Taliban insurgency

Taliban insurgency
Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–14),
Civil war in Afghanistan

Former Taliban insurgents surrender their weapons (Photo by Fraidoon Poya, UNAMA Copyright)
Date2002–present
LocationAfghanistan
Status Ongoing
Belligerents

Afghanistan Afghanistan

Allied militias

Coalition: Advisers, Non-combat support, & Counter-terrorism operations:
 India[3]


    Formerly:

    Afghanistan Taliban

    Supported by:
     Pakistan (Alleged until 2011[3][6][7]

     Iran[9][10] (Disputed)[11]


    Allied groups


    Taliban splinter groups

    Commanders and leaders

    Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani
    (President of Afghanistan)
    Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah
    (CEO of Afghanistan)
    Afghanistan Abdul Rashid Dostum
    (Vice-President of Afghanistan)
    Afghanistan Mohammad Mohaqiq
    (Deputy CEO of Afghanistan)
    Afghanistan Atta Muhammad Nur
    (Governor of Balkh Province)
    Afghanistan Bismillah Khan Mohammadi
    (Defense Minister of Afghanistan)
    Afghanistan Sher Mohammad Karimi
    (Chief of Army Staff)
    Coalition:

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Major contributing nations with more than 200 troops as of May 2015

    Formerly:

      Afghanistan Akhtar Mansoor
      (Supreme Commander)
      [13]
      Afghanistan Sirajuddin Haqqani
      (Deputy of the Taliban)
      [14]
      Afghanistan Haibatullah Akhunzada
      (Deputy of the Taliban)
      [5]
      Afghanistan Jalaluddin Haqqani 
      (Leader of Haqqani Network)
      Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
      (Leader of HIG)
      Ayman al-Zawahiri
      (Emir of al-Qaeda)


      Afghanistan Mansoor Dadullah 
      (Commander of the Dadullah Front)[15][16]
      Haji Najibullah
      (Commander of Fidai Mahaz)
      [17]


      Formerly:
      Afghanistan Mohammed Omar 
      (Commander of the Faithful)
      Afghanistan Abdul Ghani Baradar (POW)
      (Former Deputy of the Taliban)[13]
      Afghanistan Obaidullah Akhund 
      (Former Taliban Minister of Defense)
      [13]
      Afghanistan Mohammad Fazl (POW)
      (Former Deputy Defense Minister)
      [13]
      Afghanistan Abdul Qayyum Zakir
      (Former Taliban military chief)
      Afghanistan Dadullah Akhund 
      (Senior commander)
      [13]

      Osama bin Laden  
      (Former Emir of al-Qaeda)
      Strength

      Afghanistan Afghan Armed Forces: 352,000[18]

      RSM: 13,000+[19]


      Formerly:
      ISAF: 18,000+[20]

      Military Contractors: 20,000+[20]

      Afghanistan Taliban: 60,000
      (tentative estimate)[21]

      HIG: 1,500 - 2,000+[25]
      al-Qaeda: 50–100[26][27]


      Fidai Mahaz: 8,000[17]
      Casualties and losses

      Afghan Security Forces:
      Dead: 13,700-16,013+[28][29][30]
      Wounded:16,500+[28]
      Coalition:
      Dead: 3,486 (all causes)
      2,807 (hostile causes)
      (United States: 2,356, United Kingdom: 454,[31] Canada: 158, France: 88, Germany: 57, Italy: 53, Others: 321)[32]
      Wounded: 22,773 (United States: 19,950, United Kingdom: 2,188, Canada: 635)[33][34][35]
      Contractors:
      Dead: 1,582[36][37]
      Wounded: 15,000+[36][37]

      Total killed: 20,743+

      Taliban

      Dead: 20,000 to 35,000 [28]

      The Taliban insurgency began shortly after the group's fall from power following the 2001 War in Afghanistan. The Taliban forces are fighting against the Afghan government, formerly led by President Hamid Karzai, now led by President Ashraf Ghani, and against the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The insurgency has spread to some degree over the Durand Line border to neighboring Pakistan, in particular the Waziristan region and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Taliban conduct low-intensity warfare against Afghan National Security Forces and their NATO trainers. Regional countries, particularly Pakistan and Iran, are often accused of funding and supporting the insurgent groups.[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]

      The leader of the Taliban is Akhtar Mansoor who heads the Quetta Shura. The Haqqani Network, Hezbi Islami, and smaller al Qaeda groups have also joined the insurgency.[46] They often use terrorist attacks in which their victims are usually Afghan civilians. According to reports by the United Nations and others, the insurgents were responsible for 75-80% of civilian casualties between 2009 to 2011.[47][48][49]

      After the May 2011 death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, many prominent Afghan figures were assassinated by the insurgents, including Mohammed Daud Daud, Ahmed Wali Karzai, Jan Mohammad Khan, Ghulam Haider Hamidi, Burhanuddin Rabbani and others.[50] In response to this, major operations were started inside Afghanistan against the insurgents. These are intended to disrupt the network of the insurgents and force them to the negotiation table.

