Vol. 72/No. 27      July 7, 2008

The Pakistani government reacted sharply, saying only its security forces would be allowed to take action against al-Qaeda and Taliban units on its soil.

A long-standing border dispute between Kabul and Islamabad has been sharpened by the stepped-up pace of imperialist military operations against the Islamist militias in which Pakistani troops have also been killed.  
 
Border dispute sharpens
Speaking at a news conference in Kabul June 15, Karzai said that Afghanistan had the right to send troops into Pakistan because Taliban militias were crossing from that country into Afghanistan.

Karzai, who faces an election next year, also said Afghanistan has a duty to defend Pashtuns in Pakistan against the Taliban, whom he called a tool of Pakistan’s intelligence services.

Kabul has never recognized the border, which was drawn by Britain. Kabul says the line was drawn in such a way as to rob Afghanistan of land and divide Pashtuns.

Islamabad has become increasingly concerned at the backlash among Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group living in the tribal areas along its border with Afghanistan, stemming from the stepped-up U.S. military operations.

The Pakistani government was so angered by a U.S. missile strike on a border checkpoint that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers June 10 that the military is considering postponement or cancellation of a program for the U.S. military to train a paramilitary border force.

Pakistan’s military condemned the attack, calling it “cowardly and unprovoked.” Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan’s new army chief, personally approved the language, according to the International Herald Tribune.

The paper reported that Kayani has refused every suggestion that U.S. forces be permitted to operate in the tribal area, including on an advisory basis. He has also ruled out U.S. trainers accompanying Pakistani troops on counterinsurgency missions in the border regions.

A plan for U.S. trainers to instruct Pakistani trainers who in turn would train Pakistani Frontier Corps was accepted by Kayani as “the least-intrusive alternative,” the Tribune reported.  
 
Khandahar
In Afghanistan NATO and government officials announced June 19 that they had routed hundreds of Taliban militia members in several villages around Khandahar. According to NATO and Afghan officials, dozens of Taliban have been killed by missile strikes.

Some 1,000 Afghan and Canadian troops were involved in the assault on the Taliban in the Arghandab district near Khandahar. Thousands of civilians fled the area as the Taliban destroyed bridges and planted mines ahead of the battle.

Hundreds of Taliban members were among more than a 1,000 prisoners who escaped following a Taliban suicide bomb assault on Khandahar’s main prison. A Taliban leader told the press that many of those freed from the prison had joined Taliban forces in Arghandab.

A NATO military spokesman said the operation around Khandahar was in its closing stages. He accused the Taliban of having exaggerated their numbers and capabilities. “The insurgents were there, but they do not have the numbers or foothold that they have claimed,” he said.  
 
 
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