The war in Afghanistan continues unabated. The Taliban keep on inflicting horrible damage on the US and Nato forces, some of which is not even reported in the media. On the other hand, the Americans, along with troops from the European countries, are trying to stem the tide of the war. However, there has been little effort to find out a political solution to the crisis: the US believes that everything should be sorted out in the battlefield.
There have been some developments recently tied to the war that have largely gone unnoticed. Nevertheless, these are significant and one way or the other will have noteworthy bearing on the overall scheme of things.
First, General Petraeus is in Washington with his proposals on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. It has been reported that US troops who were part of 2009 surge are scheduled to begin coming home in July.
There is a debate going on in Obama administration with regard to the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. While the US Congress feels that the war on terror in Afghanistan is largely over following the death of Osama bin Laden, the administration feels otherwise. Still, President Obama has said the surge troops would begin coming home in July 2011 and recently declared that the number would be “significant.”
On the other hand, there are reports that the US wants some of the troops to stay back in Afghanistan under a strategic agreement with the Karzai administration. According to a report, five bases in Afghanistan could house large contingents of US forces and military hardware, including intelligence officials, Special Operation Forces, drones, fighter aircraft, artillery, helicopters, etc beyond 2014.
The report says that “in the heart of one of the most unstable regions in the world, and close to the borders of Pakistan, Iran and China, as well as central Asia and Persian Gulf, the bases would be rare strategic assets.” This has understandably alarmed Afghanistan’s neighbours.
Second, it has been reported that US Special Operations Forces have been capturing innocent Afghan villagers in the name of Taliban. General David Petraeus had announced in August 2010 that the SOF, during 90 days preceding August, had held 1,355 ordinary Taliban soldiers, killed another 1,031 Taliban and captured 365 middle or high-ranking Taliban. In December 2010, it was announced that in six months, some 4,100 ordinary Taliban Mujahideen had been captured while 2,000 had been eliminated by the Special Operations Forces.
However, it has now been revealed that the US troops were forced to release more than 80 percent of those arrested because they were innocent. In other words, the Americans had wrongly arrested four out of five so-called Taliban foot soldiers and commanders. This astonishing revelation brings into question if many of those killed were innocent villagers as well.
Says a report: “Three hundred forty-five detainees, or 20 percent of the 1,686 total number of those who were detained in Parwan from June through November, were released upon review of their cases, according to the same Feb. 5, 2011, Task Force document obtained by IPS. The vast majority of those released from the facility had been sent to Parwan in June or later.
“Detainees are released from Parwan only when the evidence against them is so obviously weak or non-existent that US officers cannot justify continuing to hold them, despite the fact that the detainees lack normal procedural rights in the non-adversarial hearing by the Task Force’s Detainee Review.
“The deliberate confusion, sowed by Petraeus by referring to anyone picked up for interrogation as a captured rank-and-file Taliban, was a key element of a carefully considered strategy for creating a more favourable image of the war.” So after all, the US does not plan to leave Afghanistan at all.
There have been some developments recently tied to the war that have largely gone unnoticed. Nevertheless, these are significant and one way or the other will have noteworthy bearing on the overall scheme of things.
First, General Petraeus is in Washington with his proposals on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. It has been reported that US troops who were part of 2009 surge are scheduled to begin coming home in July.
There is a debate going on in Obama administration with regard to the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. While the US Congress feels that the war on terror in Afghanistan is largely over following the death of Osama bin Laden, the administration feels otherwise. Still, President Obama has said the surge troops would begin coming home in July 2011 and recently declared that the number would be “significant.”
On the other hand, there are reports that the US wants some of the troops to stay back in Afghanistan under a strategic agreement with the Karzai administration. According to a report, five bases in Afghanistan could house large contingents of US forces and military hardware, including intelligence officials, Special Operation Forces, drones, fighter aircraft, artillery, helicopters, etc beyond 2014.
The report says that “in the heart of one of the most unstable regions in the world, and close to the borders of Pakistan, Iran and China, as well as central Asia and Persian Gulf, the bases would be rare strategic assets.” This has understandably alarmed Afghanistan’s neighbours.
Second, it has been reported that US Special Operations Forces have been capturing innocent Afghan villagers in the name of Taliban. General David Petraeus had announced in August 2010 that the SOF, during 90 days preceding August, had held 1,355 ordinary Taliban soldiers, killed another 1,031 Taliban and captured 365 middle or high-ranking Taliban. In December 2010, it was announced that in six months, some 4,100 ordinary Taliban Mujahideen had been captured while 2,000 had been eliminated by the Special Operations Forces.
However, it has now been revealed that the US troops were forced to release more than 80 percent of those arrested because they were innocent. In other words, the Americans had wrongly arrested four out of five so-called Taliban foot soldiers and commanders. This astonishing revelation brings into question if many of those killed were innocent villagers as well.
Says a report: “Three hundred forty-five detainees, or 20 percent of the 1,686 total number of those who were detained in Parwan from June through November, were released upon review of their cases, according to the same Feb. 5, 2011, Task Force document obtained by IPS. The vast majority of those released from the facility had been sent to Parwan in June or later.
“Detainees are released from Parwan only when the evidence against them is so obviously weak or non-existent that US officers cannot justify continuing to hold them, despite the fact that the detainees lack normal procedural rights in the non-adversarial hearing by the Task Force’s Detainee Review.
“The deliberate confusion, sowed by Petraeus by referring to anyone picked up for interrogation as a captured rank-and-file Taliban, was a key element of a carefully considered strategy for creating a more favourable image of the war.” So after all, the US does not plan to leave Afghanistan at all.
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