Afghan Police Suffer Setbacks as Taliban Adapt

NY Times ^ | September 2, 2007 | DAVID ROHDE

[neverdem]

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug. 26 — Over the past six weeks, the Taliban have driven government forces out of roughly half of a strategic area in southern Afghanistan that American and NATO officials declared a success story last fall in their campaign to clear out insurgents and make way for development programs, Afghan officials say.

A year after Canadian and American forces drove hundreds of Taliban fighters from the area, the Panjwai and Zhare districts southwest of Kandahar, the rebels are back and have adopted new tactics. Carrying out guerrilla attacks after NATO troops partly withdrew in July, they overran isolated police posts and are now operating in areas where they can mount attacks on Kandahar, the south’s largest city.

The setback is part of a bloody stalemate that has occurred between NATO troops and Taliban fighters across southern Afghanistan this summer. NATO and Afghan Army soldiers can push the Taliban out of rural areas, but the Afghan police are too weak to hold the territory after they withdraw. At the same time, the Taliban are unable to take large towns and have generally mounted fewer suicide bomb attacks in southern cities than they did last summer.

The Panjwai and Zhare districts, in particular, highlight the changing nature of the fight in the south. The military operation there in September 2006 was the largest conventional battle in the country since 2002. But this year, the Taliban are avoiding set battles with NATO and instead are attacking the police and stepping up their use of roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices or I.E.D.’s.

“It’s very seldom that we have direct engagement with the Taliban,” said Brig. Gen. Guy Laroche, the commander of Canadian forces leading the NATO effort in Kandahar. “What they’re going to use is I.E.D.’s.”

The Taliban also wage...

[neverdem]

Dangerous Areas Expanding Across Southern Afghanistan oversize graphic

Afghan Police Struggle as Taliban Adapt slideshow

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/world/asia/02taliban.html?hp Use the regular webpage if you want to see the 2 minute video.

[mdittmar]

Hey nyt,it’s hard to adapt when your dead,ha!

[pawdoggie]

The setback is part of a bloody stalemate that has occurred between NATO troops and Taliban fighters across southern Afghanistan this summer. NATO and Afghan Army soldiers can push the Taliban out of rural areas, but the Afghan police are too weak to hold the territory after they withdraw. At the same time, the Taliban are unable to take large towns and have generally mounted fewer suicide bomb attacks in southern cities than they did last summer.

"Stalemate". Every time the Talibs mass they get mowed down in industrial numbers (up to 50+ per encounter). Most of the blood in the "bloody stalemate" is Taliban. The extent to which the Talibs have gained any "footholds" in rural areas can be traced to a former Brit NATO Commander who thought he could reach a modus vivendi with them, Karzai's attempts to reach out to his "fellow (Taliban) countrymen", and Iranian support to the Terrorists.

[balch3]

barf alert.

[God luvs America]

the NYSlimes call is “keep hope alive” as islamofacists are eliminated daily....