06/04/2006
stampa
invia
stampainvia
The Talibans launch their spring attack, starting out the fifth year of “afterwar”
On March 21st, the first day of spring, the Afghans celebrated their new years
eve, the Nawroz of year 1385 – according to the Persian calendar.
Territories off-limits controlled by the Talibans. The district of Sangin, in the province of Helmand, on the border with that
of Kandahar, is one of the many areas in the south of Afghanistan where the authority
of Kabul’s government doesn’t exist and has never managed to oust the one of the
Talibans. A desert area but covered with small Pashtun villages, considered absolutely
off-limits by the police and by Karzai’s army. So far not even the occupation forces of
the Coalition headed by the US have ventured in this area. Recently the Americans
of Task-Force 76 and the Canadian Light Infantry “Princess Patricia” decided to
cross the asphalt border line represented by the road from Kabul to Herat and
to head towards the northern rocky mountains of Uruzgan to pitch their tents in
full “hostile territory”. The joint operation Sula Qowel, Builders of Peace in Pashto, had the purpose of building two military outposts,
two front line bases (Forward Operational Bases, in military slang) in the district of Sangin and in the adjoining district
of Maywand, in the province of Kandahar.
March 29th: an attack as never seen before. The “welcoming” of the Talibans was immediate. At dawn of last Wednesday March
29th, dozens of guerrilla attacked the base of Sangin with a deployment of arms never
seen in the last four years: besides kalashnikovs and grenades, the attackers
also had for the first time mortars with which they bombarded the base killing
two soldiers, an American and a Canadian and injuring critically several other.
The Coalition forces responded with heavy artillery killing a dozen Talibans and
then launched them selves in a chase against the attackers that had escaped west
in the desert beyond the river Helmand. The fighter bombers and the US combat
helicopters triggered hell on the escaping Talibans by bombing the area of Oala-e-Gaz
in the district of Grishk with bombs of 230 Kilos, incendiary devices and remote
control operated missiles. The outcome of the raid according to the US command
is of twenty Taliban casualties. According to local witnesses the victims are
mostly (at least 15) civil residents of the area among which women and children.
The American generals deny, and declare having destroyed two Taliban basis and
having killed only guerrilla.
It appears to be a harsh “afterwar” fifth year. A few days after, the Afghan army entered into action in the area where last
Friday March 31st they clashed against the Talibans in the North-Eastern district of Sangin, the
Kajaki one: during the battle six Talibans and one Afghan soldier appear to have
been killed.
On March 29th, only a few days later, the Talibans started their traditional
“Spring attack”, inaugurating the fifth year of armed resistance against the foreign
occupying forces. This was an attack in great style that triggered a violent retaliation
of the Americans that took the lives of at least a dozen innocent civilians, women
and children.
Territories off-limits controlled by the Talibans. The district of Sangin, in the province of Helmand, on the border with that
of Kandahar, is one of the many areas in the south of Afghanistan where the authority
of Kabul’s government doesn’t exist and has never managed to oust the one of the
Talibans. A desert area but covered with small Pashtun villages, considered absolutely
off-limits by the police and by Karzai’s army. So far not even the occupation forces of
the Coalition headed by the US have ventured in this area. Recently the Americans
of Task-Force 76 and the Canadian Light Infantry “Princess Patricia” decided to
cross the asphalt border line represented by the road from Kabul to Herat and
to head towards the northern rocky mountains of Uruzgan to pitch their tents in
full “hostile territory”. The joint operation Sula Qowel, Builders of Peace in Pashto, had the purpose of building two military outposts,
two front line bases (Forward Operational Bases, in military slang) in the district of Sangin and in the adjoining district
of Maywand, in the province of Kandahar.March 29th: an attack as never seen before. The “welcoming” of the Talibans was immediate. At dawn of last Wednesday March
29th, dozens of guerrilla attacked the base of Sangin with a deployment of arms never
seen in the last four years: besides kalashnikovs and grenades, the attackers
also had for the first time mortars with which they bombarded the base killing
two soldiers, an American and a Canadian and injuring critically several other.
The Coalition forces responded with heavy artillery killing a dozen Talibans and
then launched them selves in a chase against the attackers that had escaped west
in the desert beyond the river Helmand. The fighter bombers and the US combat
helicopters triggered hell on the escaping Talibans by bombing the area of Oala-e-Gaz
in the district of Grishk with bombs of 230 Kilos, incendiary devices and remote
control operated missiles. The outcome of the raid according to the US command
is of twenty Taliban casualties. According to local witnesses the victims are
mostly (at least 15) civil residents of the area among which women and children.
The American generals deny, and declare having destroyed two Taliban basis and
having killed only guerrilla. It appears to be a harsh “afterwar” fifth year. A few days after, the Afghan army entered into action in the area where last
Friday March 31st they clashed against the Talibans in the North-Eastern district of Sangin, the
Kajaki one: during the battle six Talibans and one Afghan soldier appear to have
been killed. In the meantime the Taliban Spring attack continues in the provinces of Helmand
and Kandahar with ambushes, attacks and suicide attacks (three in three days,
all in the area of Kandahar) against US and Canadian military convoys - causing
dozen of injured people – against vehicles and police and Afghan military posts
that cost the life to twenty military.
In the first three months of 2006 there have already been 500 casualties (130
civilians, 110 Talibans, 233 Afghan military and 15 US soldiers, 3 Canadians,
2 British and one French), confirming the tendency of last year (2 thousand casualties),
that had been the bloodiest since the fall of the Taliban regime. If things will
go ahead like this for the 30 thousand western soldiers that occupy Afghanistan,
it will be a really difficult fifth year of “afterwar”.
Enrico Piovesana
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