The military commander responsible for southern Afghanistan said yesterday that he is "out of troops" to provide security across the troubled region and that he expects a significant increase in violence this year as U.S. reinforcements arrive to push into insurgent-held territory.
Dutch Maj. Gen. Mart de Kruif, who commands 23,000 NATO troops, said his forces control about 60 percent of the populated areas in southern Afghanistan.
"There are absolutely pockets where we don't have control . . . and that is one of the reasons we need these additional boots on the ground," he said. "We are not stopped by the insurgency, but we just run out of troops," he said in a video conference with Pentagon reporters.
The influx of 17,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, with a large contingent going to the south, will allow a greater concentration of forces where most of the population lives, along rivers and in agricultural areas. This, de Kruif said, will lead within a couple of months "to what I think is going to be a significant spike in incidents."
The new troops will also aim to crack down not only on insurgent leaders, de Kruif said, but on the narcotics traders and weapons-makers who facilitate them.
In the south, an ethnic Pashtun heartland and a traditional Taliban stronghold, insurgents are increasing their use of roadside bombs, de Kruif said. The bombs, known in the military as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, are made increasingly of homemade explosives using large explosive charges and are triggered when vehicles roll over them, he said.
De Kruif said such bombs now cause some 70 percent of casualties among international troops. Two explosions in southern Afghanistan yesterday killed four Canadian soldiers and injured eight, the Canadian military reported.
De Kruif said he has seen no evidence that insurgents in Afghanistan are getting help with bomb-making technology from other countries, as has occurred in Iraq.
"We don't see any real signs of influence by other countries, like Iran, with the fabrication and the use of these IEDs," he said. "Most of the IEDs we find are from a relatively simple nature, and you can't compare the IEDs used here with the type of IEDs used in Iraq over the last couple of years."
To counter the makeshift bombs, Special Forces soldiers operating in the area are targeting the networks of bomb-makers. The military coalition is also increasing the use of detection systems to find the bombs before they detonate and bringing in greater numbers of mine-resistant vehicles.
Despite the prediction of heavier fighting to come, de Kruif said he was optimistic that a larger military force would allow for better security across southern Afghanistan as soon as next year.
"We can have a significant progress within three or five years," he said, one that would allow military forces to move from primarily a combat role to one mentoring and training Afghan security forces.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Suicide Car Bomber Kills 6 in Eastern Afghanistan
Afghan officials say a suicide bomber in a car blew himself up at a police checkpoint in eastern Afghanistan killing six people, including one policeman.
Nangarhar's governor, Gul Agha Sherzai, said at least four other people were wounded in Saturday's attack
Separately, NATO says one of its soldiers has been killed during a "hostile incident" in southern Afghanistan.
The military alliance says the soldier died Friday, but did not give details of the incident or the soldier's nationality.
The killing came on the same day that a top NATO commander in Afghanistan said the arrival of more U.S. troops in the coming months will trigger an increase in violence.
Dutch Major General Mart de Kruif told reporters on Friday that he expects an initial increase in insurgent attacks in the country's south, but that security will improve by 2010.
U.S. President Barack Obama last month approved the deployment of an additional 17,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
Kruif commands NATO troops in the south, where violence has increased significantly due to a growing Taliban insurgency.
He says NATO forces are aggressively enhancing their abilities to locate makeshift bombs -known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs - used by militants. Kruif says troops are also focused on disrupting insurgent bomb-making networks.
Meanwhile, the Canadian military said two separate bomb blasts killed four of its soldiers and an Afghan interpreter Friday in the southern province of Kandahar.
Canada has lost 116 troops and an aid worker since deploying troops in Afghanistan in 2002. Some 2,800 Canadian troops are deployed in southern Afghanistan.
In other violence, Taliban militants clashed with police in western Farah province on Friday. Police say at least eight officers and six militants were killed. Elsewhere in Farah, police say a suicide bomber killed a police officer.
Nangarhar's governor, Gul Agha Sherzai, said at least four other people were wounded in Saturday's attack
Separately, NATO says one of its soldiers has been killed during a "hostile incident" in southern Afghanistan.
The military alliance says the soldier died Friday, but did not give details of the incident or the soldier's nationality.
The killing came on the same day that a top NATO commander in Afghanistan said the arrival of more U.S. troops in the coming months will trigger an increase in violence.
Dutch Major General Mart de Kruif told reporters on Friday that he expects an initial increase in insurgent attacks in the country's south, but that security will improve by 2010.
U.S. President Barack Obama last month approved the deployment of an additional 17,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan.
Kruif commands NATO troops in the south, where violence has increased significantly due to a growing Taliban insurgency.
He says NATO forces are aggressively enhancing their abilities to locate makeshift bombs -known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs - used by militants. Kruif says troops are also focused on disrupting insurgent bomb-making networks.
Meanwhile, the Canadian military said two separate bomb blasts killed four of its soldiers and an Afghan interpreter Friday in the southern province of Kandahar.
Canada has lost 116 troops and an aid worker since deploying troops in Afghanistan in 2002. Some 2,800 Canadian troops are deployed in southern Afghanistan.
In other violence, Taliban militants clashed with police in western Farah province on Friday. Police say at least eight officers and six militants were killed. Elsewhere in Farah, police say a suicide bomber killed a police officer.
Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan
Four Canadian soldiers have been killed and eight injured in two separate blasts in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, say Canadian officials.
The deaths bring the number of Canadians killed while serving in the conflict in Afghanistan to 116.
