By Rachel Morarjee and Daniel Dombey
Financial Times, 26 October 2006
Nato on Thursday sought to dismiss fears that its operation in Afghanistan was in disarray after a series of bloody and controversial incidents that have seen the alliance come under new pressure in the country’s south.
Nato forces have been accused this week of killing dozens of civilians in an airstrike and have clashed with the Taliban in an area the alliance declared free of insurgents last month.
In a separate development, Ronald Neumann, US ambassador to Afghanistan, criticised a ceasefire deal reached by UK Nato troops and local groups in a town in Afghanistan’s turbulent Helmand province.
Nato said its show of force in recent months had put the Taliban on the defensive. Many western officials – such as Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British army – argue that Nato troops are much better placed to contain the fighting in Afghanistan than equivalent forces in Iraq.
“We have demonstrated that we are strong enough on the combat side to be the winners,” Mark Laity, Nato spokesman in Afghanistan, said on Thursday. “After 30 years of fighting, people in the south are nervous of being on the wrong side.”
But on Thursday Afghan officials said a Nato airstrike on Tuesday had killed more than 60 civilians after Taliban guerrillas attacked western military bases.
Niaz Mohammad Saradi, district governor of Panjwai district, said 60 people were killed when Taliban fighters took cover inside houses in the village of Zangwat.
However, Bismillah Afghanmal, Kandahar Provincial Council member, said 85 people had been killed in the airstrike, and witnesses said 25 houses had been razed.
Nato said its troops had killed 48 militants in three battles in Panjwai on Tuesday and could confirm only 12 civilian deaths.
In September, Nato concluded operation Medusa, in which hundreds of insurgents were killed in Panjwai district. Nato officials said this had cleared the Taliban from the area.
The attack this week in Panj-wai came as British troops in neighbouring Helmand province withdrew from Musa Qala district, previously the scene of heavy firefights, after negotiating a truce with tribal elders.
This week Mr Neumann told the UK’s Daily Telegraph that the “jury is out” on the Musa Qala deal.
“There is a lot of nervousness about who the truce was made with, who the arrangement was made with, and whether it will hold,” he said.
Sam Zarifi at Human Rights Watch in New York said Nato’s offensive had caused serious resentment among Afghans and been counter-productive.
“The Soviets tried and failed to defeat Afghan guerrillas by using massive firepower so we know clearly that that is not the way to win in Afghanistan. You have to win the populace over, not kill it,” he said.
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Citation: Rachel Morarjee and Daniel Dombey. "Nato denies Afghanistan push in disarray," Financial Times, 26 October 2006.
Original URL: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3b89cc6c-6529-11db-90fd-0000779e2340.html
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