German Tornado jets have come under NATO command in Afghanistan just as violence in the country intensifies, with seven NATO troops killed over the weekend. Meanwhile, Australia has announced that it is to double its forces in the country to around 1,000 soldiers.
"We're not losing the war but we will not win it without renewed and increased effort."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard's sober remarks came as NATO forces in Afghanistan get ready for the Taliban's long-awaited spring offensive. Australia is doubling its troop numbers, and Germany has finally put its Tornado jets under NATO command -- but, somewhat ominously, the latest reinforcements coincide with ISAF's worst casualties in two years.
The German army confirmed Monday that its Tornado reconnaissance jets, which arrived in Afghanistan last week, are now officially under NATO command. "At midnight the operational squadron with the six recce Tornados and their additional personnel deployed here were placed under NATO command," spokesman Hartmut Beilmann told the German news agency DPA.
The six reconnaissance jets had landed in Camp Marmal near Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan last Thursday and they are due to begin full operations from April 15. Germany has 3,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan, half of which are stationed at Camp Marmal.
The Tornados, which carry two hi-tech optical cameras each plus an infra-red sensor, will be used to observe the border region with Pakistan and to spot Taliban fighters.
The Tornados are to support Operation Achilles, the latest offensive by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is aimed at rooting out Taliban forces in the opium-producing south of the country. But that may not be enough to stem criticism that Germany is not pulling its weight.
The mission is controversial at home, with fears that increased activity in Afghanistan could trigger terrorist attacks in Germany. Up to now the German mission has been based in the relatively peaceful north. Other allies have been critical of the division of labor within ISAF, with mostly US, British and Canadian forces dealing with the resurgent Taliban in the volatile south. A spring offensive is expected by the Taliban, which says it has thousands of suicide bombers prepared to attack NATO and Afghan forces.
A bloody Easter for NATO
Easter Sunday was the worst day for NATO forces in Afghanistan since the death of 16 US soldiers in a helicopter crash in June 2005. Six Canadian soldiers died in southern Afghanistan after their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, while another NATO soldier died on Sunday in a separate attack. Canada has now lost 51 soldiers since its mission began in 2002.
On Monday two Afghan soldiers were killed when Taliban militants ambushed their convoy with rocket propelled grenades, 14 other soldiers were wounded. Taliban forces also killed a policeman near Kandahar city.
Now Australia is sending more troops to ramp up the NATO forces in Afghanistan. Prime Minister John Howard announced Tuesday that the Canberra is to double the Australian deployment to almost 1,000 soldiers by mid year.
Howard, a staunch ally of the United States in the war on terror, said that Afghanistan was dangerous and Australia should brace itself for casualties. "There is renewed commitment and activity by the Taliban," he said. "The possibility of Afghanistan once again becoming a bolt-hole, a safe haven for terrorists, is quite real."
Howard added that he appreciated the increase in the number of Canadian troops in Afghanistan and wished some European countries would place fewer caveats on their troops' deployment.
Australia will send 300 special forces to southeast Afghanistan, near the Taliban stronghold. It also plans to send air force radar crews as well as logistics and intelligence officers. The total number of Australian troops deployed should thus reach 950 by mid-2007 and 1,000 by 2008.
Karazi and Prodi under fire
Meanwhile Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi are being harshly criticized for failing to save the Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi, who had been acting as a translator for the Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo. The Taliban captured the two men along with their driver on March 5 in Helmand Province. The Italian journalist was later released after Rome put pressure on the Afghan government to release five Taliban prisoners. The swap happened after the captors had already beheaded the driver.
The Taliban announced Sunday that Naqshbandi had been beheaded that day after the Afghan government refused to release several insurgent prisoners.
Karzai is now coming in for criticism in Afghanistan that he did more to help a foreigner than an Afghan citizen. A statement from Karzai's office Monday said that the Taliban had promised to release both men but had reneged on the deal.
In Rome, Prodi is coming under fire over the beheading of Nagshbandi and reports that his government paid $2 million for the release of an Italian photographer kidnapped by the Taliban
