Coalition Forces

Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi reported that on June 3, U.S. and Afghan troops successfully recaptured the southern town of Chori from Taliban forces, killing some 35 insurgents in the process.  The successful, if short-lived, capture of an entire town by Taliban forces was unusual and highlights the renewed ferocity of the insurgency this spring.

Coalition forces carried out air strikes against militants attempting to move arms from a cave to a truck in Helmand province on June 3.

Two American soldiers were killed on June 6 when a roadside bomb exploded near their Humvee in Nangarhar province.  The following day another roadside bomb, this time in the eastern mountains, killed three Afghan troops.

On June 11, a British soldier was killed in a gun battle with fighters in Helmand province.  Ten insurgents also died in the exchange.

One American soldier was killed on June 13 in a fight between a U.K.-U.S. force and Taliban insurgents in Helmand province.

An American sniper from the 10th Mountain Division was killed by Taliban fighters in Kunar province early on June 14.

Coalition forces launched a major offensive against Taliban insurgents on June 14.  Named Operation Mountain Thrust, the operation was an aggressive and ambitious attempt to root out persistent Taliban forces in their southern strongholds: chiefly Zabul, Kandahar, Helmand, and Uruzgan provinces.  Over 11,000 Afghan, American, British, and Canadian troops will participate in the operation.  Although the bulk of the forces will be Afghan troops, the United States will contribute 2,300 soldiers and special forces to the effort.

On June 14 and 15, coalition forces participating in the first days of Operation Mountain Thrust killed 40 Taliban fighters in the south of Afghanistan and captured 12. 

Two American soldiers were killed by a remotely-detonated improvised explosive device on June 17 in Asadabad, the capital of Kunar province.

Meanwhile, on the same day, the U.K. announced an expansion of its Special Boat Service (SBS) squadron in Helmand province in response to domestic criticisms that its troop numbers in the province were too small.

U.S. troops set up a mountain post in the Baghran Valley in Helmand province on June 18.  The outpost overlooked a pass used by the Taliban to transport goods and supplies.  It was the first time that the coalition has established an encampment in Baghran in a number of years.  While the post was subsequently attacked by militants on June 20, the American troops were able to repel the Taliban forces and suffered no losses.

Elsewhere in Helmand on June 18, British soldiers killed six Taliban fighters during a skirmish near the Kajaki dam.  The dam had been a target of recent infrastructure attacks by the militants.

On June 20, American and Afghan forces killed 20 militants fighting near Musa Qala, a small town in northern Helmand.  Coalition forces also engaged Taliban fighters in the Shahidi Hassas district of Uruzgan province, where 10 insurgents were killed.

Four American soldiers were killed on June 21 in the mountains of the northeastern province of Nuristan.  The location of the fighting is somewhat unusual, as most skirmishes occur within the volatile southern provinces, whereas areas north of Kabul had been somewhat insulated from such unrest.

Also on June 21, American troops killed 17 rebels and arrested six in Uruzgan province.  The next day, U.S. forces killed eight Taliban fighters in an Uruzgan cave complex that was used as a hideout for Taliban bomb makers.

Two large battles between coalition forces and Taliban fighters occurred in Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces on June 23.  A total of 65 rebels were killed in the two battles.  No Afghan or coalition forces were killed.  The large scale fights, which involved larger groups of militants and lasted up to several hours, are a new technique for the Taliban, who, prior to Operation Mountain Thrust, tended to launch quick ambushes.

On June 25, one American soldier died in a battle with Taliban insurgents in Kunar province.

U.S.-led forces killed 10 Taliban fighters on June 26 during a raid on a rebel compound in Uruzgan province.

Two British soldiers were killed near Sangin in Helmand province during a firefight with Taliban militants early June 27.  Five insurgents were also killed.  In a separate incident in Helmand, two Afghan soldiers died when insurgents ambushed their convoy in Musa Qala.

On June 27, Italy’s new governing coalition announced that it would withdraw 400 troops from Afghanistan, leaving 1,000 in the country. 

A coalition soldier of (as of writing) unreleased nationality was killed in a landmine explosion in Helmand province on June 28.  Three others were wounded.

British soldiers killed 12 Taliban fighters on June 29 during fighting near Musa Qala in Helmand province.  The battle came after the militants launched a small arms attack on the U.K. base, which was successfully repelled.

