Coalition Forces

The U.S. military announced Dec. 21 that, in an attempt to suppress Islamic militants responsible for renewed attacks on Coalition Forces, it would focus its endeavors in the unruly south and east regions of Afghanistan. The plan, called Operation Avalanche, called for civilian-military teams to be deployed in the region near the Afghan-Pakistani border as part of the U.S. bid to improve stability for January’s elections. Most of this area is currently off limits to foreign aid workers, due to a series of attacks believed to have been launched by members of the Taliban regime and their militant al Qaeda allies. In a marked change in current American strategy, U.S. military officials also announced that new U.S. military bases would be constructed in the east and south of Afghanistan to increase safety for aid workers.

In response to threats against Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly, the U.S. military launched a 12,000-strong operation Dec. 21. It apparently succeeded in lessening the danger against the assembly, aside from two assaults earlier in the month (which resulted in the deaths of 15 children and sparked anger from local Afghans). Critics of the plan cited that, like other large operations intent on ridding small areas of threats, the plan would fail as militants and guerillas habitually flee into the mountains on the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Over a dozen suspected Taliban members were arrested Dec. 24 by U.S. forces and Afghan government troops. In separate raids, the U.S.-Afghan forces also seized a large number of weapons in southern Afghanistan and outside of Kandahar, including five heavy machine-guns and 16 AK-47 assault rifles. Some of the weapons were seized from the home of Hamidullah Khan Tokhi, former governor of the Zabul province. Though none of the arrested Taliban fighters were believed to be senior members, Zabul province is said to be a hotbed of resistance fighters responsible for many attacks on aid workers and government security forces.

Operation Avalanche, the U.S.-led plan to rid the Afghan-Pakistani border region of Taliban and al Qaeda forces, ended Dec. 30 after. During its four weeks of operations, more than 100 suspects were captured, and 10 suspected militants were killed. None of the 2,000-strong U.S. force were lost, but two Afghan soldiers were killed.

The American death toll since the start of the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan two years ago reached 100 on Jan. 12, when a soldier died in a traffic accident near Kabul. In comparison, the number of fatalities in Iraq passed 100 in April, just weeks after the invasion of Iraq began. Although U.S. forces have faced many attacks by al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, more Afghans have died than Americans.

Militant fighters fired 12 rockets at a U.S. airport base in eastern Afghanistan on Jan. 15. The rockets were fired from mountains south of the city, and impacted in fields outside the U.S. base. Afghan officials reported that so many rockets have never been fired at the airport before. The attack was by no means the first of its kind: Rockets and other projectiles often target U.S. bases throughout Afghanistan, but they are usually so poorly produced and contain such makeshift timers that they seldom hit their targets.

General Afghanistan Security Situation

Three rockets hit the Afghan capital, Kabul, Dec. 16, on the third day of the Grand Assembly’s convention to adopt a new constitution. The International Security Assistance Force blamed the Taliban for these attacks on populated areas. No casualties were reported. The delegates of the convention for a new constitution split into 10 groups to debate the future system of Afghan government. While many delegates advocated a strong president, others hoped to check the future president’s powers by ensuring a stronger parliament.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned world governments Dec. 19 that Afghanistan would once again fall into chaos unless more peacekeeping troops are dispatched to the war-torn nation. “We may lose Afghanistan,” Annan told a news conference. Annan agreed with the assertion by UN special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, that the United Nations will consider leaving Afghanistan if security is not strengthened. Annan proceeded to push for increased security and said that it would be vital for successful elections and for Afghan reconstruction. Security concerns were heightened after a re-emergence of Taliban fighters in the recent months, marked by attacks on aid workers and backers of Afghanistan’s new government. The multinational security force first operated solely in Kabul, but was then allowed by the United Nations to ensure security in other provinces as well. However, Annan said that despite UN appeals, governments have not provided the necessary troops. Brahimi called for 5,000 more peacekeeping troops, which would almost double the 5,700-strong ISAF stationed primarily in Kabul.

Seven Afghan soldiers were killed and many wounded in two attacks in the south and east regions of Afghanistan on Dec. 21 outside of Spin Boldak, near the Pakistani border. The attack was attributed to Taliban guerrillas who, as usual, fled into the surrounding mountains when pursued by Afghan forces.

