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Map of Afghanistan’s provinces. Click map to view larger image. |
Coalition and Afghan forces killed the Taliban’s shadow governor for the province of Baghlan, dealing yet another blow to the group’s leadership network in the north.
Mullah Rohullah, the shadow governor for Baghlan, was killed after a joint Coalition and Afghan force called in “precision air strikes” against two vehicles transporting Taliban fighters in the Baghlan-i-Jadid district. Rohullah’s convoy was identified by human “intelligence sources,” the International Security Assistance Force stated in a press release that highlighted his death.
The joint Coalition and Afghan ground force then engaged additional Taliban fighters “who were heavily armed with a heavy machine gun, multiple rocket propelled grenades, automatic rifles, hand-grenades, ammunition, and communications equipment.” The Taliban fighters attacked the joint force, but were defeated. ISAF did not provide a total number of Taliban fighters killed in the engagement.
Rohullah was appointed the shadow governor for Baghlan in early May, Afghan officials told Pajwhok Afghan News. As shadow governor, Rohullah “was responsible for organizing and directing attacks against Coalition forces” and “was in constant contact with Kunduz and Pakistani Taliban senior leaders, providing updates and receiving guidance,” ISAF stated.
Rohullah has been the target of Coalition and Afghan efforts to dismantle the top Taliban leadership network in the north. Afghan police had thought they killed Rohullah during a raid in Baghlan on May 20, but ISAF never confirmed the report.
The Taliban establish shadow or parallel governments in the regions they control or where the Afghan government is weak. These shadow governments fill the void by dispensing sharia justice; mediating tribal and land disputes; collecting taxes; and recruiting, arming, and training fighters.
The Taliban have established shadow governments throughout Afghanistan, with provincial and militarily leaders appointed to command activities. In January 2009, the Taliban claimed to be in control of more than 70 percent of Afghanistan’s rural areas and to have established shadow governments in 31 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.
Over the past two years, the security situation in the northern provinces of Baghlan and neighboring Kunduz has deteriorated. The Taliban and allied terror groups maintain safe havens in Baghlan and Kunduz, and control large portions of the provinces. Two districts in Baghlan province – Baghlan-i-Jadid and Burka – are under the control of the Taliban. Of the seven districts in Kunduz province, only two are considered under government control; the rest of the districts – Chahara Dara, Dashti Archi, Ali Abab, Khan Abad, and Iman Sahib – are considered contested or under Taliban control, according to a map produced by Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry in the spring of 2009 [see LWJ report, “Afghan forces and Taliban clash in Kunduz,” and Threat Matrix report, “Afghanistan’s wild-wild North”].
The Taliban’s top leadership in the north has been hit hard over the past year, however. Afghan intelligence captured the shadow governor of Samangan province on May 20. Afghan officials claimed the shadow governor of Kunduz province was killed on April 26. Pakistani intelligence reportedly detained the shadow governors of Kunduz and Baghlan in February. And in September 2009, police detained the shadow governor of Bamyan province.
11 Comments
Whatever happened to the communist warlord who ran things in northern Afghanistan in 2001? I know he committed a lot of human rights violations, but at least he was in charge. I’m not endorsing “warlordism”, but maybe we need some strong Afghan men who can actually defeat the Taliban.
The Lion of Panshir is long dead. They got him with two fake journalists with a camera-bomb.
Max –
Your probably thinking Abdul Rahid Dostum, the Uzbek leader. His area is a little farther west around the city of Mazar-I-Sharif. Not really a hearts and minds type of guy. The Pashtoon’s aroung Kunduz aren’t very fond of him.
Ahmad Shah Massoud was assassinated September 9th, 2001. To date, he is the only Afghan that I know of that would be qualified to lead the country out of its current state of squalor and petty infighting.
It is impossible to instill a sense of national pride in a country where the borders are largely ignored and there is no center of power, no big cities etc… The COIN fighting has to be adapted to this. I would recommend that the US focus on supporting tribal Lashkars. Let them do the fighting, the rising up, much like the awakening in Iraq.
Obama has already stated he is revising his approach and is considering a direct military option INSIDE Pakistan. I feel as foolish as this may be it is indeed the option called for currently. You cannot let your enemy enjoy an unlimited base from which to replenish and hope to defeat them.
Karzai should be removed, as he is useless to the ISAF forces. Gather what worthwhile elders you can find and have them govern.
I was thinking of Dostum, not the one who was assassinated by the camera bomb. He was really brutal, but at least he knew how to deal with the Taliban.
I thought of Dostum too, but he wasn’t in overall control nor would I say he’s very devoted to communism (not that Massoud was either).
Yep, as I thought… just checked… he fought against the Soviets of course.
I was thrown off by your communist comment since Dostum is not popular but has been a communist at times while Massoud fought against the communists but was a moderate and popular.
At any rate as Neo says he is not leader-materiel or even material.
Massoud would’ve been a good ‘moderate’ muslim and anti-communist leader but he’s dead.
Oh right, there’s also the fact that ‘running things in the north’ is easy to confuse when asking a question because by 2001 the surviving anti-Talib warlords had of course been forced to cooperate with the new Russian nation.
I would like to remind everyone that Dostum is fairly popular with some of the people he’s ruled though, because he let them do what they want (he’s ok with alcohol and music).
Here’s an old article… he’s kinda messed up more since tho:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/rashid-dostum-the-treacherous-general-618688.html
Massoud was a Tajik. The Pashtoons are unlikely to accept anyone other than a fellow Pashtoon.
Kunduz will be difficult to pacify because of its history. If my information is correct, the Pashtoons living in the area are not indigenous. They were moved to the area in the last wave of Pashtoon expansion in the 1830 and 1840 and the area prospered from it’s cotton production. Other ethnic groups were forcibly moved off the best land. This may also be the case for many other Pashtoon areas in the north. Those Pashtoons probably are at some risk of expulsion if they don’t continue to dominate their neighbors.