[Peace-discuss] Protecting Afghans

[C. G. Estabrook]

[In the face of the ICOS report, it's hard to keep up the administration's lie 
that the US is protecting the people of Afghanistan, rather than attacking the 
people of Afghanistan.  --CGE]


	'Taliban hold sway over 97% of Afghanistan'
	Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:27:56 GMT

A policy research group says the Taliban have a significant presence in almost 
every corner of Afghanistan, eight years after their overthrow by US-led forces.

A security map by the London-based International Council on Security and 
Development (ICOS) showed a deepening security crisis with substantial Taliban 
activity in at least 97 percent of the war-ravaged country.

The council added that the militants now have a "permanent presence" in 80 
percent of the country.

ICOS defined "permanent" presence as one or more attacks a week and 
"substantial" as one or more attacks a month.

ICOS noted the Taliban are substantially active in another 17 percent of Afghan 
territory.

The report comes at a time as insurgency has skyrocketed in southern and eastern 
provinces where the US-led forces have lost several grounds to the Taliban 
linked militants.

The insurgency has intensified in the eastern and southern provinces. The US-led 
forces in Afghanistan lost 77 more troops in August, setting a new monthly 
record since the invasion began in 2001.

Based on the report, insurgent attacks have increased dramatically across 
northern Afghanistan as well.

The developments also come after 125 people, many of them civilians, were killed 
and scores of others injured on last Friday.

NATO warplanes targeted stolen fuel tankers on orders of a German commander in 
the northern Kunduz province. Kunduz was once considered relatively safe.

More than 140 Afghan civilians were killed in a series of US airstrikes in the 
western Farah province in early May.

More than 1,000 civilians have lost their lives either in US-led air strikes or 
in the Taliban-led insurgency across the violence-wracked country in the first 
half of the current year, according to a UN report.

Civilians have been the main victims of violence in Afghanistan, particularly in 
the troubled southern and eastern provinces.

The UN also noticed that the number of civilians killed in the Afghanistan 
conflict has jumped 24 percent so far this year.

The frightening picture comes at a time when the chief prosecutor at the 
International Criminal Court (ICC) says investigators are studying evidence of 
alleged crimes against humanity in Afghanistan.

Media reports said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- which includes US 
and other western troops -- could potentially become the target of an ICC 
prosecution.

The group further warned of a power vacuum if Afghanistan's presidential 
election goes to a runoff.

Political uncertainty and civilian causalities have increased pressure on the US 
and its western allies to pull out troops from the violence-wracked country.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=105894