Hulk
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m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/sbA_KX3IK0RZW3bRWsSxM0Q/view.m?id=15&gid=world/2011/dec/02/nato-offensive-east-afghanistan-pakistan&cat=world
ased insurgents
Exclusive: Isaf aims to reduce threat
to Kabul by insurgent groups and has
not ruled out cross-border raids into
Pakistan
Pakistanis burn an effigy of Barack Obama in
Lahore: resentment of Nato after the death of
24 soldiers last week has plunged co-
operation between the allies into doubt.
Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/ Getty Images
Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
The Guardian, Fri 2 Dec 2011 14. 45 GMT
Nato commanders are planning a
substantial offensive in eastern
Afghanistan aimed at insurgent
groups based in Pakistan, involving an
escalation of aerial attacks on
insurgent sanctuaries, and have not
ruled out cross-border raids with
ground troops.
The aim of the offensive over the next
two years is to reduce the threat
represented by Pakistan-based
groups loyal to insurgent leaders like
the Haqqani clan, Mullah Nazir and
Hafiz Gul Bahadur. Nato hopes to
reduce the level of attacks in the
eastern provinces clustered around
Kabul to the point where they could
be contained by Afghan security
forces after transition in 2014.
The move is likely to add to the
already tense atmosphere following
the recent border post attack by Nato
helicopters that killed 24 Pakistani
soldiers. On Thursday, Pakistan's
army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani,
ordered his troops to return fire if
they came under attack again by its
ally.
While drawing down forces in
Helmand and Kandahar, the US will
step up its presence in eastern
provinces bordering Pakistan,
bringing the long-festering issue of
insurgent sanctuaries in the Pakistani
tribal areas to a head. The message
being given to the Pakistani military is
that if it cannot or will not eliminate
the havens, US forces will attempt the
job themselves.
Western officials had been
encouraged by the fact that a blitz of
drone strikes against commanders
loyal to insurgent leaders Jalaluddin
and his son Sirajuddin in Miran Shah,
the capital of North Waziristan, and
against forces loyal to Mullah Nazir in
South Waziristan, had produced few
civilian casualties and no reaction
from the Pakistanis. Consequently, an
increase in cross-border raids by
special forces and even the
withdrawal of the Pakistani army to
create a free-fire zone have not
been excluded.
"The Pakistanis may not have the
strength to defeat the Taliban and the
Haqqanis on their own, even if they
wanted to," a western diplomat said.
It is unclear to what extent the killing
of 24 Pakistan soldiers will have on
the Nato strategy. An investigation is
underway into the incident, which
appears to have started with an
exchange of fire between Pakistani
and mixed Afghan-Nato forces, with
the latter calling in air support. Nato
sent in aircraft believing the fire from
the Pakistani side was from
insurgents.
As a consequence, Pakistan has
closed supply routes used by the
Nato-led International Security
Assistance Force (Isaf) and barred the
US from using a Pakistani air base to
launch drones. However, Nato
officers said that Pakistani forces had
been co-operative in a similar
incident on Tuesday, helping prevent
it from escalating.
Isaf statistics published earlier this
week showed a 7% drop in insurgent
attacks across Afghanistan in the first
10 months of this year compared to
the same period last year. The
decrease in the Helmand area was
29%. But in the eastern provinces the
figures show a 21% rise in attacks,
now the most violent area, accounting
for 39% of all attacks.
The Isaf commander, General John
Allen, said the need to confront the
sanctuaries in Pakistan was "one of
the reasons we are shifting our
operations to the east".
In an interview in Kabul, Allen, a US
marine, did not give specifics of the
strategy and said nothing about cross-
border operations. The day before
the fatal border clash, he had met
Kayani, to discuss cross-border co-
operation ahead of the eastern surge,
clearly hoping the move against the
sanctuaries would be a joint effort.
Allen said he did not know what the
long-term consequences of last
Saturday's clash would be, describing
it as a "tragedy", but made clear that
the push to the east would continue.
"Ultimately the outcome we hope to
achieve in the east is a reduction of
the insurgent networks to the point
where the ANSF [Afghan National
Security Forces] can handle them,
reducing them in 2012, if necessary
going after them in 2013," Allen said.
"I wont go into the specifics of the
operations but as we consolidate our
holdings in the south and as the
population centres there in the
Helmand River valley and in
[Kandahar], we will conduct
substantial operations in the east
the idea being to expand the security
zone around Kabul.
"In particular we are going to pay a
lot of attention to the south of Kabul
Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Zabul.
Because in the end if you have a
population in the south that feels
secure and it's secured by the ANSF,
and you have a population in the east
in and around the centre of the
gravity of Kabul, and those two are
connected by a road so you have
freedom of movement, you have a
pretty good outcome."
