WASHINGTON — During the first three months of 2021, the Taliban stepped up attacks against the Afghan people, maintained close ties with al Qaeda, and actively planned for large-scale offensives – all while peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government failed to see any progress, according to a new report by the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General.
“U.S. Forces-Afghanistan reported a historic increase in enemy-initiated attacks since the signing of the U.S.-Taliban agreement, with nearly 37 percent more enemy-initiated attacks this quarter than during the same period in 2020,” stated the report from the Defense Department’s internal watchdog on Operation Freedom Sentinel, the name of the U.S. counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan.
Citing information provided by Resolute Support, the NATO mission in Afghanistan, the IG found that enemy-initiated attacks in the first and second quarters of FY 2021 continued to be above historical averages, with 11,551 reported this quarter and 10,431 last quarter.
Enemy-initiated attacks for the past three quarters have been at the highest levels since Operation Freedom Sentinel began in January 2015, “indicating that the Taliban intensified attacks against the (Afghan National Defense and Security Forces) after the signing of the February 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement,” the IG found.
May 9, 202101:45
The report cited analysis from the Defense Intelligence Agency saying that from Jan. 1 through March 31, 2021, the Taliban’s military strategy was to prepare for large-scale offensives against provincial centers, complex attacks against the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces’ bases, and degrading the Afghan forces’ capabilities.
In the first two months of 2021, the Taliban surrounded the provincial capitals of Baghlan, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunduz, and Uruzgan provinces to prepare these offensives, and they continued assassinating government employees, security officials, and journalists, the report says.
Citing information from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the report says al Qaeda continues to rely on the Taliban for protection, and that ties between the two groups have strengthened.
At the same time, the Afghan Security Forces have conducted offensive operations against the Taliban but the Defense Intelligence Agency reported that these offensives “did not accomplish anything of strategic value.”
Last month the Biden administration announced that all U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021, four months after the May 1 deadline set by the Trump administration’s 2020 peace agreement with the Taliban.
The IG report cited a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that Taliban threats to resume hostilities against coalition forces if they did not withdraw by May 1 were credible, and that the Taliban was very likely to respond with indirect fire, suicide bombings, and vehicle-borne IED attacks.
The U.S. began withdrawing troops on May 1. According to U.S. Central Command, 13 to 20 percent of the entire withdrawal process is complete, and approximately 115 C-17 cargo planes with equipment and personnel have departed Afghanistan. The U.S. has also handed over five bases to the Afghan Ministry of Defense.
‘We will help them’
On Tuesday, the U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, offered a more upbeat assessment of the situation in the country at a hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Khalilzad said he disagreed with some forecasts that Afghan government forces would unravel once U.S. troops depart in September.
“I personally believe the predictions that the Afghan forces will collapse right away, they’re not right,” said Khalilzad, who negotiated the February 2020 agreement with the Taliban that set out the terms for a U.S. military withdrawal.
The U.S. would continue to provide financial support to the Afghan security forces, he said. “We are helping them now. We will help them. This is our commitment.”
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers at the hearing expressed skepticism that the Afghan government and its security forces would be able to hold on to power once American forces leave, and expressed fears that Afghans who worked for the U.S. government would face retribution from the Taliban and that dramatic gains in women’s rights would be lost.
The Afghan-born diplomat said there was no military solution to the conflict, and that if the Taliban believed they could win on the battlefield, the insurgents would face a “long war.”
“The real choice that the Afghans will face is between a long war and a negotiated settlement. And I hope the Taliban and the other Afghan leaders make the right choice. I hope that those with influence over the Taliban such as Pakistan, do the right thing,” Khalilzad said.
But he argued the U.S. had to face the reality that a continued American military presence would not produce a different outcome. “Again I keep coming to this proposition: What is the alternative? Is the alternative to keep doing what we have been doing for another 10, 20 years if you see that there is no way you can prevail?”
Khalilzad said he shared the concerns of lawmakers for the safety of Afghans who worked as interpreters or in other jobs for U.S. troops and diplomats. He said the Biden administration was working to expedite applications for U.S. visas under a program designed for Afghans who were employed by the U.S. government.
But he added that “we don’t want to signal panic and the departure of all educated Afghans by worst casing, and undermining the morale of the Afghan security forces. So this is a delicate, complicated balance that we have to keep.”
Under the U.S.-Taliban agreement signed last year, the insurgents pledged to ensure that al Qaeda or other terrorist groups would not be allowed to use Afghan territory to launch attacks against the U.S. or its allies.
Asked if the Taliban were living up to their counterterrorism promises, Khalilzad said: “They have made substantial progress in delivering on those commitments. But we would like to see more.”
Khalilzad also suggested that the United States was making progress in securing possible agreements with neighboring countries for potential access to military bases to address terrorism threats from Afghanistan. “What I can say in this format,” he said, “is that several countries in the area are open to enhanced cooperation.”
As for the future of women’s rights and human rights, Khalilzad said any future U.S. assistance would depend on Afghanistan upholding respect for fundamental freedoms.
Khalilzad said Taliban representatives had told him their views on women’s rights have evolved since they were in power in the late 1990s.
“We don’t take their word for it. We will have to see,” he said.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
