‘Insider Attacks’ on Afghan Forces Increased by 82%, US Agency Reports

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
April 30, 2021

A new quarterly U.S. report has documented a staggering 82% increase in “insider attacks” on Afghan government security forces in the first quarter of 2021, resulting in 115 personnel killed and 39 wounded.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported Thursday to the U.S. Congress that overall Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) casualties also were substantially higher than during the same period last year.

SIGAR is not allowed to include full ANDSF casualty data because U.S. forces in Afghanistan keep it classified at the request of the Afghan government.

The report noted that ANDSF suffered a total of 31 insider attacks from Jan. 1 through April 1, and the number of casualties they caused were more than double compared to the same period in 2020.

Taliban insurgents posing as Afghan police or military personnel are behind most of these insider attacks.

SIGAR submitted its quarterly report as 2,500 or so U.S. troops are preparing to begin pulling out of Afghanistan beginning Saturday. The military drawdown is to end by Sept. 11 and intends to conclude America’s longest war.

Nearly 17,000 U.S. Defense Department contractor personnel supporting the agency’s Afghan operations also will move out of the country along with the American troops. This includes 6,147 U.S. citizens, 6,399 third-country nationals, and 4,286 Afghan nationals, according to SIGAR.

The agency noted it is unclear who, if anyone, will replace contractor personnel or perform their work after their withdrawal.

“Without continued contractor support, none of the Afghan Air Force’s (AFF) airframes can be sustained as combat effective for more than a few months, depending on the stock of equipment parts in-country, the maintenance capability on each airframe, and when contractor support is withdrawn,” SIGAR said, citing U.S. military assessments.

The quarterly report explained that DOD contractors provide for and maintain ANDSF ground vehicles and train local technicians. Although the ANDSF has “dramatically improved its share of the work, it is still falling well below benchmarks for its share of the maintenance work orders they — rather than contractors — are supposed to perform.”

The withdrawal of American and NATO forces stems from a year-old agreement Washington negotiated with the Taliban, raising expectations at the time it also would encourage the insurgents and the Afghan government to agree on a power-sharing political deal to end the war.

But talks between the Afghan adversaries, which started last September, have failed to produce the desired outcome; rather, they have remained largely deadlocked, raising fears the conflict could intensify and cause more bloodshed once all foreign troops depart.

American military commanders have in recent statements admitted Afghan security forces “will certainly collapse” in the face of increased Taliban assaults if the U.S. is to stop all assistance.

The Afghan war, which started with the October 2001 U.S.-led international military invasion of the country, is said to have killed an estimated 241,000 people to date.

This includes at least 71,344 civilians; 2,442 American service members; 78,314 Afghan military and police; and 84,191 insurgents, said a private U.S. study released earlier this month.

Al-Qaeda vows ‘war on all fronts’ against US

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Al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahri

Ariana: Terrorist group Al-Qaeda has vowed that it will continue the war against the US on all other fronts “unless they are expelled from the rest of the Islamic world”, CNN reported on Friday. The terror group says that it’s planning a comeback after US forces leave Afghanistan, by partnering once again with the Taliban, CNN reported. Click here to read more (external link).

COVID-19: 194 New Cases, 6 Deaths Reported in Afghanistan

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Tolo News: On Friday, the Ministry of Public Health reported 194 new positive cases of COVID-19 out of 1,768 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The ministry reported that the cumulative total of known COVID-19 cases is 59,939, the total number of reported deaths is 2,631, and the total number of recoveries is 53,204. Click here to read more (external link).

U.S., NATO Begin Final Withdrawal From Afghanistan Amid Rise In Taliban Attacks

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A file photo of American soldiers at an unknown location in Afghanistan.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
April 29, 2021

U.S. and NATO troops have started to withdraw from Afghanistan, the White House and several alliance officials said on April 29, amid a reported surge in Taliban attacks.

U.S. President Joe Biden earlier this month announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, four months later than the May 1 deadline agreed to with the Taliban by the previous administration of Donald Trump. NATO allies agreed that foreign troops under the alliance command will also withdraw.

The White House said on April 29 that U.S. troops had started withdrawing, confirming comments made over the weekend by a senior U.S. general.

According to CNN, fewer than 100 troops, along with military equipment, have been moved largely by aircraft.

An unnamed NATO official confirmed to the AFP news agency that members of the 9,600-strong mission in Afghanistan had also begun withdrawing.

“NATO allies decided in mid-April to start the withdrawal of Resolute Support Mission forces by May 1 and this withdrawal has begun. This will be an orderly, coordinated, and deliberate process,” the official told the French news agency.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas assured Afghanistan during a visit to Kabul on April 29 of continued support after the withdrawal of NATO troops.

