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Afghan insurgency resembling iraq suicide tactics Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Afghan suicide attacks raise threat to US, NATO
17 Nov 2005 09:50:48 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban fighters appear to have taken a deadly page from the handbook of Iraq's insurgency, embarking for the first time on a concerted campaign of suicide attacks to drive U.S.-led forces out of their country.
The Taliban, fighting to regain power after U.S. and allied forces ousted them in 2001, has launched three suicide bomb attacks in three days this week, killing one German peacekeeper and several Afghan civilians. In each case, cars carrying explosives were driven into military convoys.
Until recently, such attacks have been sporadic.
"Taliban have planned and prepared for suicide attacks since long ago and a large number of Taliban is present in all cities of Afghanistan, including Kabul, and are only waiting for orders to attack," senior Taliban commander and former defence minister Mullah Obaidullah said after the latest attack on Wednesday.
"We have prepared for a long war against foreign forces," he told Reuters.
The Taliban, allies of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda followers, say they have copied tactics of Iraqi insurgents, hoping to sap the resolve of U.S.-led forces, including America's NATO allies.
NATO is expected next year to take more responsibility for fighting insurgents in southern Afghanistan, the Taliban's former stronghold, to enable U.S. forces to focus on Iraq.
"The change of tactics, specially suicide missions, is a copy from our Mujahideen (holy warriors) brothers in Iraq," chief Taliban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen told Reuters just a week ago.
NATO forces say they are responding to the change in tactics.
"We have seen in the recent months a slight change of strategy," Lieutenant Colonel Riccardo Cristoni, a spokesman for NATO's International Assistance Security Force (ISAF), told Reuters after the first of this week's suicide attacks.
"We have seen more suicide attacks ... but we are preparing to prevent them," Cristoni said.
On Monday, two suicide bombers drove their vehicles into NATO patrol vehicles, killing the German soldier and four Afghans.
On Wednesday, another suicide bomber drove his car into a convoy of U.S. troops in southern Kandahar, killing three pedestrians, but the U.S. military said no soldiers were harmed.
EARLIER SUICIDE ATTACKS
Afghanistan's militants no longer appear to launch attacks involving large numbers of fighters.
The last major clash with the Taliban was in spring in southern Zabul province. U.S. forces had been tipped off about a concentration of militants. Dozens of Taliban were killed in an air and ground operation by U.S. and Afghan forces.
Since then, Taliban fighters have carried out small hit-and-run attacks, planted roadside bombs and, increasingly, resorted to suicide attacks against U.S. and allied forces.
Hundreds of Afghan soldiers and nearly 60 foreign troops, most of them American, have died since spring in Taliban raids, mostly in the south and east where militants are most active.
The deadliest suicide attack was in June when more than 20 people, including Kabul's police chief, were killed in Kandahar in a mosque during a funeral for a top pro-government cleric. The cleric had been gunned down by the Taliban.
A suicide attack killed over 12 people, most of them U.S.-trained Afghan army officers, in September in Kabul. Several other suicide bombs followed in Kandahar, including one attack that wounded four visiting British government civil officers.
Recent attacks are amongst the worst violence since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban after they refused to hand over bin Laden, architect of Sept 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.
Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanezai insists the new tactic of suicide bombings is a sign of Taliban weakness, but the Islamist militants say they are more effective. Afghans living in the south and east say they suspect guerrillas are receiving funds for the suicide campaign from groups in the Middle East.
"They are very effective and better than face to face war for us to defeat the occupiers," the Taliban's Mutmaen said. (With additional reporting by Saeed Ali Achakzai in SPIN BOLDAK)
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