British generals operating in Afghanistan, including NATO commander Lt. Gen. David Richards, appealed to Prime Minister Tony Blair on June 30 to reinforce the U.K. troops stationed in Afghanistan.  Richards said that helicopters and fixed-wing planes were particularly essential.  The appeal comes amid plummeting public support for both Blair and U.K. involvement in Afghanistan.  There is reportedly much unrest over clarity of mission, particularly regarding NATO forces.  While it was understood that the NATO personnel would serve primarily as peacekeepers, not combat forces, the reality on the ground has made the situation for these troops particularly dangerous, with forces coming under enemy fire almost daily.

On June 30, coalition forces killed 14 militants in a raid on a Taliban safe house in Nuristan province.  The location of the battle is a further indication of the expansion of the Taliban presence throughout the country.

Also on June 30, a Taliban rocket exploded inside a coalition base in Kandahar.  No one was killed, but 10 were wounded, including two Canadian soldiers.

General Afghan Security

On June 2, a suicide bomber killed himself and three civilians north of Kandahar in an attempted attack on a passing Canadian convoy.  On the same day, the Miana Shien police station in Kandahar was attacked by militants, 12 of whom were killed in the resulting fire fight.

A car bomb exploded near an American convoy on June 4, injuring or killing at least 15 civilians.  Damage to the convoy was minimal.  On the same day, another bomb exploded in Kandahar, nearly missing both a Canadian military convoy and the governor of the Kandahar Province.  Four civilians died in the blast.

On June 6, Afghan officials reported that five police officers in Zabul Province fatally shot seven of their peers and defected to the Taliban. 

June 8 was a particularly bloody day in Afghanistan.  Three members of an Afghan aid group were killed when insurgents opened fire on them from a motorcycle.  In a separate incident, the security chief of Farah province was killed by gunfire, while another police commander in nearby Herat province was also shot and killed along with three of his bodyguards.  In Paktia province, three Afghan soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb, while a gun battle north of Kabul resulted in the deaths of three insurgents.

Violence continued into the next day when a large gun fight ensued on June 9 after Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan army convoy.  Thirteen rebels were killed.  Such altercations between rebels and security forces have become a practically daily occurrence in Afghanistan – more and more frequently in regions other than the south.

Also on June 9, a bomb hit the convoy of Humayoon Aini, the director of Afghan government intelligence, killing three but leaving Aini unharmed.

On June 10, a gun battle occurred between Afghan troops and Taliban rebels in southern Zabul province.  Two Taliban fighters were killed.  In a separate incident, three Afghans died in a drive-by shooting in Ghazni, while four privately-contracted workers building a road were robbed of the $8,000 they were carrying.  They were then shot and killed.  It is unclear as to whether the killers were common bandits or Taliban fighters.

There was relative calm in Kabul on June 13 following the death of an Afghan driver after his vehicle was accidentally hit by an American military truck.  The lack of violence is notable considering the deadly riots that erupted a few weeks earlier after a similar traffic incident.

On June 15, a minibus laden with a hidden bomb exploded, killing eight people.  The riders on the bus were mostly laborers, with bystanders also killed and wounded.  Four children were among the dead.  Such attacks on private contractors and laborers appear to indicate the Taliban’s targeting of Afghans cooperating with the coalition.

On June 18, Taliban fighters attacked the convoy of Jama Gul, a district chief of Helmand province, killing him and his four bodyguards.

Also in Helmand, Taliban fighters staged a targeted attack against family members and associates of Dad Muhammad, a member of parliament and former province intelligence chief.  Some 32 people were killed, including Muhammad’s son and two brothers, one of whom was a former district chief.  The ambush shows the Taliban’s increased targeting of Afghans who cooperate with the central government and their drawing of family members into the violence for the purposes of intimidation.  The strategy appears to be effective, as fewer villagers are willing to assist coalition forces without a clear guarantee of security.

The bodies of four kidnapped Afghans were found beheaded on June 22 and 23 in Zabul province.  The Taliban has claimed responsibility, asserting that the men were spies for the coalition.  Afghan officials have countered this claim, saying that the men were civilians.

A suicide bomber detonated his car near the U.S. Bagram Air Base outside of Kabul on June 25.  While no soldiers were injured in the explosion, two Afghan boys playing nearby were wounded.

In northern Kunduz province, a car bomb targeting German peacekeepers exploded on June 28, killing two young Afghan boys and injuring eight in a continuation of the disturbing trend of suicide bombings in the north of the country.

The beating of ethnic Uzbek member of parliament Faizullah Zaki, which occurred two weeks earlier, was confirmed by officials on June 30.  Zaki was attacked in Jowzjan, the northern province where he resides.  He was transported to Uzbekistan for medical treatment.  While Zaki’s attackers remain unknown, the incident highlights the dangers that Afghan politicians face, both from insurgents and tribal rivals.

