Security forces have not buckled under pressure from the Taleban this year. In fact they have shown their mettle with the successful holding of two rounds of elections – in April and June. However, insurgents’ activity has escalated and in some districts outnumbered ANSF.
Taking advantage of the shift in power, insurgents have mounted numerous attacks on security forces in Sangin district, Helmand; in the north on Dasht Archi, Chahar Dara and Khan Abad districts in Kunduz province; in the east on Hesarak district in Nangarhar province; in the north on Khuja Ghar district, Takhar and Qaisar and Ghormach districts of Faryab province. They also launched attacks in Ghazni, Nuristan and Logar provinces but were resisted by security forces.
General Murad Ali Murad, commander of the ground forces, said ISAF has been reduced to sometimes providing support to Afghan forces during operations against insurgents. Afghan forces have proved their ability to defend the country, he added.
Security has been affected by the failure to sign the Bilateral Strategic Agreement (BSA) with Washington. After President Hamid Karzai called off NATO airstrikes over the killings of unarmed civilians, counter operations have been solely dependent on ground forces.
General Zaher Azimi, Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson, said the Taleban changed tactics after NATO air cover tapered off last year. “While earlier insurgent groups were not more than 15 to 25 individuals, 800 insurgents attacked in Sangin, Helmand province, and hundreds in Faryab, Kunar, Badakhshan and Kapisa,” he said. “Afghan forces launched a successful defence,” he added.
Some defence observers think the long-drawn election process has affected internal security preparedness with security forces, including senior officers, sent on election-related duties. Hayatullah Hayat, an activist, said, “High ranking governmental authorities should not forget their duty”. In his opinion Afghan security forces need more encouragement and mobilisation “to be able to ensure security of people with better morale”.
Outnumbering ANSF
Governor of Faryab Mohammadullah Batash has complained about the security situation in Ghormach and Qaisar districts, where insurgents outnumber security forces. “There are foreign Taleban for instance from Pakistan, Chechnya and Uzbekistan … They are trying to block the highway in the two districts, lay siege to police posts,” he said.
The weak security shield is being blamed on lack of military equipment including technical assistance. The government has maintained the shortage of military hardware has hampered the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). President Karzai has often urged NATO and the US to keep commitments to equip the security forces. Also the government has appealed for military assistance from other allies like India.
In May 2012, at the NATO Chicago summit, Kabul was promised military assistance worth 5 billion USD over 10 years, and the strength of security forces was to be raised to 195,000. However, this may have been an underestimation, according to the authorities. Minister of Interior Affairs Omar Dawoodzai said at a recent conference on financing Afghan security, “The ministry was not working on a strategy when the budgets for the years 2014 and 15 were drawn up. Now that we are our prediction is that expenses would be more than in the past.”
Dawoodzai would like to see an increase in the number of security forces.
Minister of Finance Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal has calculated that the government would need 5-6 billion USD annually for ANSF after 2014. “The needs that we identified in the Chicago conference are less than what we are faced with today,” he said. The government will be presenting a revised wish list for security forces at the NATO summit in Wales, Sep 4 and 5.
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