When one hears a compelling tale of war and loss in Afghanistan from NPR’s Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson or the New York Times’ Carlotta Gall, one wants to understand where and in what context these stories took place. Some might get a bit confused about how one part of the country is suffering combat while other parts are enjoying revival.
Here is a quick reference guide to Afghanistan, region by region, which should help Afghan Watchers better understand how war and peace coexist in the tumultuous country as of July 2009. (Map link coming soon)
Frontlines
US-led International and Afghan forces pursue a strategy of consolidating control over the central region, then pushing south and east into traditional Taliban strongholds, under-staffing the north since it is traditionally anti-Taliban. However, the Taliban have a counter-strategy of avoiding frontlines altogether, attacking politicians, police stations and military convoys in all parts of the country including the north. The insurgent strategy at first seems illogical. Why waste costly weapons and valuable manpower attacking areas of the north they can’t possibly woo? Well, imagine what would happen if 30,000 US forces currently concentrated on 19 provinces are forced to re-distribute 5 or 6 more provinces without any additional troops? Their current strongholds will be under-staffed and therefore more vulnerable. To complicate this forward probability is the suggestion by many Afghans that the presence of the international forces is itself one reason many otherwise impartial young men join the insurgency. Here are some recent articles which sum up the regions.
NATIONAL. Troop Surge across the central region and eastern and southern fronts: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2009/02/afghanistan_a_h.html
SOUTHERN FRONT. “Helmandis Braced for Taleban Battle”: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=353865&apc_state=henparr
ONCE PEACEFUL NORTH. “Insurgency Gaining Ground in Afghan North”: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=354177&apc_state=henparr
Central Government Strongholds Still Facing Resistance
The Afghan Government’s center of power is in the long-time capitol, Kabul. US-led international forces remain focused on holding Kabul despite continued terror attacks and raids by Taliban insurgents. Meanwhile, large swaths of the central mountainous region remain under Afghan government control with Afghan and international security bases, but continue to suffer hit-and-run attacks by insurgents based in the rural areas. Here life is cyclical. During the winter as insurgent attacks dissipate, many people are optimistic enough to invest in new enterprises, plan their future. But each spring, insurgent attacks return, Afghan troops block roads to search vehicles, leading to a tense mood through autumn.
KABUL. Nadene Ghoury reports for PBS Frontline World, “Afghanistan: Law and Order”: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2009/04/afghan_law_and.html
PANJSHIR, WARDAK, GHAZNI, ZABUL, PARWAN, KAPISA, NURISTAN, NANGARHAR. While the central government controlled provinces range from Panjshir, the high valley long-controlled by Tajiks once led by the North Alliance commander Ahmed Massoud which remains behind the government, to Nangarhar, the province hosting a periodically secure roadway through Jalalabad and the Khyber Pass to Pakistan which is sometimes put on high alert for Taliban raids.
The Eastern Front
The mountainous northeastern Afghan-Pakistani border has hosted great shifts in political power since the beginning of Afghanistan’s civil war in 1979. It is important to understand that each mountain valley hosts a different political context with some communities attempting to remain neutral, others trying to placate all sides in the conflict to avoid destruction, and others remaining steadfast partners with one of the fighting sides. While local farming and herding communities have often remained rooted on their land for decades, if not centuries, the fighting groups tend to migrate in and out depending on their battlefield successes and failures. Most commonly, Taliban fighters, sometimes backed by Al Qaeda advisors or partners, will meet with councils of elders for each of the isolated highland communities and try to woo them to their side until US-backed Afghan forces compel them to flee for safety in the nearby Tribally-Administered autonomous areas of northwest Pakistan.
KUNAR & KHOST. Here’s an interesting US military dispatch series which presents the region from that perspective, Matt Dupee’s Long War Journal: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/02/afghan_militants_nab.php
LAGHMAN, LOGAR, PAKTYA, PAKTIKA.
The Southern Front
After an initial focus on the Taliban base of Kandahar and long-time capitol of Kabul in 2001, US-led international and Afghan forces put the brunt of their fight on the eastern border with Pakistan. By 2009, a revised surge strategy has led to Operation Khanjar, a broad campaign to liberate the southern provinces of Helmand and southern Kandahar from the Taliban. Disputed Uruzgan province may be next.
HELMAND & KANDAHAR. IWPR‘s Dayee and Tassal report “Helmandis Braced for Taliban Battle”: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=353865&apc_state=henparr
URUZGAN.