A senior Afghan intelligence officer and two of his colleagues were killed Dec. 27 by six suspected al Qaeda members, in an ambush on the intelligence officer’s car in southeastern Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. U.S. forces killed four of the militants, but failed to find the remaining two. The area, Khost, as well as the other provinces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, have lately fallen prey to a string of attacks by militants, thought to be Taliban and al Qaeda members affiliated to the local Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Inerational Security Assistance Force (ISAF)

On Dec. 19, NATO authorized the extension, for the first time, of alliance peacekeeping forces beyond Kabul. Starting Dec. 31, ISAF are overseeing a German-led provincial reconstruction team in the city of Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan. NATO ambassadors said this is a “first step of a progressive process” to extend the reach of ISAF out of Kabul and into the various Afghan provinces. Since the Taliban’s fall, ISAF has been restricted to Kabul. Last August, ISAF was taken over by NATO, in its first mission outside Europe.

Afghan officials announced Jan. 21 that the demobilization of heavy weapons from Kabul would begin, as required by the Bonn Accord which was signed after the Taliban’s fall. The announcement came two years after an agreement regarding Kabul’s demilitarization was reached. ISAF supervised the removal of tanks and heavy artillery from Kabul. The task of ridding Afghanistan of unauthorized weapons is far from over, however, as officials still face the task of finding and removing many more weapons, both large and small. Despite this, hopes remain high, after the disarmament of thousands of militiamen. Deputy Afghan Defense Minister Rahim Wardak called for all heavy weapons to be turned over to the Afghan National Army, and the new agreement will turn over some heavy artillery from several powerful military commanders.

Pakistan

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escaped an assassination attempt Dec. 16 while going over a bridge in his motorcade. Although no firm leads were established, authorities suspected al Qaeda to be behind the attack; but did not rule out the possibility that an internal leak gave the offenders enough warning to plan the precisely-timed attempted assassination, which tore apart the bridge moments after Musharraf’s motorcade crossed. Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that the five explosive devices put under the bridge were of a type never before used in Pakistan.

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Dec. 24 that Pakistan is being used as a sanctuary for the ousted Taliban’s guerrilla militia and the al Qaeda network. Khalilzad called for Osama bin Laden, Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar to be brought to justice. "The remnants of extremist Taliban, al Qaeda and Hekmatyar want to take Afghanistan to the bad old days," Khalilzad said. "They use Pakistan as sanctuary." It’s believed that bin Laden has taken refuge along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, and Afghan officials complained that Pakistan is not putting enough effort into suppressing the militants, who carry out deadly raids from there into Afghanistan.

Afghan and Kashmiri militants were blamed for a failed assassination attempt Dec.25 on Musharraf -- the second in less than two weeks. Twelve people were killed and 46 others injured by huge blasts from two bomb-laden pickup trucks, which targeted Musharraf’s motorcade as it passed through a town outside Islamabad. Musharraf remained unscathed after the attack, just days after he announced he would step down as army chief by the end of the 2004. "I was the target," Musharraf said, in a televised interview following the attack. "We must fight against them and cleanse the country of these extremists. These are cowardly people, but my resolve is strong and I have total faith in God."

Pakistan’s Army started an expansive plan Jan. 8 to rid the mountainous region near its border with Afghanistan of fugitive al Qaeda and Taliban members. The fallen Taliban militia and al Qaeda members have used these mountains as a fairly safe refuge from pursuing forces, and as staging points for deadly attacks into Afghanistan – often against U.S. military bases. Despite local Afghan sightings of U.S. forces in the area lately, officials denied U.S. involvement in any of the operations.

Other News in Brief

• Dec. 23:  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the Afghan economy is threatened by a large surge in opium production and local insecurity. The IMF cited relative progress in reconstructing Afghanistan’s economic, political and social institutions, but it pointedly warned that the end of the need for economic donors is far away. Opium production now accounts for half the official national output (about $1 billion); at three-quarters of the world’s supply of opium – the raw base of heroin – it is the world’s largest supplier, and will become a vital part of the Afghan economy unless more effort is devoted to preventing its escalation. Aside from international ramifications of opium production and export, remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan are taking advantage of the narcotics trade to fuel their war against the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

• Dec. 24:  Suspected Taliban militia members released two Indian engineers they had kidnapped three weeks before. The two men were working on a U.S.-backed project to refurbish the main road link between Kabul and Kandahar, Afghanistan’s two largest cities. The kidnapping was one of several actions taken against foreign workers associated with U.S. reconstruction projects. India denied that any concessions were made to the kidnappers to assure the two hostages’ release.
  
