spate of deadly Taliban attacks targeting Afghan forces this week
spate of deadly Taliban attacks targeting Afghan forces this week was a show of strength against Donald Trump’s new strategy, and signalled a push to strike security bases rather than cities, analysts said.
In three of the four ambushes since Tuesday, militants used bomb-laden Humvees to blast their way into targets, seeking to demoralise war-weary security forces, and steal weapons and vehicles to fuel their insurgency.
It marks a change in focus from recent years when the Taliban fought to control and hold provincial capitals, such as the northern city of Kunduz, which briefly fell to the militants twice in the past 24 months.
“[The Taliban] want to be showing their potency after the summer unveiling of the Trump policy of staying on with larger forces,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“They haven’t tried to hold provincial capitals… they are not wasting their assets on that.”
“They haven’t tried to hold provincial capitals… they are not wasting their assets on that.”
Militants have launched several devastating assaults on security forces already this year, including an attack on a base in northern Mazar-i-Sharif in the spring in which at least 144 people were killed.
But this week stands apart for the number of attacks in such a short time – five in as many days with an overall death toll of around 150 people – and coming after the US and Afghan forces have stepped up their own offensives.
Trump announced that American forces would stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, increasing attacks on insurgents and deploying more troops.
Following his announcement the US has dramatically ramped up airstrikes, with more bombs and missiles dropped in September than in any month since October 2010.
A recent flurry of drone strikes in the lawless region near the border with Pakistan’s tribal areas has also seen dozens of militants killed.
This week’s attacks are the Taliban’s response, a spokesperson told AFP, calling it “a clear message… The enemy who thought they had scared us with the new Trump strategy have now been given a lesson”.
The attacks also came after talks between Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China at the start of the week seeking ways to end the Taliban’s 16-year insurgency.
“I think the Taliban wanted to send a very strong message that it prefers to fight rather than talk and that it has the ability to fight very well,” said analyst Michael Kugelman, of the Wilson Center in Washington.
The message has proved devastating: hundreds killed and wounded over a bloody few days that left military bases and police headquarters destroyed or severely damaged.
The deadliest attack was on a police compound in the city of Gardez, where Taliban militants detonated three explosive-packed vehicles including a Humvee. At least 60 people were killed in the blasts and ensuing battle, officials said.
The militants also attacked a police headquarters in Ghazni twice, and detonated a suicide bomb on Afghan police trainees in Kabul that killed 15.
Attacking security targets kills three birds with one stone: it allows the Taliban to deflect criticism over civilian casualties, devastate Afghan forces, and steal equipment.
The Taliban has acquired ‘dozens’ of armoured Humvees and pickup trucks in recent years, defence ministry deputy spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh told AFP.
“The Humvees and other military vehicles are stronger than ordinary ones and you can load a lot of explosives in it,” General Abdul Wahid Taqat, a former intelligence chief, told AFP.
“I would think that could be pretty demoralising for Afghan forces knowing that their own weaponry is being used against them by the enemy,” Kugelman said.
Such erosion of morale can be lethal, as officials have previously pointed out.
Afghan forces, already beset by desertions and corruption, have seen casualties soar to what a US watchdog has described as “shockingly high” levels since NATO forces officially ended their combat mission in 2014.
Morale is further eroded by long-running fears the militants have insider help – everything from insurgents in the ranks to corrupt Afghan forces selling equipment to the Taliban, said retired Afghan army general Atiqullah Amarkhail.US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will pay his maiden visit to Pakistan this month during which he would discuss joint efforts against terrorism and expanding economic ties between the two countries, a State Department spokesperson announced on Thursday.
The visit to Pakistan is part of Secretary Tillerson’s first visit to Asia, which will also take him to India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Geneva, Spokesman Heather Nauert told a briefing at the State Department.
“The secretary will meet with senior Pakistani leaders to discuss our continued bilateral cooperation, Pakistan’s critical role in the success of our South Asia strategy, and the expanding economic ties between our two countries,
She said the secretary was due to meet with the prime minister, foreign minister, and senior military officials to discuss joint efforts between Pakistan and the United States to fight terrorist groups that threaten regional peace and stability and how “Pakistan can support our effort to reach a peaceful solution in Afghanistan”.
Secretary Tillerson’s visit to Islamabad follows the visit by Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif to Washington this month during which he met high US officials to discuss the US-Pakistan relations and the new South Asia strategy announced by President Trump in August.
Responding to a question about the US-India ties and whether Washington would take side in issues between Pakistan and India like the cross-border firing across the Line of Control, the spokesperson said that the US had always been very cautious about addressing those issues, “not wanting to contribute to any additional tensions.
After his visit to Islamabad, Secretary Tillerson will travel to New Delhi as part of his Asia visit. He will begin his visit from Oct 20 from Saudi Arabia where he will take part in the inaugural Coordination Council meeting between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
The secretary will also meet with various Saudi leaders to discuss the conflict in Yemen, the ongoing Gulf dispute, Iran, and another – other important regional and bilateral issues.
Secretary Tillerson will then travel to Doha, where he will speak with Qatari leaders and US military officials to discuss joint counterterrorism efforts and the ongoing Gulf dispute and other regional and bilateral issues, including both Iran and Iraq.
On the last leg of his visit, Secretary Tillerson will visit Geneva, where he will meet with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organisation for Migration and the International Committee of Red Cross to discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan and also a number of other global humanitarian crises including Burma and Syria.
