Panetta: Insurgency rising because of weak political institutions and failing economy; Gates rules out any reconciliation with the Taliban till US-led forces gain decisive edge; 12 militants killed in US air strike in Ghazni
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    • In an address to a think tank in Los Angeles during the week, CIA Director Leon Panetta stated that the insurgency in Afghanistan led by the Taliban was rising because of weak political institutions and a failing economy. Apart from the military surge, Panetta also called for building up the coalition’s intelligence capabilities, an ‘intelligence surge,’ to help protect coalition forces as well as help establish a durable peace in the country1.

    US Defence Secretary Robert Gates meanwhile, in an interview with NBC, ruled out any reconciliation with the Taliban insurgents till the US-led international forces gained a decisive edge over them2. Gates’s assertion was made even as New York Times suggested that representatives of some Taliban factions were negotiating through intermediaries with the Afghan government for some kind of a peace accord on the condition that US forces withdraw from the country3.

    A dozen Taliban insurgents were killed and four others wounded during a night time air strike by the US-led coalition forces in the volatile southern Ghazni province on May 204. The new US ambassador to Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, interacting with the US air strike survivors of Farah province, promised that coalition forces would do their best and change tactics in order to prevent further civilian casualties in operations against insurgents5.

    At the trilateral regional summit in Tehran on May 24, involving Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, President’s Karzai, Ahmadinejad, and Zardari signed the ‘Tehran Statement’ which committed the three nations to work together to fight Islamic extremism and stop drug smuggling across their borders. The declaration however did not outline any specific actions6.

    US forces on their part also claimed that in operations in the Helmand province of Southern Afghanistan, large amounts of drugs were seized, including 17 tons of black tar opium, 74 tons of opium poppy seeds, 400lbs of hashish and 443lbs of heroin along with tons of bomb-making equipment and heroin-processing chemicals7.

    In other developments, President Karzai’s brother Ahmed Wali Karzai escaped an assassination bid on May 18 by the Taliban when militants ambushed his motorcade while he was traveling from the eastern city of Jalalabad to Kabul.

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