The Afghan government yesterday rejected mounting evidence that a recent upsurge of violence in the south of the country, marked by the murder last weekend of a Hyderabadi engineer, is hampering reconstruction efforts.
“The main purpose Afghanistan's enemies is to disrupt development projects, but they have failed,” Khaleeq Ahmad, a spokesman for president Hamid Karzai, told Emerging Markets. “The government is continuing our development projects that are going on in the south and we will never give in to the enemies of peace and reconstruction,“ he vowed.
The seasonal renewal of hostilities in the south following the opening of mountain passes in the spring, has coincided with redoubled efforts by the Taliban and regional militias to frustrate government-backed projects.
“You're seeing increasing violence, especially in the south,“ Hikmet Cetin, NATO's top civilian representative in Afghanistan told Emerging Markets. The under-trained local police forces are struggling to combat co-coordinated action by criminal gangs, the former Turkish foreign minister said.
Worryingly insurgents are increasingly adopting the terror tactics similar to those employed in Iraq. Car bombs, roadside booby traps and suicide bombers are becoming ever more prevalent, according to Paddy Ogilvy, an analyst with security consultants Olive Group.
The killing of the Indian telecoms engineer, Kasula Suryanarayan, by the Taliban highlights the danger to foreign nationals whose skills are desperately needed to rebuild the war-torn country. A recent spate of attacks on schools also suggests a targeted campaign to stymie reconstruction.
Despite the government's rhetoric, UN spokesman Adrian Edwards said that the disruption to development work is becoming more severe: “You're getting into something of a catch 22 - you need development in order to get security but you need security in order to get development,“ he warned.
Ahmad noted that attacks were the work of foreigners and demanded more assistance from Pakistan in curbing the flow of recruits.
“The international community has to look into the roots of the terrorists and terrorism and attack them at the roots, that’s where they are trained, recruited from and equipped. We also need a better cooperation from Pakistan in the fight against terrorism and cross border infiltration,” Ahmad said.
Karzai's government is becoming increasingly frustrated by Islamabad's failure to police its northern borders. Despite a heavy presence of Pakistani troops, militants are able to cross and recross unchecked.
These so-called “day-tripper jihadists”, often Afghan refugees who have found shelter in Pakistan's Madrasa religious schools, are blamed by analysts for helping import terror techniques honed around the world.