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Afghan rebels step up their attacks

February 11 2003
By Rory McCarthy

Afghan rebel factions loyal to the Taliban and a fundamentalist warlord have launched attacks on aid workers and US forces, signalling the emergence of an increasing resistance movement.

At the heart of the violence is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of Afghanistan's most fundamentalist warlords, once supported by the West. Kabul officials say Mr Hekmatyar, leader of the extreme Sunni Hezb-i-Islami party, is forging an alliance with the remnants of the Taliban regime and al-Qaeda.

In the past month rebels have targeted US forces, the UN and other aid agencies and Afghan government troops.

The US military said Mr Hekmatyar's men were involved in an intense battle with US soldiers in the mountains near Spin Boldak last week.

"The resistance is growing every day," said Naseerullah Babar, a retired Pakistani general and former interior minister who was instrumental in the emergence of the Taliban regime nearly a decade ago. "The US has mishandled this. They are going to overextend themselves with this arrogance of power."

Samina Ahmed, a project director in Pakistan with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said the new wave of attacks in Afghanistan had come as a "wake-up call" to the Western forces and the Kabul Government.

A much stronger Western peacekeeping presence was needed across Afghanistan, not just in Kabul as at present, to ensure a stable transition to elections next year, she said.

- Guardian



- Kabul's neighbours up to old tricks
- Afghan rebels step up their attacks

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