http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=30407

Kabul back as terror hot spot



KABUL, June 30 (Online): Less than two years after the US-led Operation
Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan is re-emerging as a terrorism hotspot on
radar
screens.

A spate of attacks and an increase in intercepted electronic 'chatter'
indicate that the Al-Qaeda network could be re-establishing its foothold
there.

Intelligence officials said this communication buzz and tapes reportedly
released by Mullah Mohammed Omar, former leader of the Taleban, suggest
that
Osama bin Laden has renewed his partnership with it. The Taleban have been
regrouping in the far-flung areas of the country.

The Al-Qaeda has also formed new tie-ups with outfits such as the Hizbi
Islami of renegade Afghan warlords like Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Some of its
members, who had fled to Pakistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, are
beginning to return.

The most recent suicide attack in Afghanistan is believed to be jointly
organised by the Al-Qaeda, the Taleban and those affiliated with Hekmatyar.

Earlier this month, a bus packed with international peacekeepers was blown
up in Kabul, leaving four German peacekeepers and one civilian dead, and 29
others injured.

Security officials and Afghan watchers said other attacks being blamed on
the network suggest the initiation of a violent campaign aimed at
destabilising the United States-backed Hamid Karzai regime.

In April alone, rockets were fired at an American base on the Pakistan
border. Four men died when their explosives-laden car blew up and gunmen
ambushed the brother of Kandahar's powerful governor, killing two of his
relatives.

The Times of London reported in April that handwritten notes threatening to
punish or kill anyone co-operating with American forces, or with the Afghan
government, had been found in the bazaars of Afghan border towns.

In October 2001, the US launched a military operation against Afghanistan
to
destroy Osama and his Al-Qaeda net work as well as the Taleban regime.

'Operation Enduring Freedom was a full frontal assault on the Taleban in
Afghanistan...(but) no one was guarding the back door,' said terrorism
commentator M.J. Gohel, a director with the Asia-Pacific Foundation on
CNN's
Your World Today, last week.

According to him, more than 18,000 Taleban and Al-Qaeda members who had
fled
to Pakistan are regrouping and launching attacks on the Karzai government.

In another indication, Mullah Omar, in a recently released tape, announced
the formation of a 10-man council comprising many of the feared former
military commanders.

He also urged Afghan troops to intensify their resistance to US troops.

'The situation is similar to that of the post-Soviet era in the early
1980s,' said New Delhi-based terrorism expert Ajai Sahni.

'The government was weak and Taleban stepped up its activities.

'We are seeing a revival of that again today, for given the limited
presence
of peacekeepers and funding constraints, Mr Karzai has not been able to
consolidate his government,' he told The Sunday Times.

Officials said, however, that at this stage it was not clear what exactly
Al-Qaeda's intentions were.

Only developments in the next few months will tell, they said.