---------- Post added at 03:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------
m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/sbA_KX3IK0RZW3bRWsSxM0Q/view.m?id=15&gid=world/2011/dec/02/nato-offensive-east-afghanistan-pakistan&cat=world
ased insurgents
Exclusive: Isaf aims to reduce threat
to Kabul by insurgent groups and has
not ruled out cross-border raids into
Pakistan
Pakistanis burn an effigy of Barack Obama in
Lahore: resentment of Nato after the death of
24 soldiers last week has plunged co-
operation between the allies into doubt.
Photograph: Arif Ali/AFP/ Getty Images
Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
The Guardian, Fri 2 Dec 2011 14. 45 GMT
Nato commanders are planning a
substantial offensive in eastern
Afghanistan aimed at insurgent
groups based in Pakistan, involving an
escalation of aerial attacks on
insurgent sanctuaries, and have not
ruled out cross-border raids with
ground troops.
The aim of the offensive over the next
two years is to reduce the threat
represented by Pakistan-based
groups loyal to insurgent leaders like
the Haqqani clan, Mullah Nazir and
Hafiz Gul Bahadur. Nato hopes to
reduce the level of attacks in the
eastern provinces clustered around
Kabul to the point where they could
be contained by Afghan security
forces after transition in 2014.
The move is likely to add to the
already tense atmosphere following
the recent border post attack by Nato
helicopters that killed 24 Pakistani
soldiers. On Thursday, Pakistan's
army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani,
ordered his troops to return fire if
they came under attack again by its
ally.
While drawing down forces in
Helmand and Kandahar, the US will
step up its presence in eastern
provinces bordering Pakistan,
bringing the long-festering issue of
insurgent sanctuaries in the Pakistani
tribal areas to a head. The message
being given to the Pakistani military is
that if it cannot or will not eliminate
the havens, US forces will attempt the
job themselves.
Western officials had been
encouraged by the fact that a blitz of
drone strikes against commanders
loyal to insurgent leaders Jalaluddin
and his son Sirajuddin in Miran Shah,
the capital of North Waziristan, and
against forces loyal to Mullah Nazir in
South Waziristan, had produced few
civilian casualties and no reaction
from the Pakistanis. Consequently, an
increase in cross-border raids by
special forces and even the
withdrawal of the Pakistani army to
create a free-fire zone have not
been excluded.
"The Pakistanis may not have the
strength to defeat the Taliban and the
Haqqanis on their own, even if they
wanted to," a western diplomat said.
It is unclear to what extent the killing
of 24 Pakistan soldiers will have on
the Nato strategy. An investigation is
underway into the incident, which
appears to have started with an
exchange of fire between Pakistani
and mixed Afghan-Nato forces, with
the latter calling in air support. Nato
sent in aircraft believing the fire from
the Pakistani side was from
insurgents.
As a consequence, Pakistan has
closed supply routes used by the
Nato-led International Security
Assistance Force (Isaf) and barred the
US from using a Pakistani air base to
launch drones. However, Nato
officers said that Pakistani forces had
been co-operative in a similar
incident on Tuesday, helping prevent
it from escalating.
Isaf statistics published earlier this
week showed a 7% drop in insurgent
attacks across Afghanistan in the first
10 months of this year compared to
the same period last year. The
decrease in the Helmand area was
29%. But in the eastern provinces the
figures show a 21% rise in attacks,
now the most violent area, accounting
for 39% of all attacks.
The Isaf commander, General John
Allen, said the need to confront the
sanctuaries in Pakistan was "one of
the reasons we are shifting our
operations to the east".
In an interview in Kabul, Allen, a US
marine, did not give specifics of the
strategy and said nothing about cross-
border operations. The day before
the fatal border clash, he had met
Kayani, to discuss cross-border co-
operation ahead of the eastern surge,
clearly hoping the move against the
sanctuaries would be a joint effort.
Allen said he did not know what the
long-term consequences of last
Saturday's clash would be, describing
it as a "tragedy", but made clear that
the push to the east would continue.
"Ultimately the outcome we hope to
achieve in the east is a reduction of
the insurgent networks to the point
where the ANSF [Afghan National
Security Forces] can handle them,
reducing them in 2012, if necessary
going after them in 2013," Allen said.
"I wont go into the specifics of the
operations but as we consolidate our
holdings in the south and as the
population centres there in the
Helmand River valley and in
[Kandahar], we will conduct
substantial operations in the east
the idea being to expand the security
zone around Kabul.
"In particular we are going to pay a
lot of attention to the south of Kabul
Wardak, Logar, Ghazni, Zabul.
Because in the end if you have a
population in the south that feels
secure and it's secured by the ANSF,
and you have a population in the east
in and around the centre of the
gravity of Kabul, and those two are
connected by a road so you have
freedom of movement, you have a
pretty good outcome."
---------- Post added at 03:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------
m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/sbA_KX3IK0RZW3bRWsSxM0Q/view.m?id=15&gid=world/2011/dec/02/nato-offensive-east-afghanistan-pakistan&cat=world
