Afghanistan – the struggle for security
Tuesday, 20 May 2008 00:00
The struggle continues in Afghanistan
Over six years since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, it often seems as if little progress has been made to secure the country's future.
Summer offensive
Coalition forces brought the fight to the Taliban in the summer of 2007, launching yet another offensive operation against militants in the southern Helmand province region.
The fighting had already claimed several British lives but US president George Bush remained bullish about the situation on the ground. Speaking alongside Afghan president Hamid Karzai at Camp David on August 6th, he said: "You might remember it was last winter that people were speculating about the Taliban spring offensive, and about how the Taliban had regrouped and were going to go on the attack inside Afghanistan.
"There was a spring offensive, all right - it was conducted by US, NATO and, equally importantly, Afghan troops."
The hostage problem
A group of South Korean Christian missionaries attracted the headlines throughout August when they were abducted in Ghazni province, as they made their way from Kandahar to Kabul on July 19th.
Two were shot dead but the remainder were released as a result of strenuous talks between South Korean government negotiators and Taliban representatives.
Experts feared that because the Taliban achieved political gain from their hostage-taking – as occurred in April when Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo was freed in return for five prisoners – they were much more likely to attempt similar abductions again.
A bad autumn
There were few signs of progress in the struggle against the Taliban in the autumn of 2007.
On September 30th the militant group scorned a peace offer by Afghan president Hamid Karzai, dismissing negotiation while foreign troops remained in the country.
The International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) laboured on, but was unable to stop bombs killing 12 in Kabul on October 2nd, 27 just outside the city on September 29th and a US soldier and five civilians back in the city on October 6th.
Meanwhile leaders continued to snipe about under-resourced soldiers. UK soldiers are well-known as being stretched in the country, but prime minister Gordon Brown made clear he believes western nations are not contributing enough generally.
A better Christmas
British forces ended the year with a real victory, capturing the key town of Musa Qala on December 10th.
The four-day assault on the Helmand town drove the Taliban out of their only urban stronghold, but rather than fighting to the bitter end a tactical withdrawal allowed them to continue their guerrilla war elsewhere.
Gordon Brown took the opportunity to say troops would remain in the country "for the coming years" and told the Commons "we are winning the battle against the Taliban".
Away from the fighting, a row about whether or not to negotiate with pro-Taliban tribal leaders rumbled on through the Christmas period.
The British government continued its line that talks were not part of its policy, but a Briton and Irishman were ejected from the country by Afghan authorities for allegedly talking to militants.
The diplomats, senior EU and UN representatives, were expelled for endangering national security. A UN spokesman said the incident was the result of a "misunderstanding".
Two-tier strains
Hopes of initial progress in Afghanistan in 2008 were dimmed by a UN report on March 11th warning that the Taliban were far from defeated.
Ongoing poor security was underlined by a bomb killing at least 80 at a dog-fighting match in Kandahar on February 17th and a car bomb in Kabul on March 13th which left six dead.
Much of the attention in the last two months was on strains within the international coalition, however. US defence secretary Robert Gates warned of a "two-tier" alliance developing, with only some Nato countries contributing troops.
Afghanistan attracted the most headlines in British papers in the last two months because of one soldier in particular. On February 28th it emerged Prince Harry had been serving there secretly, a revelation which forced his immediate return home.
Update: Still no progress
The security situation remained perilous as spring turned to summer. Around 17 civilian road workers were killed by Taliban fighters, who were subsequently pursued by the Afghan National Army and lost seven of their number, while on April 29th at least 15 died in a suicide bombing in the eastern Nangarhar province.
The capture of Pakistan's ambassador to the country, Tariq Azizussin, provided an indication of the same lack of security. The Taliban only released him after Pakistan freed around 40 Taliban members.
Perhaps reflecting the lack of progress in Afghanistan, UK defence secretary Des Browne suggested negotiations with the Taliban were now worth considering in late March.
And after a row with junior Nato members about their limited enthusiasm for sending troops to the country, US military leaders said they were considering boosting the number of US troops in the country by around 7,000.
Alex Stevenson