Taliban takes hold in once-peaceful northern Afghanistan

By Joshua Partlow in The Washington Post, Aug 15

QAYSAR, AFGHANISTAN -- In squads of roaring dirt bikes and armed to the teeth, Taliban fighters are spreading like a brush fire into remote and defenseless villages across northern Afghanistan.

The fighters swarm into town, assemble the villagers and announce Taliban control, often at night and without any resistance.

With most Afghan and NATO troops stationed in the country's south and east, villagers in the path of the Taliban advance into the once-peaceful north say they are powerless and terrified, confused by the government's inability to prevail -- and ready to side with the insurgents to save their own lives.

"How did the Taliban get into every village?" Israel Arbah asked from his mud hut in the Shah Qassim village of Faryab province. "They are everywhere. And they are moving very fast. To tell you honestly, I am really, really afraid."

In the past year, security in northern Afghanistan has deteriorated rapidly as insurgents have seized new territory in provinces such as Kunduz and Baghlan, and even infiltrated the scenic mountain oasis of Badakhshan, where 10 members of a Christian charity's medical team were massacred this month. Each new northern base is becoming a hive of activity, with fighters rotating in and out, daily planning meetings and announcements at the mosque.

The U.S. military does not believe the Taliban has made a strategic decision to target the north to avoid the bulk of NATO forces in the south, according to a U.S. military official. But a former senior Afghan intelligence official based in the north said that is "absolutely" what has happened.

Before the Taliban invades a village, its arrival is sometimes preceded by a letter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/14/AR2010081402317_pf.html

2. 3 killed in attack on Afghan police

KUNDUZ: Insurgents led by an Uzbek militant group attacked an Afghan police station killing one policeman, with two militants later killed in a NATO air strike, officials said Sunday. The insurgents attacked Ali Abad district police headquarters in the northern province of Kunduz late Saturday, district chief Haseebullah Mohtasham told AFP.

 “One policeman was killed in the attack,” he said. NATO said coalition troops fired on the militants’ truck from the air, leaving two militants dead and wounding several others.

NATO said the attack was led by a commander of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group known to attack Afghan security forces.

It said the group also channeled weapons to insurgents in another troubled district in the area. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\16\story_16-8-2010_pg7_11

3. Russian choppers to Kabul?

WASHINGTON (Agencies): American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky is formally protesting U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) plans to purchase 21 Russian-made transport choppers for use in Afghanistan.

The Connecticut based company filed the protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office on August 5, claiming that their S-61 model is comparable to the Russian Mi-17 Navair is looking to procure and that it can accomplish the same mission. http://thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=an&nid=278

4. 20 Taliban, 3 NATO soldiers killed in clashes

KABUL (Agencies): More than 20 insurgents including Arab, and Chechen fighters have been killed by NATO and Afghan forces who are ramping up operations in the east against a Taliban faction linked to al-Qaida, the international coalition said Saturday. Separately, three more NATO troops — an American, a Briton and an Australian — were killed in separate insurgent attacks in the volatile south, officials of the three countries said Saturday.

The joint force operation began Wednesday against dozens of insurgents holed up in a mountainous area of Zadran district of Paktia province. The operation focused on disrupting the Haqqani network’s movement in an area used to stage attacks in the capital, Kabul, and along a highway that links Khost province and Gardez, the provincial capital of Paktia, NATO said.

In the north, NATO and coalition troops killed two insurgents Saturday after a patrol came under small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire in Kunduz province, NATO said. http://thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=an&nid=272

5. Clashes in Ashkmash

KUNDUZ (AIP): The Taliban and authorities raised conflicting claims about clashes in Ashkmash district of Takhar province yesterday.

The Takhar governor spokesman Faiz Muhammad Tauhidi told AIP that the Taliban conducted attack on police in Charsarka area, Ashkmash district, yesterday.

He added a Talib, Maulvi Dur Muhammad, was killed in the retaliatory fire by the police. He, however, said the police did not suffer any casualties in the gunfight. http://thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=an&nid=277