ISLAMABAD
(AP) — The Taliban have appointed a new military chief as the
insurgents try to gain more ground in Afghanistan rather than talk peace
under a new leadership, Taliban officials said in telephone interviews
over the weekend.
They
said that the appointment of Mullah Ibrahim Sadar, once a close ally of
Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, heralds a commitment to
confrontation at a time when multiple governments are trying to coax the
Taliban to the negotiating table.
Sadar
is a battle-hardened commander, who gained prominence among Taliban
foot soldiers following the movement's overthrow in 2001 in the U.S.-led
invasion. The two officials both spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to speak publicly for the Taliban.
Sadar's
appointment coincides with an uptick in Taliban attacks against Afghan
security forces. The United States has sent additional troops to
Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, where its capital, Lashkar Gah,
is under pressure. The provincial council head Kareem Atal earlier said
roughly 80 percent of Helmand is already under Taliban control.
So
far this month, Taliban fighters have attacked Afghan security forces
in northern Kunduz province, briefly taking control of a district
headquarters. The militants also overran a district in northern Baghlan
province and in eastern Paktia province. Meanwhile, in eastern Nangarhar
province, Taliban militants are fighting pitched battles with security
forces. Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense says its security forces are
waging operations in 15 provinces.
Mohammad
Akbari, a member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, which is tasked
with talking peace with insurgent groups, said there has been no
progress in talks since Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed
in a U.S. drone strike in May in Pakistan. Mansour was succeeded by
Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the notorious Haqqani network gained a
prominent role in the leadership structure.
The
Haqqani network, which has been branded a terrorist organization by the
U.S., has been behind some of the most brutal attacks in the past 15
years of war in Afghanistan. The Haqqanis are wealthy, and able to
attract funding even as competition among Islamic organizations grows.
With their recent ascendency in the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqanis have
moved to unify the fractured insurgency.
"I
can't see any green light toward peace by the Taliban for Afghanistan
and instead we have seen an increase in their fighting in the
provinces," Akbari told The Associated Press.
Since
Mansour's death, Pakistan's Interior Ministry has launched a stepped-up
campaign to verify the identity of roughly 1.5 million Afghans living
in Pakistan, many possessing Pakistani identity cards, some legally
obtained and others illegally acquired. Mansour was carrying a Pakistani
passport and identity card under an alias.
The
crackdown has resulted in the withdrawal of thousands of suspicious
identity cards. Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan
said that in the last four years, roughly 80,000 suspicious identity
cards have been revoked. He didn't have a figure of the number of cards
withdrawn in the latest campaign.
Taliban
officials say their fighters, whose families are living in Pakistan,
are getting caught up in the crackdown — forcing them to find shelter in
Afghanistan. The officials said as a result, in order to accommodate
their fighters, they need to expand their territory for practical
reasons in addition to their standing military goals.
Pakistan
has been bitterly criticized by the Afghan government for not doing
more to arrest and expel Taliban fighters from its territory —
particularly the Haqqani network, which is blamed by Afghanistan for
many of the most brutal attacks. Pakistan, meanwhile, has carried out
military operations in its tribal regions that border Afghanistan, and
accuses Afghanistan of harboring its own Taliban insurgents who have
been carrying out attacks in Pakistan.
Following
last week's militant attack on the American University in Kabul, the
Afghan government sent three telephone numbers to Pakistan's military,
believed to belong to those involved in planning the attack, seeking
Pakistan's assistance in tracking down and arresting the culprits. The
assault killed 13 people and wounded dozens more.
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