Xenophobia Rules
Strategy Page
May 30, 2006: Although their spring offensive has not been particularly successful, the Taliban continue to press it with some vigor. The Taliban has come closest to making a serious impact in Helmand Province. This seems to be the result of a combination of some excellent leadership which has used close ties to clan and tribal groups in the province, who provide considerable support and assistance. There are apparently some 250-350 "hard core" Taliban operating in the province, which has always been one of the more difficult regions of the country from the point of view of whoever happens to be running the "central government" in Kabul.
The fighting in the south has killed about 500 people in the last two weeks. Some 80 percent of the dead have been Taliban, the rest police, soldiers and civilians. The Taliban are trying to avoid contact with the security forces, and employing terror tactics as much as possible. To that end, police today found the bodies of three previously kidnapped policemen, who had been killed and beheaded. The Taliban have been threatening villagers, to offer support for the Taliban, not tell the police anything, and to comply with Taliban customs. This includes shutting down schools, especially those that educate girls. Educational policy is a real sore point with the Taliban, and a major point of disagreement between the Taliban and most Afghans. But the Taliban do have one goal that most Afghans can agree with; getting all foreigners out of the country. Disliking foreigners is a major Afghan tradition, and the Taliban play upon it to recruit supporters.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan, which has a battalion serving with Coalition forces in Iraq, has long been a supporter of the Afghan government, has decided to become much more active in helping stabilize the country. There are several reasons for this decision. Kazak President Nursultan Nazarbayev is hardly one of the champions of democracy in Central Asia, and has been under considerable international pressure. By increasing support to Afghanistan, he hopes to ease pressure from the US, which has often been very blunt. In addition, Nazarbayev may view taking a more active role in support of Afghan as a way of discouraging his internal opponents of an Islamist bent, with whom the country recently had a short "war".
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