Rethinking Islam with Sultan Shahin

War on Terror

17 Feb 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com

Taliban target morale: suicide attacks in Kabul designed to strike fear

What they had proved once again is that the Taliban could strike at will anywhere in the heart of Kabul, the citadel of Afghanistan protected by the US military. The Taliban have managed to strike at a number of key targets within the city in recent times, including, among others, the ministry of justice, a United Nation’s guesthouse and the Indian embassy. All these have been suicide attacks meant to send a message. This time too, as the New York Times pointed out, the "effect of the attack seemed primarily psychological, designed to strike fear into the usually quiet precincts of downtown Kabul — and to drive home the ease with which insurgents could strike the American-backed government there". A Washington Post reporter quoted locals who shared this view: "This is to show the Afghan government and the internationals that they can carry out an attack one kilometre from the presidential palace". -- Indranil Banerjie URL of this page: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamWarOnTerror_1.aspx?ArticleID=2473 ----- Taliban target morale By Indranil Banerjie Jan.22: The Taliban attack in the heart of Kabul last Monday (January 18) has been universally described as "brazen". Several terrorists tried to enter the Afghan central bank building, which is next to the presidential palace and the ministry of justice building. One of the men wearing an explosives vest tried to blast through the entrance of the bank. A vigilant guard shot him down, but the man managed to blow himself up. Seeing that the bank entrance had not been breached, the rest of the terrorists entered a shopping mall next door, ordered all the people out and started firing at random towards the government buildings. After more than five hours of shooting and explosions, the Taliban terrorists were finally killed. Clearly, they had expected to go down fighting. What they had proved once again is that the Taliban could strike at will anywhere in the heart of Kabul, the citadel of Afghanistan protected by the US military. The Taliban have managed to strike at a number of key targets within the city in recent times, including, among others, the ministry of justice, a United Nation’s guesthouse and the Indian embassy. All these have been suicide attacks meant to send a message. This time too, as the New York Times pointed out, the "effect of the attack seemed primarily psychological, designed to strike fear into the usually quiet precincts of downtown Kabul — and to drive home the ease with which insurgents could strike the American-backed government there". A Washington Post reporter quoted locals who shared this view: "This is to show the Afghan government and the internationals that they can carry out an attack one kilometre from the presidential palace". The attacks are also directed at the Afghan and American public. The Taliban want front-page space for they appear to believe they are playing out a classic end game in Afghanistan. It was the brilliant Vietnamese strategist Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap who had developed the idea of demoralising enemy public opinion to win an otherwise unwinnable military engagement. He knew that his poorly equipped peasant army was no real match for the professional American military and its awesome firepower capabilities. Even as Gen. Giap launched the famous Tet offensive on January 31, 1968, he knew it was not going to be a military success. Yet as many as 35 Vietcong battalions were flung at Saigon, the seemingly unassailable capital of South Vietnam. The US embassy came under attack under the full view of American TV cameras. A 19-member suicide squad held the embassy for six hours until US paratroopers landed on the building’s roof by helicopters and took them out. The attack on Saigon and the pictures of American soldiers dying shook the United States. Although the Tet offensive failed and the Vietcong was beaten back, it had successfully broken the resolve of the American people. Shortly thereafter, US defence secretary Clark Clifford, an old friend of President Lyndon Johnson, advised a gradual pullout. The Taliban strategists are no fools and some of them, or their advisers, are students of military history. They know that their real goal is not the military defeat of the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan, it is breaking American resolve. Some indications from Washington have suggested that the American resolve is beginning to crumble. The Taliban want to fast forward that process. At the same time, the Taliban leadership too is under pressure. The Pakistani military has shown more resolve in hitting the Taliban in South Waziristan Agency. If the Pakistani Army moves further west into the valleys where Siraj Haqqani’s troops are believed to be located, it could signal the beginning of major problems for the Taliban. There is, however, a possibility that the Pakistani Army will continue to offer some space to the Taliban in Waziristan and elsewhere. The problem is the constant US pressure on the Pakistani Army GHQ. The Indian government has withdrawn a significant number of troops from Kashmir and has opened political dialogue with the separatists. This puts even more pressure on Rawalpindi to continue to shift troops from the east to the Afghan border. This scenario does not seem to appeal to the Pakistani Army establishment. This could be one reason why Indian troops have been coming under increasing fire from the Pakistani side. Infiltration attempts too have surged. In some sectors along the Line of Control (LoC), the Indian side retaliated and two Pakistani soldiers were reported killed on Tuesday. The Pakistanis have blamed the Indians and suggested that this kind of situation does not warrant a further thinning out of troops along the LoC. Some writers close to the Pakistani Army establishment have even conjured up the threat of a two-front military conflict. The well-known Pakistani writer on strategic issues, Shireen Mazari, writing in the Nation, claims that the British and the Americans have decided "to give India a major military role in Afghanistan". This kind of thinking goes down well with the more paranoid in Pakistan and helps mould public opinion against the US war effort in Afghanistan. It also provides a rationale for keeping the Taliban alive. Indranil Banerjie is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi Source: The Asian Age, New Delhi URL of this page: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamWarOnTerror_1.aspx?ArticleID=2473