Pakistan

Rumors of Taliban control in the border regions of Pakistan continue, with at least 150 reported murders of non-Taliban tribal elders in the past three years.  Some reports assert that the Taliban has taken over jirgas and established its own courts in the region that are trying and executing those found in opposition to the their strict social code.  For its part, the Musharraf government has denied that this is the case, maintaining that it has full control over Pakistani territory.  Yet despite the denials of the government in Islamabad, the accounts underscore the persistence of Taliban influence and the difficulties of governing remote regions of a country that has a long history of tribal autonomy.

This month, Pakistan announced the enrollment of 30 women into its signal corps and the engineering, legal, and computing branches of its army.  The postings represent new ground for Pakistani women, who were formerly restricted to nursing positions within the armed forces.  The move has been criticized by both hardliners and liberals in Pakistani society.  While conservatives take issue with women’s serving alongside men in mixed unit settings, liberals claim that the move does not represent real reform in a country whose laws still render prosecuting crimes such as rape and “honor killings” notoriously difficult.

The influence of the Taliban appears to be increasing throughout northwestern Pakistan even beyond the isolated tribal regions where fundamentalism’s presence was accepted as a fact of life.  Recent press reports have recounted tales of Taliban authority in cities as major as Peshawar.  One observer said that the process of “Talibanization” is gripping northern Pakistan.  Some barbers in Waziristan have been forbidden to shave men’s beards, and television burnings have been reported in the usually peaceful farming center of Swat Valley. 

On June 25 pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan announced a thirty day cease-fire in the tribal region of Northern Waziristan.  The lull is intended to give time for negotiation between tribal elders and the Taliban fighters, who have been locked in a power struggle in the region for months.

Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded on June 26 when a suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region near the town of Miramshah.  The attack comes after a cease-fire agreement.  Such spillover violence from Afghanistan has many Pakistani and Western observers worried about regional security.

International Security Assistance Force

The Australian government came under internal pressure this month to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and other parts of the Near East as Australian politicians feared a diminished capacity to address regional security issues in the South Pacific.  The debate was sparked by recent unrest in East Timor, in response to which Australia sent an emergency force of 2,000 troops.  Prime Minister John Howard played down the fears, however, and stood firm on his plans to send an additional 240 troops to Afghanistan this summer, maintaining that the armed forces are not over-deployed.

On June 4, new ISAF commander, U.K. Lt. Gen. David Richards, announced that the number of NATO forces stationed in southern Afghanistan will double from two to four battalions this summer in an effort to quell the growing insurgency there.  Richards also announced a change in style in fighting the rebels.  Under his leadership, forces will not fight the insurgency by military force alone, but by also providing humanitarian and infrastructure support to ordinary Afghans.

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak addressed NATO ministers in Brussels on June 8, underscoring the ferocity of the insurgency in southern Afghanistan and appealing for more help in securing the region.  In response, NATO has committed to increasing its troop force in Afghanistan from 9,700 to 16,000.  Of those, 6,000 will be deployed in the restive south.

On June 12, security forces killed 15 insurgents in Uruzgan province.  The dead included Mullah Amanullah, a high-ranking Taliban commander and the brother-in-law of the ever-elusive Mullah Omar.  Another 12 rebels were killed in southern Kandahar province in a security raid on the same day. 

One Romanian soldier was killed and three were wounded on June 20 when Taliban fighters attacked their tank in Kandahar.  A fourth soldier was wounded when he stepped on an IED while attempting to assist those injured in the initial blast, which split the tank in two.

Two Canadian convoys in Kandahar province were attacked in separate incidents on June 21, leaving one Afghan bystander dead and six Canadian soldiers wounded.  The first attack involved a suicide car bomb in Kandahar City, while the second was the result of a roadside bomb in Shah Wali Kot.

Other News in Brief

Afghan officials announced on June 3 that Gen. Jamil Junbish, Kabul chief of police, would be replaced (along with up to 85 other Afghan police chiefs) in response to the severe anti-foreigner riots that erupted in Kabul and throughout the country after a deadly traffic accident caused by an American military vehicle.  Gen. Amanullah Gozar will take over as police chief in Kabul.  The replacement of the police chiefs, who are also responsible for wider security concerns in their precincts, may also be an attempt by Karzai to root out corruption and address the increasing violence occurring throughout the country.  The move has been notably criticized, however, by UN and western diplomats, who see it as actually encouraging corruption in the police forces by introducing ill-trained individuals into high positions of power.