      Post-invasion

      After evading U.S. forces throughout the summer of 2002, the remnants of the Taliban gradually began to regain their confidence and launched the insurgency that Mullah Mohammed Omar had promised during the Taliban's last days in power. During September 2002, Taliban forces began a recruitment drive in Pashtun areas in both Afghanistan and Pakistan to launch a renewed "jihad" or struggle against the Afghan government and the U.S-led coalition. Pamphlets distributed in secret during the night also began to appear in many villages in the former Taliban heartland in southeastern Afghanistan. Small mobile training camps were established along the border with Pakistan by al-Qaeda and Taliban fugitives to train new recruits in guerrilla warfare and tactics, according to Afghan sources and a United Nations report. Most of the new recruits were drawn from the madrassas or religious schools of the tribal areas of Pakistan, from which the Taliban had originally arisen. Major bases, a few with as many as 200 men, were created in the mountainous tribal areas of Pakistan by the summer of 2003. The will of the Pakistani paramilitaries stationed at border crossings to prevent such infiltration was called into question, and Pakistani military operations proved of little use.

      Make-up of the Taliban

      Main article: Quetta Shura

      There are different groups in Afghanistan operating against the NATO coalition forces. Primarily these are the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network led by Sirajuddin Haqqani (which considers itself part of the Taliban). Additionally, there is the Hezb-e Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar which is a separate entity from the Taliban.

      The Afghan Taliban's main goal is a full withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and the fall of the Afghan central government under Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban leadership operates in so-called leadership councils (shuras). The main Taliban leader was Mullah Omar, who reportedly died in April 2013. He was replaced by Mullah Akhter Mansoor, although some senior Taliban members do not recognize him as their leader.

      Financial support

      While the pre-2001 Taliban suppressed opium production, the current insurgency "relies on opium revenues to purchase weapons, train its members, and buy support." In 2001, Afghanistan produced only 11% of the world's opium, today it produces 93% of the global crop, and the drug trade accounts for half of Afghanistan's GDP.[51][52][53]

      On 28 July 2009, Richard Holbrooke, the United States special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that money transfers from Western Europe and the Gulf States exceeded the drug trade earnings and that a new task force had been formed to shut down this source of funds.[54]

      The United States Agency for International Development is investigating the possibility that kickbacks from its contracts are being funneled to the Taliban.[55]

      A report by the London School of Economics (LSE) claimed to provide the most concrete evidence yet that the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI is providing funding, training and sanctuary to the Taliban on a scale much larger than previously thought. The report's author Matt Waldman spoke to nine Taliban field commanders in Afghanistan and concluded that Pakistan's relationship with the insurgents ran far deeper than previously realized. Some of those interviewed suggested that the organization even attended meetings of the Taliban's supreme council, the Quetta Shura.[56][57][58] A spokesman for the Pakistani military dismissed the report, describing it as "malicious".[59][60]

      Poppy dilemma

      Further information: Opium production in Afghanistan
      Opium production levels for 2005–2007

      In March 2010, after the ousting of the Taliban from the area of Marja in the Southern Afghan province Helmand in the Operation Moshtarak, the American and NATO commanders were confronted with the dilemma of on the one hand the need for "winning the hearts and minds" of the local population as well as on the other hand the necessity of the eradication of poppies and the destruction of the opium economy. Since opium is the main source of existence of 60 to 70 percent of the farmers in Marja, American Marines were ordered to initially ignore the crops to avoid trampling their livelihood.[61]

      Social context: poverty and corruption

      In November 2010, a report with the results of an opinion poll of the Western aid group Oxfam indicated that 83 percent of the Afghan population does not consider the Taliban militants, but poverty, unemployment and government corruption as the main causes of war in their country.