Taliban Strongholds in South, Where There are Few International Forces
While US-led international forces have backed Afghan government forces in its struggle to control the northeast, central, and south central parts of the country, Afghan forces still plea for additional international support to secure troubled Farah, where US forces are building a presence, and Nimroz, the remote desert region on the Iranian border where Afghan government forces face the Taliban backed only by a few loyal tribal leaders. This region is best known for the recent, tragic civilian casualty incident in Farah.
FARAH. Jason Motlagh reports on the US airstrike on Farah which went awry, for PBS Frontline World: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2009/05/afghanistan_the_2.html
NIMROZ. Few Western journalists are covering this vital, troubled province.
Long-Peaceful Areas in the North and West Now At-Risk for New Conflict
Northern Afghanistan, from the northwestern desert province of Herat to the northeastern alpine province of Badakhshan, has long been anti-Taliban. This is largely because of three reasons. First, the Taliban leadership has long been seen by northern Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hezaras, Kuchis, and Wakhis as an ethnic Pashtun-led organization. Second, northerns tend to have more moderate Islamic views, largely due to tradition but also related to the relations many Tajiks and Uzbeks have with their ethnic brethren in post-Soviet central Asia. Finally, ethnic Tajik and Uzbek strongmen created mini-kingdoms in parts of the north , choosing to treat the Taliban as a foreign political force. While Massoud dominated the Panjshir Valley, Rabbani dominated the northern provinces of Takhar, and Badakhshan, Dostum ran Mazar/Balkh, and so on. Today, times have changed as many young men without income or future prospects are becoming angry at the presence of foreign troops and considering joining the insurgency.
KUNDUZ & JOWZJAN. IWPR’s Abdul Latif Sahak reports that the Taliban have taken the town of Chahrdara, Kunduz, and threaten Jowzjan in a region formerly assumed to be solidly pro-government: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=354177&apc_state=henparr
HERAT. Jason Motlagh reports on under-reported civilian casualty incidents in areas including Herat for Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900842,00.html
BALKH, BAGHDIS, GHOR, FARYAB, SARI PUL, SAMANGAN, BAMYAN, BAGHLAN, TAKHAR, BADAKHSHAN
As time marches on, one will very likely see the political situation evolve, so stay tuned to changes to the above summary.
Here is a quick reference guide to Afghanistan, region by region, which should help Afghan Watchers better understand how war and peace coexist in the tumultuous country as of July 2009. (Map link coming soon)
Frontlines
US-led International and Afghan forces pursue a strategy of consolidating control over the central region, then pushing south and east into traditional Taliban strongholds, under-staffing the north since it is traditionally anti-Taliban. However, the Taliban have a counter-strategy of avoiding frontlines altogether, attacking politicians, police stations and military convoys in all parts of the country including the north. The insurgent strategy at first seems illogical. Why waste costly weapons and valuable manpower attacking areas of the north they can’t possibly woo? Well, imagine what would happen if 30,000 US forces currently concentrated on 19 provinces are forced to re-distribute 5 or 6 more provinces without any additional troops? Their current strongholds will be under-staffed and therefore more vulnerable. To complicate this forward probability is the suggestion by many Afghans that the presence of the international forces is itself one reason many otherwise impartial young men join the insurgency. Here are some recent articles which sum up the regions.
NATIONAL. Troop Surge across the central region and eastern and southern fronts: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2009/02/afghanistan_a_h.html
SOUTHERN FRONT. “Helmandis Braced for Taleban Battle”: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=353865&apc_state=henparr
ONCE PEACEFUL NORTH. “Insurgency Gaining Ground in Afghan North”: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=354177&apc_state=henparr
Central Government Strongholds Still Facing Resistance
The Afghan Government’s center of power is in the long-time capitol, Kabul. US-led international forces remain focused on holding Kabul despite continued terror attacks and raids by Taliban insurgents. Meanwhile, large swaths of the central mountainous region remain under Afghan government control with Afghan and international security bases, but continue to suffer hit-and-run attacks by insurgents based in the rural areas. Here life is cyclical. During the winter as insurgent attacks dissipate, many people are optimistic enough to invest in new enterprises, plan their future. But each spring, insurgent attacks return, Afghan troops block roads to search vehicles, leading to a tense mood through autumn.
