We are blogging the latest news about America's war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Email us at AfPak [at] huffingtonpost.com. Follow Nico on Twitter; follow Nicholas on Twitter. See archives of 'At War' here.
With reporting by Faiz Lalani.
Iran accused of arming the Taliban. NATO officials have accused Iran of providing weapons and training to the Taliban, reports The London Times. Documents obtained by Channel 4 News say that Iran is becoming more crucial to Taliban support than Pakistan. Sixty percent of the weapons intercepted by Afghan authorities from the Iranian border come directly from the Iranian government, according to Afghan intelligence officials.
From The London Times:
"Day by day the Iranian border becomes more important for us, especially now in Pakistan there are many problems for the Taleban," said Commander Noori, a senior insurgent in Kunduz. "Many of the Taleban have been imprisoned and also [Pakistan arrests] any Taleban who comes out of the madrassas," he said.
4:50 PM ET -- What was NATO's restructuring about? Michael Innes asks if General McChrystal's reorganization of the NATO command, which brought 20,000 additional U.S. troops directly under NATO, will succeed at its stated goal of "unity of command"--that is, clearer organization, and the streamlining of administrative and communication lines between the troops and their leadership. He is skeptical: "NATO is complex, and Afghanistan is immense; disconnects will persist between headquarters and units." Innes notes that the reorganization also brings more Special Forces under McChrystal's command. The Special Forces have come under increasing scrutiny in light of recent civilian casualties. McChrystal, worried about the specter of high civilian casualties, may have restructured NATO in Afghanistan in an effort to exercise greater control over the U.S. Special Forces.
4:40 PM ET -- Petraeus: Too soon to tell if Afghan troops ready; announces new training strategy. According to Voice of America, General Petraeus--the man charged with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--told Congress on Wednesday that "it's too soon to tell if Afghan troops will be ready to assume control as U.S. forces leave." He also announced a new training strategy for Afghan security forces. Previously, NATO had relied on a "recruit, assign, and try to get them back to training" pattern, but now it will first recruit, train, and then finally assign police. He further said that pay raises and bonuses for Afghan forces have improved the performance of Afghan recruits.
3:20 PM ET -- What happens if bin Laden is caught? Over the past two days, Attorney General Eric Holder and NATO commander Stanley McChrystal have given contradictory remarks concerning the plausible capture and treatment of Osama bin Laden, reports The Washington Post. Testifying before Congress on Tuesday, Holder eluded Republican questions about how the Obama administration would prosecute bin Laden were he captured. Holder said the chances of capturing bin laden alive were "infinitesimal" so the questions were moot. However, General McChrystal told reporters yesterday that the capture of bin Laden alive remains a goal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. "[W]e would certainly go after trying to capture [bin Laden] alive and bring him to justice. I think that is something that is understood by everyone," said McChrystal.
2:55 PM ET -- A hard-won victory in Now Zad. Defense Secretary Bob Gates' visit to the southern Afghan town of Now Zad may have seemed staged--he walked around a small market, surrounded by armed Marines--but it was the symbol of a hard-won victory, writes Michael Buonocore, a Marine who fought to secure the town last year. He recounts the "sadist's game" of tit-for-tat between the Marines and the Taliban, each side uncompromising and unwilling to cede ground. But the Marines fought and secured the town eventually, and 2,500 of the 30,000 residents--who had fled when the fighting began--have returned.
Bouonocore writes:
The repopulation effort happened much more quickly than anyone expected and there are now 2,500 Afghans who, once again, call Now Zad home. Entire families have moved back into that very same town of mud huts ravaged by time and war. Life is constricted to the security bubble that the Marines are able to provide and it is by no means normal or ideal. But all this has occurred in a place plagued by conflict, a place that has not been home to Afghans in four years. It is still political theater to some.
2:45 PM ET -- Kandahar offensive already begun. Reuters reports that the military offensive in Kandahar is already underway. NATO's commander General Stanley McChrystal made the revelation yesterday, but provided few details. McChrystal said that the offensive will consist of "gradual operations to deliver security and governance" and "activities to shape the political relationships in and around Kandahar." There will be no major military assault, the general told reporters in a briefing. The offensive in Kandahar comes after NATO forces ended Operation Moshtarak in neighboring Helmand. Kandahar the spiritual and military stronghold of the Taliban.
