Taliban Chief Extends Control Over Insurgency

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Source: WSJ

JUNE 22, 2009

Taliban Chief Extends Control Over Insurgency
Mullah Omar's Leadership Council Moves to Centralize Militant Operations in Afghanistan; A New Stage in U.S.-Led Fight

By MATTHEW ROSENBERG in Peshawar, Pakistan, and YOCHI J. DREAZEN and SIOBHAN GORMAN in Washington

Mullah Omar, supreme leader of the Taliban, is reasserting direct control over the militant group's loose-knit insurgency in Afghanistan, ordering attacks and shuffling field commanders in preparation for the arrival of thousands of additional U.S. troops, according to U.S. officials and insurgents in Afghanistan.

Until recently, the ground-level conduct of the Taliban's war against the U.S.-led coalition has been left to local commanders acting on their own. Mr. Omar, who heads a Taliban leadership council called the Quetta "shura" -- named after the city in southeast Pakistan where it is believed to be based -- has typically focused on choosing Taliban leaders and funneling money, religious guidance and strategic advice to fighters.

But since the start of the year, through his direct lieutenants, Mr. Omar has ordered a spate of suicide bombings and assassinations in southern and eastern Afghanistan that presage a bloody phase to come in the Afghan war, according to U.S. officials and Afghan insurgents.

One target was Ahmed Wali Karzai, the younger brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who survived a gun and rocket attack on his motorcade in eastern Afghanistan on May 18. Qari Sayed Ahmad, a moderate cleric, was gunned down outside his home in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in April. The Taliban took credit for the attack, and a midlevel Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan said in a telephone interview that the assassination was carried out on orders from one of Mr. Omar's lieutenants.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562262680835357.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[madeline_con]

1. How many of these Taliban clowns are there? Any estimates? n/t

[RandomThoughts]

2. Logical conclusion would be they are going to try a Tet.

Since they probably know a little about history, and people do not consolidate control without an intent to do something with it.

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3. Pakistan Observer: US ready for new offensive in Afghanistan

US ready for new offensive in Afghanistan

Raja G Mujtaba

America is intensifying its war efforts in Afghanistan, that too in a desperate mood. It feels that like USSR she will also lick the dust if it does not find a way out with honour. The NATO members have become reluctant to inject any more troops into the theatre. Countries like the UK etc. want to extricate their troops; they have already suffered more casualties than what they suffered in Iraq. America following the pattern of Vietnam , is trying to expand the theatre of operation into other countries. There is none other where it can expand effectively other than Pakistan . America as a change in its strategy, will not attack Iran , but is likely to induct its support to threaten Saudi Arabia by stirring the Shiah-Sunni strife. This would force the Saudis to allow the US to have more bases within the Kingdom.

The escalation in Pakistan is a direct result of that policy. To further escalate it, on Wednesday President Barack Obama has confirmed General Stanley McChrystal as new commander for the widening war in Afghanistan and Pakistan . He has been given extraordinary powers to assemble his own staff. America is here in Afghanistan not for the reason that Al-Qaida attacked on 9-11, they are here for some deeper objectives. 9-11 was a ploy; let there be independent commission to investigate, the truth will be established. America invaded Iraq without the resolution of the Security Council to take out weapons of mass destructions which were never to be there. Likewise time would prove that 9-11 was not the act of any Muslim group or country. American objectives are mentioned below thus to achieve those America needed an excuse to capture Afghanistan

America has multiple objectives in the region, they want to denuclearize Pakistan , contain china and deny it the oil resources of the central Asian states, delink China from Pakistan . Turn Pakistan into a secular state so that the threat of Muslim resurgence is eliminated. Everything escalated when Pakistan signed agreements with China for the development and operation of the Gawadar Port.

The quantum and type of troop buildup is given below. This is significant enough to spell out the future designs of America . To study this, it does not need a genius but a mind that can read the writings on the walls or what the bottom line message is. The redeployment of the American Forces in Afghanistan is almost in place for another bloody confrontation with 10,000 marines from the North Carolina-based 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) completing the commencement of their deployment to the volatile province of Helmand over the next several weeks. Obama’s electioneering commitment is taking shape in Afghanistan .

An Army Aviation Brigade, with some 100 troop-lift helicopters and gunships, is already operating out of the neighbouring province of Kandahar . In July, the 4,000-strong 5th Stryker Brigade, a mobile unit entirely mounted in armoured Stryker vehicles would join the Aviation Brigade to bolster the force there. This makes up the bulk of the 21,000 additional troops that Obama has ordered to Afghanistan to suppress the Taliban-led insurgency against the US-led occupation of the country. By the end of the year, the total US force will reach close to 70,000. NATO countries and other US allies have close to 60,000 troops, with Britain , Canada , the Netherlands and Australia providing the units that are conducting combat operations in the Pashtun majority provinces of southern Afghanistan , where the Taliban are strongest.

In the coming months, the 2nd MEB will be in place for a bloody offensive in Helmand , along with the 5,700 British troops and the US Special Forces already operating in the province. The British troop fatalities in Afghanistan have now reached 166 dead - a figure more than the 165 British troops who lost their lives during the Iraq operation. The US Stryker Brigade presently under deployment in Kandahar will operate alongside the Canadian Task Force that is struggling to stem the Taliban resilience to evict the occupation forces in the province for the past four years, losing 119 dead and several hundred wounded in the process. A key objective of this troop reinforcement is to impose a greater authority over the southern provinces before the Afghan presidential election on August 20. Taliban leaders have boycotted the ballot, declaring any vote under foreign occupation to be illegitimate.

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http://pakobserver.net/200906/20/Articles02.asp

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4. Telegraph: Major's death takes rate of losses in Afghanistan past Iraq

Major's death takes rate of losses in Afghanistan past Iraq

An officer who was killed when his armoured vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb has been called an "outstanding professional soldier" who was one of the Army's "stars".

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Published: 4:41PM BST 21 Jun 2009

Major Sean Birchall, from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed in Afghanistan on Friday morning in Basharan, near Lashkar Gah, as he was delivering supplies.

Analysis suggests the death rate in Afghanistan, at an average of one every three days since early May, is now double that at the height of the Iraq war - 15 deaths per 1,000 personnel per year served, compared with 7.5 in Iraq.

The developments came as reports also suggested the Army was preparing to cut 1,800 men in the latest spending round, bringing their levels to the lowest since the Crimea War, while the RAF was offering to cut Harrier jump jets and the Royal Navy Type 42 destroyers.

Earlier in the summer, Maj Birchall led his company in a joint operation with the Afghan National Army to drive the Taliban out the village, 10km north west of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.

On Friday, he was in the second of three armoured vehicles blown up by a roadside bomb as it travelled between checkpoints around the town, and died on his way to a landing site where he was to be airlifted by helicopter for medical attention.

He would have celebrated his 34th birthday on Tuesday and leaves behind his wife, Joanna, and their 18-month old son, Charlie.

<more>

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5594790/Majors-death-takes-rate-of-losses-in-Afghanistan-past-Iraq.html