KABUL. Nadene Ghoury reports for PBS Frontline World, “Afghanistan: Law and Order”: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2009/04/afghan_law_and.html
PANJSHIR, WARDAK, GHAZNI, ZABUL, PARWAN, KAPISA, NURISTAN, NANGARHAR. While the central government controlled provinces range from Panjshir, the high valley long-controlled by Tajiks once led by the North Alliance commander Ahmed Massoud which remains behind the government, to Nangarhar, the province hosting a periodically secure roadway through Jalalabad and the Khyber Pass to Pakistan which is sometimes put on high alert for Taliban raids.
The Eastern Front
The mountainous northeastern Afghan-Pakistani border has hosted great shifts in political power since the beginning of Afghanistan’s civil war in 1979. It is important to understand that each mountain valley hosts a different political context with some communities attempting to remain neutral, others trying to placate all sides in the conflict to avoid destruction, and others remaining steadfast partners with one of the fighting sides. While local farming and herding communities have often remained rooted on their land for decades, if not centuries, the fighting groups tend to migrate in and out depending on their battlefield successes and failures. Most commonly, Taliban fighters, sometimes backed by Al Qaeda advisors or partners, will meet with councils of elders for each of the isolated highland communities and try to woo them to their side until US-backed Afghan forces compel them to flee for safety in the nearby Tribally-Administered autonomous areas of northwest Pakistan.
KUNAR & KHOST. Here’s an interesting US military dispatch series which presents the region from that perspective, Matt Dupee’s Long War Journal: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/02/afghan_militants_nab.php
LAGHMAN, LOGAR, PAKTYA, PAKTIKA.
The Southern Front
After an initial focus on the Taliban base of Kandahar and long-time capitol of Kabul in 2001, US-led international and Afghan forces put the brunt of their fight on the eastern border with Pakistan. By 2009, a revised surge strategy has led to Operation Khanjar, a broad campaign to liberate the southern provinces of Helmand and southern Kandahar from the Taliban. Disputed Uruzgan province may be next.
HELMAND & KANDAHAR. IWPR‘s Dayee and Tassal report “Helmandis Braced for Taliban Battle”: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=353865&apc_state=henparr
URUZGAN.
Taliban Strongholds in South, Where There are Few International Forces
While US-led international forces have backed Afghan government forces in its struggle to control the northeast, central, and south central parts of the country, Afghan forces still plea for additional international support to secure troubled Farah, where US forces are building a presence, and Nimroz, the remote desert region on the Iranian border where Afghan government forces face the Taliban backed only by a few loyal tribal leaders. This region is best known for the recent, tragic civilian casualty incident in Farah.
FARAH. Jason Motlagh reports on the US airstrike on Farah which went awry, for PBS Frontline World: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2009/05/afghanistan_the_2.html
NIMROZ. Few Western journalists are covering this vital, troubled province.
Long-Peaceful Areas in the North and West Now At-Risk for New Conflict
Northern Afghanistan, from the northwestern desert province of Herat to the northeastern alpine province of Badakhshan, has long been anti-Taliban. This is largely because of three reasons. First, the Taliban leadership has long been seen by northern Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hezaras, Kuchis, and Wakhis as an ethnic Pashtun-led organization. Second, northerns tend to have more moderate Islamic views, largely due to tradition but also related to the relations many Tajiks and Uzbeks have with their ethnic brethren in post-Soviet central Asia. Finally, ethnic Tajik and Uzbek strongmen created mini-kingdoms in parts of the north , choosing to treat the Taliban as a foreign political force. While Massoud dominated the Panjshir Valley, Rabbani dominated the northern provinces of Takhar, and Badakhshan, Dostum ran Mazar/Balkh, and so on. Today, times have changed as many young men without income or future prospects are becoming angry at the presence of foreign troops and considering joining the insurgency.
KUNDUZ & JOWZJAN. IWPR’s Abdul Latif Sahak reports that the Taliban have taken the town of Chahrdara, Kunduz, and threaten Jowzjan in a region formerly assumed to be solidly pro-government: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=354177&apc_state=henparr
HERAT. Jason Motlagh reports on under-reported civilian casualty incidents in areas including Herat for Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900842,00.html
BALKH, BAGHDIS, GHOR, FARYAB, SARI PUL, SAMANGAN, BAMYAN, BAGHLAN, TAKHAR, BADAKHSHAN
As time marches on, one will very likely see the political situation evolve, so stay tuned to changes to the above summary.
Just received a statement from Human Rights Watch saying "the government of
Afghanistan should listen to the Afghan women who are planning to hold
a protest on April 15, 2009, at great personal risk, and repeal or
reform the Shia Personal Status law."