Also on June 3, the Afghan parliament voted to approve a $2 billion budget which includes a pay raise for government employees.  The raise had been a sticking point in the debate leading up to the passage.

Unrest from May’s riots continued unabated into June, and underscored the growing frustration of many Afghans at what they view as the corruption and ineffectiveness of the Karzai government and its American allies.  Protestors also appear to have seized upon the legend of Ahmed Shah Massoud for inspiration.  Massoud was the former head of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, and was assassinated by a hidden bomb two days before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, apparently on the direct orders of Osama bin Laden.  As one of the few men who succeeded in uniting at least a large part of the Afghan people, Massoud’s figure has served a rallying purpose for those Afghans who have grown weary of the foreign military presence in their country.  The choice is somewhat ironic, however, as Massoud’s forces were instrumental in helping the Americans topple the Taliban regime in 2001.

Western leaders and many Afghans expressed alarm on June 11 regarding the Afghan government’s proposed plan to rearm militias in the southern region of the country in an effort to supplement over-stretched Afghan security forces.  Former governors in both Helmand and Uruzgan provinces have already begun recruiting private armies.  While President Karzai has assured concerned leaders that the move is solely an effort to supplement police forces and not create regional militias, it has U.N. leaders particularly worried, as the organization has invested $150 million into the continuing process of disarming the illegal militias and solidifying the power of the central government, a task that is scheduled to finish this year.  Habibullah Jan, a current member of parliament and former militia leader from Kandahar, said that the plan evoked the civil war-era fighting between the mujaheddin and communist-backed warlords, citing the effort as doomed for failure.  Analysts have predicted a total breakdown of the central government if the plan goes forward, reverting Afghanistan to warlord rule and the constant fighting that accompanies it.

The continuing challenges of forming a stable and coherent government in Afghanistan were highlighted by the June 15 release of a draft report conducted by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the humanitarian atrocities committed by many sitting Afghan government members during the last 23 years.  The report was originally scheduled for release in January 2005, but was delayed several times due to the politically sensitive nature of its contents.  The draft has been submitted to the Afghan government for publication approval.  While the information in the report is not new, it still forces Afghans to reckon with their past.

On June 21, a new video message from al-Qaeda number-two man Ayman al-Zawahiri surfaced on the Internet.  In the three minute address, the recording date of which coincided with last month’s anti-American riots in Kabul, Zawahiri urged Afghans to rise up against the American forces. 

The Karzai government came under criticism on June 21 when a document purportedly from the Afghan intelligence services came to light.  The paper contained an order for the Afghan press to refrain from reporting on material that "weakens public morale or damages the national interest."  While Hamid Karzai has rejected the contents of the document, its authenticity has not been denied.  This development comes at a time when public morale in Afghanistan is particularly weak in the face of a renewed Taliban insurgency.

Hamid Karzai, politically weakened by internal corruption, a strong Taliban insurgency, and the failure of foreign troops to successfully rebuild Afghan infrastructure on a large scale, criticized the tactics of the U.S.-led forces on June 23.  Karzai said that military efforts alone are not enough to defeat the Taliban, which he classified as an ideology as well as an insurgent force.  Karzai also said that the battle against the Taliban should not be limited to just Afghanistan, a reference to the strong Taliban presence in Pakistan and his frequent spats with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf over the issue.  For his part, ISAF commander Lt. Gen. David Richards seems to agree with Karzai, and has focused his efforts on humanitarian interaction with ordinary Afghan citizens.

GeoTV, a Pakistani commercial television station, broadcast an audio tape supposedly from wanted Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.  Omar taunted both the U.S.-led forces and the Karzai government, saying that they do not have the strength or wisdom to quell the insurgency.  Omar also claimed on the recording that the tape was made in the Afghan province of Helmand, which has become a Taliban stronghold in recent months.  This was flatly denied by Karzai, who asserted that major Taliban leaders would not dare assemble in Afghanistan.

On June 27, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice challenged reports that Afghan President Hamid Karzai was a weak leader, defending him in an airplane press conference en route to Pakistan.  Rice firmly reiterated the United States’ strong backing of Karzai.  During her visit to Pakistan, Rice urged the Musharraf government to do more in securing the Afghan-Pakistani border, which is notoriously permeable to Taliban fighters.  Rice also pressed for democratic reforms in Pakistan.

Secretary Rice’s statements of support for President Karzai were followed the next day by a whirlwind five-hour visit to Afghanistan.  During the short trip, she met with Karzai and again reaffirmed the American commitment to stabilizing and rebuilding Afghanistan.