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NATO deplores that the international community has forgotten Afghanistan
Agence France Presse (via Le Devoir, Can.)
30 June 2006
The international community does not listen to the Afghan government enough and has allowed itself to be distracted by the war in Iraq, which has allowed the Taliban to regain power in Afghanistan, the Head of NATO forces in the country, General Dave Richards, declared.
"I am critical of the entire international community because it doesn't listen to Afghans enough, in particular to their government," the British General, who is at the head of the NATO stabilization force (ISAF), declared in an interview broadcast by the BBC's Pashtun language service.
The general follows in the path of President Hamid Karzai, who had criticized the way the international community combats terrorism, deeming, notably, that it was not acceptable that hundreds of people be killed in Afghanistan, even if they are Taliban.
"There is no doubt that there's a return of the Taliban problem," the general acknowledged, all the while emphasizing that he thinks he has won the battle against the rebels. "I'm optimistic; it's not too late to put the Taliban back in their box," he said.
General Richards will take command of operations in the south of Afghanistan at the end of July, by far the region where the rebels are most active.
According to him, this return can be explained "broadly by the fact that people did not keep their eyes on the objective and that vacuum was filled by the Taliban," the general explained. "I think that, from an international point of view, Iraq has monopolized people's interest and resources for a while," he added.
For several months now, Afghanistan has experienced the strongest wave of violence since the fall of the Taliban regime provoked at the end of 2001 by an international military coalition led by the United States. The south of the country is particularly affected.
"Probably we underestimated the potential for a return [of the Taliban], but that is no longer the case," the general assured.
He is very much counting on the fact that the NATO forces in the south will be double those the coalition presently has available, which will, according to him, allow them to conduct many more humanitarian and development activities.
"We didn't do enough in the south," General Richards also acknowledged. "The population in the south has benefited very little from the billions of aid dollars spent in Afghanistan by the international community, while the region is the cradle of the 'students of religions' movement," he further judged.
Translation by Truthout French language correspondent Leslie Thatcher
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| Ander Nieuws week 28 / nieuwe oorlog 2006 |