'Afghan suicide attacks not martyrdom culture'

United Nations, Sep 11: Suicide attackers in Afghanistan, including children, are being coerced or duped into carrying out such operations as they are motivated by grievances like foreign occupation, anger over civilian casualties and humiliation and not a 'martyrdom culture,' a new United Nations study says.

The study by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), released on the sixth anniversary of death of Northern Alliance Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who was killed in a suicide attack on September 9, 2001, and days before the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, says there had been a seven-fold increase in suicide attacks in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2006 and a continuing though slower rise in 2007.

The report recommends, among other things, immediate efforts to diminish perceptions of a foreign military occupation and political steps to reduce the support base for terrorists by meeting the demands of the population, cutting corruption, overseeing fair judicial processes and providing basic public services.

''Unlike other conflict areas wherein suicide attacks are commonly used, Afghanistan fortunately has yet to develop a robust 'martyrdom culture' which simultaneously celebrates the attacker and helps forge a justifying narrative for the attacks as in other theatres,'' according to the study.

''In fact, in Afghanistan it is rare that one can identify, much less celebrate, the attacker and his deed. Not all attackers seem to be truly ideologically committed, based upon the highly limited data garnered for this study. While suicide attackers in Afghanistan may have been inspired by such attacks in Iraq and neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan has been spared sectarian violence despite having a relatively large Shi'a population...'' it says.

The study calls on all forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations to reduce civilian casualties and conscientiously work to uphold the dignity and honour of Afghans to avoid provoking outrage in the population and a ready supply of volunteers for jihad.

Afghan national security forces must be supported increasingly to assume responsibility for providing more effective security, and means must be found to engage other Muslim countries to support security and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

The cross-border dimension of suicide attacks in Afghanistan must also be addressed by bolstering Pakistani support to eliminate domestic enablers for the insurgency in Afghanistan and address militancy within its own borders, the study states.

UNI