• Jan. 4:  Afghanistan’s Grand Assembly adopted its first post-Taliban constitution, following three months of public consultations and three weeks of intense and often-stalled negotiations among the sexually, ethnically and religiously divided delegates. The document called for a presidential system of government – with a president directly elected by the Afghan people, and two vice-presidents, as well as a bicameral parliament. Islam was established as Afghanistan’s “sacred religion,” but Afghans of other faiths may worship freely so long as they follow the provisions of the law. Unlike the oppressive Taliban regime, men and women are seen equally before the law, and women are allowed to work. The new constitution is a significant and positive step toward the unification of an ethnically and religiously diverse nation.
•  Jan. 4:  UN envoy to Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, left his post, as one of the promised provisions of the approval of a new Afghan constitution. Brahimi was appointed to the two-year post at the end of 2001, following the end of the Taliban’s regime.

·        Jan. 5: CIA officials reported that the voice on an audiotape broadcast by the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera the prior weekend  was most likely that of Osama bin Laden. In the tape, the speaker acknowledged the capture by U.S. troops of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and urged Muslims to retaliate against U.S. forces in Iraq. If the voice was really bin Laden, this confirmed that he was still alive in mid-December.

·        Jan. 6:  Thirteen people were killed as a suicide bomber detonated a bomb while riding on a bicycle, on a road in Kandahar often used by U.S. troops. Afghan officials said the bomb, which wounded over 50 people, may have been targeting U.S. troops or the provincial governor, whose motorcade was scheduled to pass by the area soon before the explosion.

• Jan. 8:  UN workers in the most volatile regions of Afghanistan were withdrawn, according to UN officials. The withdrawal was spurred by an increase in attacks against aid workers by al Qaeda and Taliban militants, who are believed to be crossing back and forth across the Afghan-Pakistani border.

• Jan. 12:  The public broadcast of footage of female Afghan singer Salma was many years old, but it marked the first time in over 10 years that an Afghan woman was shown singing on television. The footage showed Salma, popular mainly in the 1970s and 80s, singing one of her well-known ballads. The broadcast indicates a step towards the type of liberalization promoted by President Hamid Karzai’s administration. It was the first time such broadcast was shown since President Najibullah’s communist administration ended in 1992. In the following four years of civil war, the Islamic mujaheddin forbade the broadcast of any images of women. Such restrictions were extended during the Taliban’s rise to power in 1996, when television was banned entirely. Since the fall of the Taliban two years ago, women have been slowly regaining their social status. Many women now have jobs – some as news shows presenters on television – and are allowed to wear a veil or headscarf instead of donning the full burqa. Still, rural Afghan women remain in the home and wear the burqa, but the decision by new president of Kabul Radio and Television, Mohammad Isahaq, shows promise for the betterment of Afghan women and Afghanistan in general. Salma’s broadcast performance angered Deputy Chief Justice Fazel Ahmed  Manawi, of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court. "We are opposed to women singing and dancing as a whole," Judge Manawi told Reuters. "This is totally against the decisions of the Supreme Court and it has to be stopped."

• Jan. 14:  The Afghan government released 100 Pakistani prisoners from Kabul, as part of an agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in which Pakistani authorities released the same number of Afghan prisoners two days previously. There are currently about 1,000 Pakistanis in Afghan jails and Afghan officials say they can also be released on a reciprocal basis.

• Jan. 15:  Just three days after it lifted the ban on airing images of women singing or dancing on television, the Afghan government reinstated the ban in response to a protest from Afghan Supreme Court officials. Despite the ban, Karzai staunchly defended equal rights for women and said it should be up to the government to decide, not the Supreme Court. Kabul Radio and Television chose to ignore the Supreme Court’s ban, and continued airing women singers on Jan. 18.

Action Update Nov. 17-30, 2003

Action Update Nov. 3- Nov. 16, 2003

Action Update Oct. 20-Nov. 2, 2003

Action Update Oct. 6-Oct. 19, 2003

Action Update Sept. 22-Oct. 5, 2003

Action Update Summer 2003

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