Yesterday was the deadliest day in Afghanistan for U.S. forces in nearly a year: Seven U.S. soldiers were killed, including four members of a training team who were killed in a roadside bomb attack in northern Kunduz province.
The Kunduz incident, in particular, is troubling. That part of Afghanistan has for the most part been relatively quiet. Now insecurity seems to be on the rise: Last month, three German soldiers were killed when their patrol came under fire; a recent Al Jazeera report showed Taliban fighters operating openly in the province. (Two Al Jazeera producers were detained for three days at Afghan intelligence headquarters after that segment aired.)
So how seriously has security in Kunduz diminished? When I visited Kunduz in 2004, the German military had assumed control of a Provincial Reconstruction Team there. The German approach to securing Kunduz was passive, to say the least: Teams would only go out if they could be accompanied by armored ambulances; night patrols were rare; and the Germans were bound by restrictive rules of engagement.
Even though Germany limits its involvement to reconstruction and peacekeeping, at least 35 German soldiers have been killed to date in Afghanistan. The German mission in Afghanistan is now more unpopular than ever, and the German public is reluctant to allow a more active combat role for the Bundeswehr. German authorities are now warning that militant attacks on German targets may rise in advance of the country's parliamentary elections in September.
Equally important, attacks in northern Afghanistan also seem deliberately timed to send a message of insecurity before Afghanistan's upcoming presidential vote. An uptick in casualties may make it harder to follow General Stanley McChrystal's kindler, gentler approach to the war in Afghanistan. And keeping development programs going -- a cornerstone of U.S. and NATO efforts in northern Afghanistan -- will also be more difficult.
[PHOTO: Bundeswehr]
ALSO:
- The Military's New Monster Truck for Afghanistan
- High-Tech Brigade Heads to Afghanistan, Loaded With Gadgets ...
- Surge of Nerds Rebuilds Afghanistan
- Taliban Bigwig Admits: We Screwed Up Afghanistan
- U.S. Payoff Keeps Key Hub for Afghanistan Open
- U.S. Denies Incendiary Weapon Use in Afghanistan
- Sign of the Times: Afghanistan War Costs Higher Than Iraq
- 'Human Terrain' Probes Iran's Influence in Afghanistan
