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Click the image to view the charts on the attacks in Afghanistan. |
NATO and Afghan forces have stepped up offensive operations in the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, and Uruzgan as the US Marines have provided additional manpower to target Taliban strongholds. Coalition forces hope to blunt the yearly “Taliban offensive.”
Data provided to The Long War Journal by Vigilant Strategic Services Afghanistan (VSSA) shows that the attacks by the Taliban and “Anti-Government Elements” such as Gulbaddin Hekmatyer’s Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin and other allied groups have increased over the past several weeks as the poppy harvest season has ended. The Taliban now has a pool of unemployed harvesters to serve as recruits.
Attacks in the southern region have more than tripled over the past four weeks, while attacks in the western region have doubled. The eastern, southeastern, and southern provinces bordering Pakistan still remain the most violent areas in Afghanistan. These regions collectively account for 77 percent of the violence in Afghanistan. NATO expects the attacks to increase as the Pakistani government sues for peace with the Taliban in the tribal areas and the Northwest Frontier Province.
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Syed Saleem Shahzad recently ventured into Afghanistan with the Taliban. The first of a three part series provides for interesting reading.
Asia Times: Ducking and diving under B-52s
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 05/21/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front lines.
In the coming weeks, look for the violence in N. A-stan to spike. The T-ban/AQ know NATO has members that will go out the wire, fight and kill, and others whose ROE’s are not in sync with the rest of NATO. German forces will be targeted, thier politicians believe the war “not being in conformity with international law”..that qoute was in DerSpiegel Online. It also outlined the mission to capture the man responsible for building bombs that killed British soldiers. It is a good article. The KSK watched this man for weeks, and when it came time to get him, guards were alerted and even then they could have killed him, but withdrew, leaving other NATO allies perplexed and angry. When German soldiers start coming home in caskets, thier contingent won’t be long in following. The T-ban/AQ smell weakness, and they will pounce. NATO is in danger of losing. Read DerSpiegel Online, you may be surprised wat you read.