.
The remnants of the Taliban continue to attack foreign and local troops. Guerrillas have stepped up attacks on US and government targets in recent months.
More than 400 people have been killed since the beginning of the year in Taliban-related and other political violence across the country.
Keep wishing one of those pipelines would help with fuel prices, up again this week. 
