A bomb in a police car killed at least eight Afghans on Monday as Nato forces took control of security in southern Afghanistan to begin one of the biggest ground operations in the alliance’s history.
The blast occurred in the eastern city of Jalalabad, far from the transfer-of-command ceremony on a base outside the southern city of Kandahar.
Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest phase since a Taliban government was ousted in 2001, and the guerrilla insurgency is concentrated in the south and east.
Having handed over the south, the United States-led coalition is expected to transfer responsibility for the east to Nato at the end of the year.
The US general in charge of the coalition said Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters could not defeat the combined Afghan government and foreign forces.
”He knows he can’t beat us militarily, so he is resorting more and more to terrorising innocent Afghans in a deliberate attempt to instil fear in the people,” Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, commander of Coalition forces, said in Kandahar.
Taking responsibility for the south, Lieutenant General David Richards, the British Nato commander, spoke of the malign forces ”perpetuating a cycle of oppression, murder and poverty”.
More than 1 700 people have been killed since the start of the year in attacks by Taliban guerrillas, drug gangs and US-led coalition operations.
The bomb in Jalalabad targeted the convoy of Gul Afgha Sherzai, the governor of Nangarhar, as it drove away from a mosque where thousands of people had gathered to offer prayers for a former Mujahideen commander, who died last week.
Sherzai escaped unhurt, but officials said five police and three children were killed while 16 other people were wounded.
”I was the target and it was the work of Afghanistan’s enemies,” Sherzai told Reuters, using a term usually taken to mean Taliban insurgents and their al-Qaeda allies.
Dangerous
Until now, Nato has been in charge of security in the capital, Kabul, and the safer north and west of the country, and the mission covering six southern provinces could become the most dangerous in the alliance’s 57-year history.
”Hundreds of our suicide bombers are awaiting Nato forces… we will continue our offensive until we force the foreign troops to leave our country,” Mullah Dadullah, a Taliban commander, told Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.
Nato peacekeeping troops, mostly from Britain, Canada and The Netherlands, have been taking up positions in the south for the past few months and have already been engaged in heavy fighting with Taliban guerrillas, in some cases allied with drug runners.
The alliance will boost its presence in Afghanistan by about 7 000 troops to 16 000. Of more than 70 foreign troops killed this year, at least six of have been involved in Nato-led operations.
Nato’s secretary general stressed on Monday that Nato could not solve all problems and needed world powers to live up to commitments made at the end of January to bring more aid to Afghanistan — something they have failed to do so far, he said.
”I tell people … Nato will do its job but you have to do yours as well in assisting the Afghan people and government, but also in preventing the country from becoming a stronghold for terrorists,” Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in an interview with the Financial Times. — Reuters