By JOHN CHERIAN
That the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable is becoming increasingly clear to the U.S. administration.
TIM WIMBORNE/REUTERS
A U.S. soldier on patrol in the Pesh valley in Kunar province on July 24. Much of the Afghan countryside is under Taliban control.
DESPITE the military surge in Afghanistan ordered by President Barack Obama, the situation is only getting worse for the United States-led occupation forces as well as for ordinary Afghans. The Taliban has shown its military resilience by continuing with its attacks on the U.S./North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) forces and has on many occasions stood its ground against massive firepower and the troop surge in Helmand and other areas of western Afghanistan, where most of the current battles are raging. The Taliban continues to hold considerable sway over almost a third of Afghanistan.
As for the civilians, a United Nations report released in the last week of July said that 1,013 civilians had been killed so far this year. During the same period in 2008, the civilian toll was around 800. July was a particularly bad month for the foreign troops. Seventy of them were killed in the month – 43 of them American and 22 British soldiers. It was the worst month for the foreign forces since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently warned that the Taliban fighters had become more dangerous and that the U.S./NATO forces faced a crucial 18-month period before Afghanistan was “stabilised”.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said in late July that the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was alarming. She called for immediate steps to be taken by all the sides involved in the conflict to protect the civilian populace. According to the U.N., most of the civilian casualties were the result of roadside bomb explosions caused by the Taliban and the rampant use of airpower on civilian targets by the occupation forces. Most observers feel that the civilian casualties are only bound to increase as the U.S. military surge continues. The fighting is now getting concentrated in populated areas.
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