“Germany remains a reliable partner on the side of the people in Afghanistan,” Maas said.

The announcements came as Afghan officials said more than 100 Afghan security force personnel have been killed over the last two weeks amid a surge of Taliban attacks.

Senior Afghan officials say the Taliban is putting on a show of force and seeking to gain territory as foreign forces pull out. The Taliban has waged a two-decade-long insurgency since being ousted from power by U.S.-led foreign troops in 2001.

Land Grab

According to two senior security officials, around 120 Afghan security force personnel, 65 civilians, and over 300 Taliban fighters have been killed in the last 15 days of fighting, and scores more wounded across the country.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Tariq Arian, said the Taliban has carried out at least six suicide bombings and several targeted killings and had planted 65 roadside bombs to target government troops.

He added that more than 60 civilians have been killed and 180 injured. He did not provide figures for casualties suffered by security forces, in keeping with usual government practice.

Dozens of Taliban fighters, including several commanders, have been killed during operations, Arian said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the government’s claim the group had inflicted civilian casualties, saying these were caused by air and ground operations by Afghan forces. He did not comment on the deaths of Taliban or security forces.

Since Biden’s announcement, violence has increased by nearly a quarter around the country, with Taliban attacks reported in 21 of the 34 provinces, an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman said.

“We are already in the middle of the Taliban’s annual spring offensive but we are prepared and conducting our operations,” the senior government official, who asked not to be named, told the Reuters news agency on April 29.

Afghan chief of intelligence, Ahmad Zia Siraj, said the Taliban has increased violence “to the highest level” in recent days.

Top security leaders flew to the central province of Ghazni on April 29 to assess the situation amid reports of the Taliban amassing fighters in the area to overrun the strategic province.

Peace efforts stalled after the Taliban and the Afghan government began talks in the Qatari capital Doha last year. Washington pushed for a summit in Turkey this month but that was postponed because the Taliban refused to participate, and no new date has been set.

With reporting by CNN, AFP, and Reuters

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036

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U.S. Defense Secretary, Pakistani Army Chief Discuss Troop Drawdown In Afghanistan

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By Radio Mashaal
April 29, 2021

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has discussed with Pakistan’s army chief the regional security situation and the planned withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan later this year.

During the call, Austin and General Qamar Javed Bajwa discussed “regional stability and security,” “the drawdown” in Afghanistan, as well as “the importance of regional stability and the desire for the United States and Pakistan to continue working together on shared goals and objectives in the region,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on April 28.

Austin “reaffirmed the importance of the U.S. – Pakistan bilateral relationship and expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s support for Afghanistan Peace Negotiations,” Kirby said in a statement.

The media wing of Pakistan’s military issued its own readout of the call, which it said touched upon “matters of mutual interest, regional security situation including latest developments in Afghan Peace Process, draw down and bilateral cooperation in various fields.”

The statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) quoted Bajwa as saying that Pakistan “will always support ‘Afghan led-Afghan Owned’ Peace Process based on mutual consensus of all stakeholders.”

The Pakistani general also “reiterated that peace in Afghanistan means peace in Pakistan.”

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, four months later than a May 1 deadline agreed to with the Taliban by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

NATO has said it would follow the same timetable for withdrawing the more than 7,000 allied forces.

During a visit to Kabul on April 29, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas assured Afghanistan of continued German support after the withdrawal, saying Germany “remains a reliable partner on the side of the people in Afghanistan.”

“To guarantee a good and secure outlook for the Afghans is in our European interest. We want to avoid a relapse to old times at all costs,” Maas added.

The impending exit from Afghanistan has prompted concern about the ability of the government security forces to hold territory against the Taliban in the absence of a peace deal.

Intra-Afghan talks between the Western-backed government in Kabul and Taliban representatives in Qatar have been stalled.

Taliban leaders responded to the U.S. pullout plan by refusing to attend a high-level peace conference that was to take place in Turkey this month. Ankara said the conference was postponed and would take place after Ramadan celebrations end in mid-May, but no precise date has been given.

“There is no simple negotiated solution, but the negotiations remain the best chance for a sustainable, secure and stable future for the country,” Maas said.

With reporting by dpa

Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036

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End of an era? Afghanistan is now graveyard of contractors, too.

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Responsible Statecraft: They formed their own shadow army, some 90,000 in the country at its peak, but their problematic predomination is coming to an end. The golden post-9/11 years of the war contractor — the providers of food and transportation, fuel, construction, maintenance, IT, not to mention security and interrogation services for the U.S. military  — appear to be drawing down. Click here to read more (external link).

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