Aryavartha
26-10-2006, 02:27
Isn't it lovely how the war on terror is progressing....
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=331412&sid=SAS
US ambassador attacks British truce with Taliban
London, Oct 25: The US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann has expressed "unease" over the British military's ceasefire with the Taliban and subsequent withdrawal from a flashpoint town of Musa Qala.
British troops moved out of the town of Musa Qala in North Helmand last week after a truce negotiated by tribal elders acting as intermediaries with the military.
After months of heavy fighting in which eight British soldiers and hundreds of Taliban fighters died, they handed over to an Afghan militia raised from local men.
Both the original decision to send troops to outputs - "platoon houses" - and the deal proved highly controversial. It is understood another such arrangement is being negotiated in another hotspot, Sangeen.
"There is a lot of nervousness about who the truce was made with, who the arrangements was made with, and whether it will hold," Neuman told a British daily.
He said the "jury is out" over whether the deal can be seen as a positive move. :rolleyes: He said repercussions of the takeover by local forces must be "rigorously tested" to ensure that Musa Qala had not simply morphaned into "a sanctuary for an area governed by the Taliban". [you mean like how the great frontlyin allie Pakistan abandoned Waziristan to taliban and how it is now run by taliban to the point where they actually collect taxes (http://in.news.yahoo.com/061023/139/68po4.html) and stuff....:D ]
The report said there is also a high degree of nervousness in the Afghan government about the Musa Qala deal, with ministers comparing it warily to truces with the Soviet Army in the 1980s which Mujahideen commanders used to build up their forces and gain a tactical advantage.
Brigadier Ed Butler, the outgoing commander of British forces in Helmand, said after the initial truce was agreed last month: "I fully acknowledge that we could be being duped; that the Taliban may be buying time to reconstitute and regenerate.
"But every day that there is no fighting the power moves to the hands of the tribal elders who are turning to the government of Afghanistan for security and development."
According to the report British commanders have denied that the Taliban were directly involved in the truce negotiations, which they say were conducted alongside the Governor of Helmand with local tribal elders. NATO officials have briefed journalists that local tribal elders in Musa Qala forced the Taliban to stop fighting.
The summer saw intense fighting across Helmand, where 4,300 troops are based as part of a NATO campaign to end the insurgency and begin reconstruction.
British forces have fired close to half a million rounds. More than 1,000 Taliban fighters have died in the fighting, which has seen 17 British soldiers killed and more than 70 injured.
Neumann said the US and NATO analysis earlier in the summer indicated that in areas of the south such as Helmand, local tribes were siding with the Taliban because of grievances over local bad governance. "If you just say anyone who is sympathetic to the fight on the other side is forever out side the pale of negotiation you rather shoot yourself in foot," he said. [But but but...I thought you were either with us or against us...no?:confused: ]
"But at the same time if you have an area that is under the Afghan government flag but is not under the actual authority of the Afghan government then you are losing in a very big way. It (the truce) certainly shouldn't be replicated until those questions have been answered."
Neumann also criticized the continued refusal of several European nations with troops serving in quiet parts of Afghanistan to commit their troops in the fighting in the south.
"There was a NATO decision to go to Afghanistan," he said. "I think it is appropriate to ask all nations to respect the decision that they participated in making. Not everyone has respected that decision."
Neumann's comments were echoed by NATO's supreme commander, Gen James Jones, who said that those countries that had placed caveats on the use of their soldiers - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey - were still at risk of attack.
Gen Jones said the mission to subdue the insurgency in Afghanistan was at a "turning point" following recent fighting. He predicted that insurgents would now shy from confronting coalition troops in pitched battles and would instead resort to the car bombs and indirect tactics that have proved so devastating in Iraq.
Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=331412&sid=SAS
US ambassador attacks British truce with Taliban
London, Oct 25: The US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann has expressed "unease" over the British military's ceasefire with the Taliban and subsequent withdrawal from a flashpoint town of Musa Qala.
British troops moved out of the town of Musa Qala in North Helmand last week after a truce negotiated by tribal elders acting as intermediaries with the military.
After months of heavy fighting in which eight British soldiers and hundreds of Taliban fighters died, they handed over to an Afghan militia raised from local men.
Both the original decision to send troops to outputs - "platoon houses" - and the deal proved highly controversial. It is understood another such arrangement is being negotiated in another hotspot, Sangeen.
"There is a lot of nervousness about who the truce was made with, who the arrangements was made with, and whether it will hold," Neuman told a British daily.
He said the "jury is out" over whether the deal can be seen as a positive move. :rolleyes: He said repercussions of the takeover by local forces must be "rigorously tested" to ensure that Musa Qala had not simply morphaned into "a sanctuary for an area governed by the Taliban". [you mean like how the great frontlyin allie Pakistan abandoned Waziristan to taliban and how it is now run by taliban to the point where they actually collect taxes (http://in.news.yahoo.com/061023/139/68po4.html) and stuff....:D ]
The report said there is also a high degree of nervousness in the Afghan government about the Musa Qala deal, with ministers comparing it warily to truces with the Soviet Army in the 1980s which Mujahideen commanders used to build up their forces and gain a tactical advantage.
Brigadier Ed Butler, the outgoing commander of British forces in Helmand, said after the initial truce was agreed last month: "I fully acknowledge that we could be being duped; that the Taliban may be buying time to reconstitute and regenerate.
"But every day that there is no fighting the power moves to the hands of the tribal elders who are turning to the government of Afghanistan for security and development."
According to the report British commanders have denied that the Taliban were directly involved in the truce negotiations, which they say were conducted alongside the Governor of Helmand with local tribal elders. NATO officials have briefed journalists that local tribal elders in Musa Qala forced the Taliban to stop fighting.
The summer saw intense fighting across Helmand, where 4,300 troops are based as part of a NATO campaign to end the insurgency and begin reconstruction.
British forces have fired close to half a million rounds. More than 1,000 Taliban fighters have died in the fighting, which has seen 17 British soldiers killed and more than 70 injured.
Neumann said the US and NATO analysis earlier in the summer indicated that in areas of the south such as Helmand, local tribes were siding with the Taliban because of grievances over local bad governance. "If you just say anyone who is sympathetic to the fight on the other side is forever out side the pale of negotiation you rather shoot yourself in foot," he said. [But but but...I thought you were either with us or against us...no?:confused: ]
"But at the same time if you have an area that is under the Afghan government flag but is not under the actual authority of the Afghan government then you are losing in a very big way. It (the truce) certainly shouldn't be replicated until those questions have been answered."
Neumann also criticized the continued refusal of several European nations with troops serving in quiet parts of Afghanistan to commit their troops in the fighting in the south.
"There was a NATO decision to go to Afghanistan," he said. "I think it is appropriate to ask all nations to respect the decision that they participated in making. Not everyone has respected that decision."
Neumann's comments were echoed by NATO's supreme commander, Gen James Jones, who said that those countries that had placed caveats on the use of their soldiers - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey - were still at risk of attack.
Gen Jones said the mission to subdue the insurgency in Afghanistan was at a "turning point" following recent fighting. He predicted that insurgents would now shy from confronting coalition troops in pitched battles and would instead resort to the car bombs and indirect tactics that have proved so devastating in Iraq.
Bureau Report