      After thirty years of war, the country remains one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. It is also one of the most corrupt. Unemployment stands at 35 percent and more than half of the population lives below the poverty line.[62] On top of that, violence then seemed to culminate since U.S.-backed Afghan forces ousted the Taliban in late 2001. Nearly half of those surveyed said corruption and bad government were the main reasons for the ongoing war. 12 percent said the Taliban insurgency was to blame.

      After the Taliban, the reason most people gave for the continued fighting was foreign interference, with 25 percent of respondents saying other countries were to blame.[63]

      2006 Escalation

      Since the start of 2006 Afghanistan has been facing a wave of attacks by improvised explosives and suicide bombers, particularly after NATO took command of the fight against insurgents in spring 2006.[64]

      Afghan President Hamid Karzai publicly condemned the methods used by the western powers. In June 2006 he said:

      And for two years I have systematically, consistently and on a daily basis warned the international community of what was developing in Afghanistan and of the need for a change of approach in this regard… The international community [must] reassess the manner in which this war against terror is conducted

      Insurgents were also criticized for their conduct. According to Human Rights Watch, bombing and other attacks on Afghan civilians by the Taliban (and to a lesser extent Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin), are reported to have "sharply escalated in 2006" with "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350 armed attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionally launched at civilians or civilian objects."[65][66] 131 of insurgent attacks were suicide attacks which killed 212 civilians (732 wounded), 46 Afghan army and police members (101 wounded), and 12 foreign soldiers (63 wounded).[67]

      The United Nations estimated that for the first half of 2011, the civilian deaths rose by 15% and reached 1462, which is the worst death toll since the beginning of the war and despite the surge of foreign troops.[68]

      Timeline

      2007

      Regional security risks and levels of opium poppy cultivation in 2007–2008.

      Timeline

      2008

      The U.S. warned that in 2008 the Taliban has "coalesced into a resilient insurgency", and would "maintain or even increase the scope and pace of its terrorist attacks".[104] Attacks by Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan increased by 40% when compared to the same period in 2007.[104]

      Timeline

      2009

      During 2009 the Taliban regained control over the countryside of several Afghan provinces. In August 2009, Taliban commanders in the province of Helmand started issuing "visa" from the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" in order to allow travel to and from the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.[111]

      Timeline

      2010

      During 2010, the Taliban were ousted from parts of Helmand Province by the ISAF Operation Moshtarak that started in February 2010. In the meantime the Taliban insurgency spread to the northern provinces of the country.[120][121] The new policy of the Taliban was to shift militants from the south to the north, to show they exist "everywhere", according to Faryab Province Governor Abdul Haq Shafaq.[122][123] With most Afghan and NATO troops stationed in the southern and eastern provinces, villagers in the once-peaceful north[124] found themselves confronted with a rapid deterioration of security, as insurgents seized new territory in provinces such as Kunduz and Baghlan, and even infiltrated the mountains of Badakhshan Province in the northeast.

      Timeline

      2011

      The insurgency continued strongly in 2011.

      Timeline

      The Taliban continued attacking and ambushing NATO and Afghan troops as well as the targeted assassination of government officials.

      2012

      The Taliban insurgency continued into 2012.

      Timeline

      2013

      The Taliban insurgency continued into 2013.

      2014

      As the American troops began to depart, and the number of Taliban attacks increased, there was speculation that the Taliban were waiting for an American withdrawal before launching a major offensive.[163]

      Timeline

      2015

      2015 saw the Taliban make various gains in Afghanistan in an attempt to fracture the fledgling Afghan government with successes not seen since NATO intervened in 2001. The Taliban has increased suicide attacks and has made multiple territorial gains across the country.

      Kunduz Offensive

      Beginning in April, the Taliban fought for the city of Kunduz in the northern Kunduz Province with them capturing the city by September. Afghan Armed Forces recaptured the city in October but local sources dispute this claim.[165] The quick fall of the city resulted in calls by some government officials for President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah to resign.[166]

      Helmand Offensive

      In December, the Taliban made more territorial gains by besieging Afghan forces in the cities of Lashkar Gah, Sangin and outlying towns in the Helmand Province in Southern Afghanistan.[167] By late December, most of Sangin was captured by the Taliban with local Afghan forces surrounded and forced to rely on airlifts for ammunition and food.[168]

      Effects

      The gains made by the Taliban have hampered peace talks between them and the government and made rifts appear in the Taliban over negotiations.[169] In response to the new offensives, it was reported that the United States would slow down their withdrawal of troops to help in counter-insurgency operations.[170]

      See also

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