February 4, 2013:
Many members of the police and army are not looking forward to the departure of all the foreign troops. The NATO forces provided a lifesaving edge against the Islamic radicals, warlords, and drug gangs. NATO has a lot of very effective troops, not to mention warplanes, helicopters, and smart bombs. Over the last two years the Americans have been using their missile armed UAVs more in Afghanistan and that has made the enemy even more reluctant to come out and fight. With the Western troops gone the Afghan security forces will still have an edge but it won’t be as much as now. That means there will be more casualties for the army and police. For that reason there is growing pressure on the government from security forces commanders to make a deal with the Americans to leave as many troops as possible after 2014.
The politicians have been playing hardball with the Americans, refusing to agree to continue American immunity from the corrupt Afghan justice system after 2014. The U.S. has told the Afghans that if they don’t get a Status of Forces (immunity) agreement by the end of 2014, then the U.S. will withdraw all their forces. Such “Status Of Forces” agreements are standard practice for foreign troops overseas and, in the case of Afghanistan, are necessary to protect American troops from abuse by corrupt Afghan judges and prosecutors. If the U.S. withdraws completely a lot of the foreign aid might stop coming as well. The implication here is that if the Afghans prove unable to govern themselves and the country once more becomes a terrorist haven, the bombers and commandoes will come back and the Afghan leaders responsible for the mess will be brought to account. That threat carries more weight since Osama bin laden was finally taken down two years ago.
With NATO forces less active, Afghan security forces are suffering more casualties. In the last year Afghan soldiers and police have suffered nearly 700 dead per 100,000 per year. But the major source of losses is desertion, which costs the security forces fifty times more troops than combat deaths. The highest rate for
foreign
troops
in
Afghanistan
was 474
per
100,000 in 2010, which was lower
than
losses
in
Iraq
during
the
peak
years. Traditionally, Afghans do not fight to the death. If one group sees itself at a battlefield disadvantage they will retreat or make a deal with the foe. This is why the Taliban have increasingly avoided confronting NATO troops, preferring to attack Afghan civilians or security forces. Once the foreign troops are gone the Afghan security forces will be bribed or intimidated into inaction in some areas.
The current violence Afghanistan
is experiencing is only
half
of
a
war
that
straddles
the
Pakistan
border.
Most
of
the
hostiles
are
Islamic
conservative
Pushtun
tribesmen trying to establish one or more religious dictatorships.
For the last two decades the wars in Afghanistan have been all about the Pushtun trying to gain control over all of Afghanistan.
Northern
Pakistan
and
southern
Afghanistan
are
Pushtun
country,
where
40
million
Pushtuns
live
(65
percent
in
Pakistan).
The
casualties
have been
pretty
even
on
both
sides
of
the
border.
No
one
expects
the
Pushtuns
to
win
this
war,
they
never
do.
That's
why
there
have
been
so
few
Pushtun
kingdoms
in
the
region,
much
less
a
modern
"Pushtunstan."
Like
their
Kurdish
cousins to the west,
the
Pushtuns
are
more
likely
to
fight
among
themselves than
unite.
The
tradition
continues,
although
decade
by
decade more
Pushtuns
realize
there
are
better
ways
to
live.
But
too
many
of
these
enlightened
Pushtuns
strive
to
leave
the
area,
knowing
how
hostile
some
of
the
locals
are
to
new
ideas.
Another thing that will be missed when the foreigners depart is keeping the corruption down. The lack of civil society in Afghanistan means doing business is very difficult. Everyone is out to cheat at every opportunity. This sort of bad behavior exists everywhere but Afghanistan has one of the most toxic business climates on the planet. This is the main reason Afghanistan is so poor and violent. NATO, especially the Americans, have made great efforts to curb the corruption. This will fade once most of the American troops are gone.
The Westerners also loudly protest traditional Afghan interrogation methods, calling it torture. Afghan officials deny this, pointing out that there’s a big difference between what Afghans consider interrogation and torture. The UN insists that most Afghan forms of interrogation are torture.
U.S. troops suffered record low casualties in January. Three U.S. troops died, one from wounds suffered in December. In January other NATO forces suffered five dead in Afghanistan. Since late 2001, U.S. forces have suffered 2,080 dead and 18,000 wounded in Afghanistan. The U.S. has 66,000 troops in Afghanistan now, while other foreign contingents amount to about 42,000.
February 3, 2013: Police in Kabul raided an apartment and arrested six Islamic terrorists along with six suicide bomb vests, 50 grenades, and many other weapons.
February 2, 2013: In the southwest (Kandahar province) police arrested a man who was wounded when his explosives laden motorcycle exploded prematurely. Elsewhere in the area three men were killed as they planted a roadside bomb that went off prematurely.
February 1, 2013: Pakistan reported that five armed men crossed the Afghan border in South Waziristan and were killed by mortar fire from Afghanistan. No one on the Afghan side would provide details of what was going on.
January 26, 2013: It’s been a bad day for Afghan police, with 23 killed in one day in several attacks across the country.
January 25, 2013: The U.S. has banned an Afghan airline (Kam Air) from transporting American troops or cargo because Kam Air is believed to be a major and persistent smuggler of opium from Afghanistan to Tajikistan.
January 21, 2013: Five suicide bombers armed with assault rifles attacked traffic police headquarters in Kabul. All the attackers died after a nine hour battle, along with three policemen.
January 18, 2013: The government loudly protested an international survey that showed only two percent of Afghans had Internet access at home. The government believes the rate is more like 20 percent. But the government officials making these claims are apparently looking only at people they know. Most Afghans don’t have electricity, much less Internet access. While most Afghans have access to cell phones, these tend to be cheaper models with little or no Internet access. It is likely that 20 percent of Afghans have Internet access outside the home (at work or at the growing number of Internet cafes).