Afghanistan: Trouble is Brewing...and Boiling Beneath the Surface...
(1) First Anti-US Protest in Kabul
Reuters reports: First anti-American and British protest since U.S.-led forces toppled the fundamentalist Taliban in late 2001 was held yesterday (6th May 2003). About 300 protesters, who included government employees and university students complained of growing insecurity, slow post-war reconstruction and delay in payment of state salaries by Hamid Karzai's U.S.-backed government.
(2) Re-Emergence of the Taliban at Border Provinces
Some even called for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces from Afghanistan and called for Afghans to fight the ``American invasion,'' just as they had resisted the British and the Soviets in the 20th Century. ``We don't want the Brits and the Americans!'' shouted one of the protest leaders, a young and irate Kabul University student.``We want Islam to rule. They have failed to bring it to us and we want them out!''
The protest was a rare event in Kabul, where past demonstrations have usually been organized by the government. The ranks of the protesters were swelled by some passers by.The protest was organized by the ``Scientific Center'' headed by Sediq Afghan, a prominent Afghan philosopher, known for outspoken criticisms of the communist regime of the 1980s, the Mujahideen governments that replaced it and also the Taliban.
Hamid Karzai, the President, himself, has himself repeatedly complained about slow disbursement of funds by donors for reconstruction
A 4,500 strong international peacekeeping force has maintained security in Kabul since the Taliban fell. However, the United Nations and independent aid agencies are among those who complain about a lack of security in the provinces. President Hamid Karzai's government has unable to assert its rule far outside Kabul .
Much of the country remains under the control of warlords and their militias while Taliban remnants and their allies have stepped up attacks in the southern areas bordering Pakistan.
Carlotta Gall of New York Times reports from Quetta: The border regions of Pakistan, and Quetta are becoming the main center of Taliban support in the region, and a breeding ground for opposition sentiment to the American campaign in Afghanistan and Mr. Karzai's government. Senior Taliban officials and commanders are taking refuge here, too, Afghan and American officials say. Members of the political opposition in Pakistan confirm that Taliban leaders are active and are recruiting young men to fight.
(3) Taliban Fighters Infiltrating Back from Pakistan Borders
Quetta is a home away from home for the Taliban. CD's of Taliban leaders' speeches are on sale in the shops, the Friday sermons in the mosques are openly supportive of those who consider themselves to be waging a holy war against Americans or other non-Muslims, and young men speak openly of their desire to go to Afghanistan to fight.
The Taliban presence is so strong that even many of those who have been refugees here for 20 years seem to believe that the Taliban will return to power in Afghanistan. "There will be fighting until the Taliban get power again," said Nur Mohammad, an Afghan shopkeeper. "God willing, they will force those infidels out of the country."
Owais Tohid reports for Eurasianet:Hundreds of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters escaped from Afghanistan, finding refuge in the madrassahs and Afghan refugee camps in the hilly terrains of Baluchistan, and in tribal areas in the North-West Frontier province of Pakistan. In recent months they have been renewing armed operations.
US Special Forces Under Attacks
Units of Taliban loyalists – along with fighters loyal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the hardline Islamic Hizb-i-Islami movement – have infiltrated back into Afghanistan to carry out attacks against US troops and Afghan government forces.
Taliban raids have already caused a few US casualties. For example, one late April clash near Shkin in Paktia province left two American soldiers dead. The skirmishes have resulted in an unknown number of Taliban casualties. Although the Taliban’s military capabilities remain limited, Karzai government officials are clearly concerned about the raids. In particular, officials worry about ongoing Pakistani support for the Taliban.
AP Wire Reports: Rebels fired five rockets at U.S. special forces training in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday (5th May). The rockets were fired Sunday near the eastern city of Gardez and missed the soldiers by 800 yards. No one was hurt, an army statement said.
(4) Tribal Rivalries Not Helping Security Concerns
Two U.S. soldiers were killed in an April 25 firefight near Shkin in southeast Afghanistan. They were investigating suspicious activity at the site of an earlier rocket attack.
CNN reports: Efforts to rebuild Afghanistan are being undermined by traditional rivalries between tribal leaders and renewed activity by supporters of the former Taliban regime, according to the United Nations.
(5) Alleged Corruption and Nepotism in Karzai's Government
The U.N.'s special representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, told the Security Council Tuesday that work in Afghanistan was "challenged by the deterioration of the security environment which stems from daily harassment and intimidation, inter-ethnic and inter-factional strife, (and) increase in the activity of elements linked to the Taliban."
Two Afghan mine clearers were wounded late Monday when guerrillas fired on their convoy in southern Afghanistan on the highway to the capital, Kabul, northeast of Kandahar, The Associated Press reported Just four days earlier on the same highway, other mine clearers were attacked by suspected Taliban rebels. One person was killed and another was injured.
Brahimi said such attacks were putting pressure on nongovernmental and international organizations to suspend or withdraw operations, and he called for a better exchange of information among the U.N., the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan government authorities.
Farangis Najibullah reports for Radio Free Europe:Many Afghans complain about widespread nepotism and cronyism in the government. Abdulahrar Romizpour, a law professor at Kabul University, told RFE/RL that appointments to key, decision-making positions in the Afghan government are unlikely to happen without the support of family members or close relatives already inside the government. Allegations include:
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