An Afghan interpreter was also killed in one of the attacks, and a second Afghan national was injured.
Canada has about 2,500 troops based in the south of Afghanistan as part of Nato's mission to fight the Taleban.
Canada's military mandate in the country is set to end in 2011.
Brig Gen Jonathan Vance, head of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan, said two soldiers and the interpreter died when a bomb went off near their patrol in Zhari district, west of Kandahar city.
The attack injured five Canadian soldiers and an Afghan civilian, he said.
Later, two other soldiers died and three were wounded by a roadside bomb in Shah Wali Kot district, northwest of the city.
Brig Gen Vance praised the soldiers for efforts and said their deaths did not indicate "a failure on the part of any person or of the mission itself".
"Success in war is costly," he said.
"We are determined to succeed so that Afghan lives improve. But the insurgents are equally determined to challenge and prevent Afghanistan from flourishing as the nation it so wants to be."
Troops increase
The attacks followed a day of violence in Afghanistan.
Earlier, officials in Jowzjan province in the north of the country said a district chief and several police officers had been killed by insurgents.
The US military said Afghan and international troops had killed 33 militants in separate clashes in Helmand and Logar provinces.
Also in Logar, three militants died when Afghan and US troops attacked a camp.
US President Barack Obama has approved the deployment of a further 17,000 military personnel to Afghanistan amid concerns about a resurgent Taleban.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that the US was planning to more than double Afghanistan's national security forces - creating a force of about 400,000 Afghan troops and police officers - in an attempt to bring stability to the country.
India, Pakistan exchange fire across Line of Control
SRINAGAR: Indian forces resorted to ‘unprovoked firing’ on Pakistani positions across the Line of Control but there were no casualties in the rare clash between the rivals, the Pakistani military said on Saturday.
‘The firing started from the Indian side at around 10 p.m. (1700 GMT on Friday) and intermittent firing continued for several hours,’ said a Pakistani military official who declined to be identified.
A ‘strong protest’ had been lodged with India, the military said. There was no immediate Indian response.
Meanwhile, Indian army officials have said that an Indian soldier was injured when Pakistani troops allegedly fired at Indian army positions across the Line of Control, the Indian army said.
The incident broke five months of relative calm along the heavily militarised border.
According to the Indian army officials, Pakistani troops fired 1,500-2,000 machinegun rounds towards Indian forward posts in the Western Uri sector, an Indian army spokesman said.
The firing lasted five hours, ending early Saturday morning, the spokesman said, adding that Pakistani fire was ‘unprovoked’.
India in the past has accused the Pakistani army of providing covering fire for infiltrating militants.
Last year India accused Pakistani soldiers of crossing the Line of Control and killing an Indian soldier – allegations Islamabad denied.
Pakistan fires at Indian army positions: India
SRINAGAR, India— An Indian soldier was injured Saturday when Pakistani troops fired at Indian army positions across the de facto border dividing Kashmir between the rivals, the Indian army said.
The incident broke five months of relative calm along the heavily militarised border.
Pakistani troops fired 1,500-2,000 machine gun rounds towards Indian forward posts in the Western Uri sector, an army spokesman said.
The firing lasted five hours, ending early Saturday morning, the spokesman said, adding that Pakistani fire was "unprovoked".
India in the past has accused the Pakistani army of providing covering fire for infiltrating militants.
Last year India accused Pakistani soldiers of crossing the ceasefire line known as the Line of Control and killing an Indian soldier -- allegations Islamabad denied.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over mainly Muslim Kashmir, held in part by each country but claimed in full by both.
They agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in 2003 and launched a peace process in 2004. Since then there have been sporadic clashes and both countries have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.
An insurgency against New Delhi's rule in Indian Kashmir has been underway since 1989 and left more than 47,000 people dead by official count. Islamabad denies helping the Muslim rebels.
The firing comes at a time of heightened bilateral tensions, sparked by last November's Islamist militant attacks on Mumbai that India has blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
New Delhi has also accused "official agencies" of Pakistan -- a reference to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency and other bodies -- of involvement.
Both LeT and Pakistan have denied any role in the attacks which killed 165 people while Islamabad has blamed the assault on "non-state actors".
The incident broke five months of relative calm along the heavily militarised border.
Pakistani troops fired 1,500-2,000 machine gun rounds towards Indian forward posts in the Western Uri sector, an army spokesman said.
The firing lasted five hours, ending early Saturday morning, the spokesman said, adding that Pakistani fire was "unprovoked".
India in the past has accused the Pakistani army of providing covering fire for infiltrating militants.
Last year India accused Pakistani soldiers of crossing the ceasefire line known as the Line of Control and killing an Indian soldier -- allegations Islamabad denied.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over mainly Muslim Kashmir, held in part by each country but claimed in full by both.
They agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in 2003 and launched a peace process in 2004. Since then there have been sporadic clashes and both countries have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.
An insurgency against New Delhi's rule in Indian Kashmir has been underway since 1989 and left more than 47,000 people dead by official count. Islamabad denies helping the Muslim rebels.
The firing comes at a time of heightened bilateral tensions, sparked by last November's Islamist militant attacks on Mumbai that India has blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
New Delhi has also accused "official agencies" of Pakistan -- a reference to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency and other bodies -- of involvement.
Both LeT and Pakistan have denied any role in the attacks which killed 165 people while Islamabad has blamed the assault on "non-state actors".