Attacks in Afghanistan hit record-high
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:17:43 +0000
KABUL: As the Trump administration weighs significant United States troop reductions in Afghanistan, the number of attacks carried out by the Taliban and other anti-government forces reached a record high in the last three months of last year, according to a new report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
Despite the continued violence, the Trump administration says it is considering reducing the number of US troops fighting terrorist groups and assisting local forces in the country from approximately 12,000 to 8,600 even in the absence of an agreement with the Taliban aimed at reducing violence and jump-starting talks between the insurgents and the internationally backed government in Kabul.
“Taliban attacks continued at a high tempo. According to data provided by the NATO (North Atlantic Alliance) Resolute Support mission, enemy-initiated attacks during the fourth quarter of 2019 were at the highest level for a fourth quarter of any year since recording began in 2010,” the report said, referring to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan aimed at training and advising local Afghan forces.
There were 8,204 such “enemy-initiated attacks” during the last three months of 2019, according to the report, with some 37 percent of those attacks being considered “successful,” which are defined as attacks that result in Afghan military, police, international coalition forces or civilian casualties.
While the number of attacks reached a record high, the proportion that were designated successful was similar to the same period in 2018. During the last quarter of 2018, there were 6,974 enemy-initiated attacks, of which 38 percent were considered successful.
Many of the successful attacks were launched by the Taliban against poorly defended and remote government checkpoints that are often manned by a small number of Afghan soldiers or police.
Reducing those checkpoints has long been a goal of US military advisers in Afghanistan, but Afghan government officials continue to use them for what the US sees as political reasons.
Despite the increase in overall attacks in the final months of 2019, the Taliban were unable to contest control over any major cities or towns in Afghanistan, something the insurgent group has managed in previous years, and the violence has been largely confined to rural areas as the Afghan security forces have bolstered security in major cities, including the capital, Kabul.
“The number of enemy initiated attacks for this quarter were slightly higher than the historical average.
“The Taliban increased the scale and violence of its attacks against population centers, including indiscriminate attacks against civilians to disrupt the democratic process, pressure the United States and delegitimize the Afghan government.
“The Taliban, however, were unable to fulfill its proclaimed fighting season campaign objectives, capture any provincial capitals or gain any clear military advantage,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Campbell said in a statement.
AP