1:20 PM ET -- $1.6 billion for Afghanistan debt relief. The Paris Club--a group of major creditor nations--will cancel $1.6 billion of foreign debt owed by Afghanistan to creditor nations and international organizations, according to The Associated Press. Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin announced the deal, saying that the debt relief "was a recognition of the progress Afghanistan had made in strengthening its economy."
1:00 PM ET -- Pakistan manipulates the West and the Taliban to exert influence. Pakistan manipulates the West and the Taliban for its own regional interests, argues HuffPost blogger Ehsan Azari. The Pakistani spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), fueled extremism in Afghanistan in the 1970s because it wanted to stifle Pushtun nationalism along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier. The Pushtunistan movement--a movement for greater autonomy, and perhaps independence, for Pakistan's Pushtuns--unnerved Islamabad, says Azari. So Pakistan cultivated a network of extremists in the region (the Taliban and al Qaeda) and spread Political Islam to Afghanistan to control Afghan domestic politics. And Pakistan is now leveraging its role as America's key counterinsurgency partner to gain greater influence in Afghanistan. Azari points to the capture and subsequent detention of Mullah Baradar, who Pakistan has refused to turn over to the U.S. so that it can use him as a bargaining chip.
12:30 PM ET -- NATO will launch offensive in northern Afghanistan this year. NATO plans another large-scale offensive in Afghanistan this year in the northern province of Kunduz, according to Agence France Presse. Modeled on the operation in Marjah, the military offensive will target Taliban insurgents, who in recent months have increased activity in the north. The announcement was made by a senior German general, General Bruno Kasdorf. Germany has a contingent of 4,300 soldiers, mainly based in northern Afghanistan. The U.S. will be sending 2,000 troops to accompany Germany's forces.
12:15 PM ET -- Afghan security forces behind schedule. According to a report published by the Canadian government, the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police in Kandahar province have not met many of the benchmarks for readiness. This is cause for concern, writes John Geddes of Maclean's, as Canada will withdraw from the area in 2011 and the U.S. will begin its withdrawal that year as well. Noting that only two kandaks (units of 650 soldiers) of the army are ready and that the police force suffers from high attrition rates, Geddes believes the "report doesn't inspire confidence." He notes one sentence from the report with particular concern: "Kandaharis did not perceive security as improving in any of the six key districts."
12:00 PM ET -- Holbrooke rethinks aid to Pakistan. U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holrooke, is on a mission to transform U.S. aid practices in Pakistan, according to James Traub in Foreign Policy. For years, and especially during the Cold War, U.S. assistance to Pakistan mainly strengthened the Pakistani military and enriched the country's elites. Hoping to win over Pakistani hearts and minds--support that is crucial for the Obama administration's counter-terrorism efforts--Holbrooke has pushed for greater American assistance for Pakistan's civilian sector. The Kerry-Lugar Bill, which directs billions in civilian aid over the course of five years, has allocated $3.5 billion for "high impact, high visibility infrastructure programs" that demonstrate to Pakistanis America's commitment to their country in very visible terms. The administration believes the aid will undermine rampant anti-Americanism in Pakistan, where, for instance, "90 percent...said in a poll last summer that the United States abuses its power to "make us do what the U.S. wants."
10:30 AM ET -- Taliban: Kings of the night in Marjah. According to The New York Times, as NATO's much vaunted military offensive in Marjah winds down, there are now reports that the Taliban have begun a campaign of intimidation in the area. Taking advantage of the fact that NATO and Afghan troops "cannot defend anyone even one kilometer from their bases," the Taliban hide among the locals, and at night, the city "is like the kingdom of the Taliban," as one tribal elder put it. The Taliban post "night letters" at mosques and on utility poles, warning locals against cooperating with international and Afghan troops. They threaten to behead collaborators, and warn that they will confiscate any money locals earn from government jobs. The operation in Marjah, which began in mid-February, aimed at ridding the area of the Taliban and restoring security and good governance.