'More troops needed to combat Taliban, al Qaeda in Afghanistan'

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Feb 6 : International analysts have demanded an increase in number of international troops to combat the Taliban and the al Qaeda-spawned insurgency in war torn Afghanistan.

They cited insufficient troops as a major problem at the 10th Asia Security Conference in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Afghanistan has long been waging a war against the Taliban and the al Qaeda, which analysts blame, are operating from tribal area of Pakistan.

"The key problem with the role of international forces is insufficient numbers, especially in areas like the south, where a number of international forces and Afghan forces that can clear a whole territory is simply too small," said Seth Jones, Political Scientist at RAND Corporation, USA.

"The US has been willing to slightly increase its number of forces in the south with the marine contingent that is now going to Kandahar. But, the Germans, the Norwegians and the Swedes will not provide forces down to the south. That is the biggest problem with NATO forces," he added.

The biggest challenge faced by Afghanistan today is security. Taliban and other insurgent forces operating from Pakistani soil pose a major threat to the country's internal security.

"Afghanistan faces many challenges. Some of them are caused by the lack of capacity of the government. Because people in some areas do not see the presence of gun but at the same time there is a foreign angle to it," said Ali A. Jalali, professor and analyst.

"The Taliban and other insurgents have safe havens across the border in Pakistan and have created a new source of threat not only to Afghanistan, but to the whole region. Therefore, security is the major concern in Afghanistan," Jalali said.

"Pakistan is facing the Taliban reaction because we have prevented them from crossing over the border and going and fighting against the US forces," said Rasul Baksh Rais, Professor at Lahore University of Management Studies.

"Don't understand Taliban in terms of religious entity. You have to think of Taliban in terms of those historical linkages that the Pashtoon communities have had across the border in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan," he said.

"Why are they targeting Pakistani forces everyday? Our forces are being targeted by Taliban and al Qaeda primarily because we have been stopping them form crossing over to Afghanistan," Rais added.

US-led international forces as well as Afghan troops ousted the Taliban from power in late 2001 after the conservative Islamist movement refused to hand over al Qaeda leaders behind the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Taliban insurgents, fighting to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan Government and eject foreign forces, have stepped up attacks since 2007.

US-led NATO does not have enough troops in Afghanistan to accomplish the "daunting challenge" of stabilising the impoverished nation since a lot of NATO countries refused to be involved in combat operations.

The Taliban are still most active in their traditional heartlands in the south Afghanistan and east of the country.

Except for US and Canada most countries like Germany have fears about sending their troops to the war torn region.

ANI

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