Afghanistan: The New Focus of the War on Terror. Afghanistan Land of Mountains and Deserts.

Afghanistan: The New Focus of the War on Terror

Afghanistan Land of Mountains and Deserts

Afghanistan Ethnic Groups Population:

32,738,376 (July 2008 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 44.6% 15-64 years: 53% 65 years and over: 2.4%

Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, Other 4%

Afghanistan the Battleground During the nineteenth century,

Afghanistan saw much of its territory and autonomy ceded to the United Kingdom.

The UK exercised a great deal of influence, and it was not until King Amanullah Khan acceded to the throne in 1919 that Afghanistan re-gained complete independence over its foreign affairs.

During the period of British intervention in Afghanistan, ethnic Pashtun territories were divided. This would lead to strained relations between Afghanistan and British India – and later the new state of Pakistan.

The longest period of stability in Afghanistan was between 1933 and 1973, when the country was under the rule of King Zahir Shah.

Afghanistan the Battleground

1973 – 1996 was a period of multifactional fighting The Soviet Union intervened on December 24, 1979. Over 100,000 Soviet troops took part in the

invasion backed by another 100,000 plus. Faced with mounting international pressure and great number of casualties on both sides, the Soviets withdrew in 1989.

Fighting continued among the victorious Mujahideen factions, which gave rise to a state of warlordism.

A politico-religious force, the Taliban, eventually seized Kabul in 1996 and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. By the end of 2000 the Taliban had captured 95% of the country.

During the Taliban's seven-year rule, much of the population experienced restrictions on their freedom and violations of their human rights.

The U.S. Presence Following the September 11 attacks the United

States launched Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001, a military campaign to destroy the al-Qaeda terrorist training camps inside Afghanistan.

The U.S. military also sought to overthrow the Taliban government for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden and several al-Qaida members. The U.S. made a common cause with the Northern Alliance, an anti-Pashtun militia still recognized by the UN as the Afghan government.

Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun of the Durrani clan (from which the royal family was drawn) is now the President. Karzai was a top adviser to the UNOCAL corporation, which negotiated with the Taliban to construct a Central Asia Gas (CentGas) pipeline from Turkmenistan through western Afghanistan to Pakistan.

Revitalizing US Efforts in Afghanistan

The United States-led coalition has been unable to transform an overwhelming military victory in 2001 into a stable postwar political situation because of: Afghanistan's fractious politics and shattered economic, state, and civil society

infrastructures; a minimalist American approach to committing military forces and foreign aid; Pakistan's failure to crack down decisively on Taliban forces that have taken refuge in

Pashtun tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border; the Afghan government's failure to expand its authority and deliver services to rural

Afghans; and a shortfall of economic aid, due in part to many countries' failure to fulfill their foreign aid

pledges to Afghanistan.

President-Elect Obama’s Ideas “We must refocus our efforts on Afghanistan

and Pakistan -- the central front in our war against al Qaeda -- so that we are confronting terrorists where their roots run deepest.

I will join with our allies in insisting -- not simply requesting -- that Pakistan crack down on the Taliban, pursue Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants, and end its relationship with all terrorist groups.”

Intensification of Actions in Afghanistan There are now some 70,000 Western forces in

Afghanistan, including 32,000 U.S. forces -- 14,500 under NATO command and 17,500 under a U.S. command.

U.S. Army Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander of NATO and U.S. forces in the country has asked for at least 20,000 additional forces to be deployed over the next 12 to 18 months .

U.S. forces also seem to be operating on new rules of engagement concerning attacking Taliban and al-Qaeda in their sanctuaries inside Pakistan.

The Tribal Areas of Pakistan

For the area’s tribesmen, being citizens of Pakistan is secondary to their Pashtun identity, and they regard foreigners, including Pakistani forces, with suspicion. Historically, Islamabad has exercised limited authority over the tribal agencies,

Extending the War to Pakistan? The militant, Rashid Rauf, was

among the five people killed last Saturday in an attack by a remotely piloted U.S. aircraft in North Waziristan, close to the Afghan border. He was the main suspect in the plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners in 2006.

The missile strike in North Waziristan on Saturday was the third by the Americans in almost three days. Since August, there have been more than two dozen strikes inside Pakistan by remotely piloted aircraft.

The Predator Drone

The MQ-1 Predator is an unmanned aerial vehicle

It can serve in a reconnaissance role and fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.

The aircraft, in use since 1995, has seen combat over Afghanistan, Pakistan Bosnia, Serbia Iraq and Yemen. It is a remote-controlled aircraft.

The Hellfire System on the Predator

The aircraft is equipped with Multi-spectral Targeting System, a color nose camera (generally used by the pilot for flight control), a variable aperture day-TV camera, and a variable aperture infrared camera (for low light/night).

All Predators are equipped with a laser designator that allows the pilot to identify targets for other aircraft and even provide the laser-guidance for manned aircraft. This laser is also the designator for the AGM-114 Hellfire that are carried on the MQ-1.

Hellfire Missiles AGM-114L, or Longbow Hellfire, is a

fire-and-forget weapon: equipped with a millimeter wave radar seeker, it requires no further guidance after launch and can hit its target without the launcher being in line of sight of the target. It also provides capability in adverse weather and battlefield obscurants.

Each Hellfire weighs 47 kg / 106 pounds, including the 9 kg / 20 pound warhead, and has a range of 8,000 meters.

Some 21,000 Hellfire IIs have been built since 1990, at a cost of about $68,000 each.

Hellfire Strike on a Suspected Terrorist Site in Village

Creating a More Stabilized Central Asia? Pakistan, a 61-year-old country marbled by ethnic fault lines, is a

collection of just four provinces, which often seem to have little in common. Virtually every one of its borders, drawn almost arbitrarily in the last gasps of the British Empire, is disputed with its neighbors, not least Pakistan’s bitter and much larger rival, India.

“One of the biggest fears of the Pakistani military planners is the collaboration between India and Afghanistan to destroy Pakistan,” said a senior Pakistani government official involved in strategic planning, who insisted on anonymity as per diplomatic custom. “Some people feel the United States is colluding in this.”

Pakistani Fears of Redrawing National Borders

Survey of Pakistani Attitudes: June 2008 Half of all Pakistanis want their government to negotiate and not

fight Al Qaeda, with less than a third saying military action by the Pakistani government against Al-Qaeda is called for.

Regarding the Taliban, 58 percent favor negotiating to 19 percent for military action.

12 percent of Pakistanis supported unilateral American military action against Al Qaeda fighters inside Pakistan.

A third of Pakistanis now voice a positive view of Al-Qaeda, nearly double the percentage from earlier this year. Similarly, for Bin Laden, 34 percent currently have a favorable opinion, up from 24 percent in January (but still below the 46 percent who thought so in August 2007).

Trust for American motives has sunk to new lows: Three quarters of Pakistanis say that the real purpose of the US-led war on terror is to weaken the Muslim world and dominate Pakistan.