Foreign fighters flood into Afghanistan

scotsman ^ | Fri 13 Jan 2006 | TIM RIPLEY

[Flavius]

HUNDREDS of foreign Islamic fighters are gathering in Afghanistan ahead of the deployment of 4,000 British troops to the country in the spring.

British intelligence sources have told The Scotsman Islamic radicals sympathetic to al-Qaeda see Afghanistan as their new frontline and are starting to shift the focus of their anti-western campaign from Iraq.

The fighters, including Jordanians, Yemenis, Egyptians and Gulf Arabs, stepped up their campaign two months ago with a series of suicide bombings against NATO peacekeepers, United States troops and Afghan government leaders.

"Attacks in Afghanistan are now running at more than 500 a month - it's getting as dangerous for westerners as Iraq in some places," said a British officer involved in planning the NATO peacekeeping mission in the south-west of the country.

Particularly worrying for British troops has been a spate of battles over the past month in the area where paratroopers of 16 Air Assault Brigade are due to deploy from April on peace-keeping and anti-drug duties. US special forces teams patrolling Helmand and Uruzgan provinces called in air support on five occasions over the past three weeks. RAF Harriers based in Khandahar joined in two of these incidents, in which large groups of insurgents openly battled with US troops and allied Afghan forces.

Teams of suicide bombers are reported to be active in Kabul and several other major towns, according to British sources. Groups of insurgents regularly mount raids from mountain hideouts against US patrols and units of the Afghan army. In rural areas, insurgents are becoming increasingly proficient in the use of improvised roadside bombs, many of which are similar to those that have taken such a heavy toll on coalition forces in Iraq.

The foreign fighters are making common cause with remnants of the Taleban regime hiding in southern Afghanistan and with local tribesmen who resent efforts by the Kabul regime, backed by the US and Britain, to clamp down on the drugs trade. Washington's decision to pull out 4,000 troops from south-west Afghanistan, ahead of the NATO deployment, has emboldened insurgents, who claim it is the start of a complete defeat of US troops who have patrolled the country since late 2001.

British intelligence officers say the drugs trade and the growing Afghan insurgency are inextricably linked with the dramatic increases in heroin exports, allowing pro-Taleban groups to buy in supplies of weapons and fund foreign fighters.

Worries over casualties and the cost of keeping thousands of troops in Afghanistan for at least two years has made several NATO nations balk at joining the mission in Afghanistan.

Although NATO agreed to back the expansion of the International Security Assistance Force last month, the Dutch parliament has still to agree to a request for 1,000 troops. So far, only Canada, Australia and Denmark have committed troops to join the UK-led NATO command in the south-west.

Yesterday, Francesc Vendrell, the European Union's special representative to Afghanistan, added his voice to the pressure on the Dutch to send troops.

"It is extremely important for the credibility of the EU that we should be willing to go to difficult areas," he said.

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[JmyBryan]

Still another wonderful repercussion of the War on Drugs.