Key Offensives in the War Against the Taliban

Less than three days after the death of the highest ranking British officers since the Malvinas’ War, two other U.K. soldiers lost their lives yesterday in the south Afghan province of Helmad. In addition, 16 employees of a mine removal company were kidnapped. Everything indicates that the increase of casualties in the fight against the Taliban has just now begun, and that the allies are willing to pay a high price to successfully conclude the biggest military offensive in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001.

Last Thursday Obama sent 10,000 Marines against the Taliban stronghold of Helmad, a region where 8,000 British soldiers are already deployed. This critical operation comes as the U.S. president promises a change of strategy in Afghanistan. The allies are finally taking the initiative after eight years that have shown that Al-Qaeda is not an easy enemy and that have revealed the lack of patience in Western public opinion towards what seems to be a conflict with no solution. Washington and London know that the success or failure of this offensive will shape the course of the war and have chosen the most effective strategy to defeat the Taliban; but it may be the most risky one in the short term.

Obama has promised a dramatic improvement in Afghanistan through the combination of military action and internal reconstruction. In this sense the Helmad offensive is directed at several objectives. First, it will focus the attacks in the province of Baluchistan in Pakistan, where Western intelligence believes the Al-Qaeda headquarters are located. Secondly, the Americans and the British will partner with the Pakistani army on counterinsurgency efforts on the border of Afghanistan. The mobility of the insurgents over difficult terrain has allowed them to withstand an organization as powerful as NATO. Also, Helmad is the center of the poppy production region in Afghanistan and the allies want to eliminate the rebels’ main source of financing, the heroin drug trade.

The NATO command has decided to reduce the aerial attacks that have caused so many civilian casualties and animosity toward the international troops. This may require an extended occupation to gain the trust of the civilian population. For that reason the Helmad offensive could become the first of a series of successful operations preceding the August 20th elections. NATO needs to strengthen the Kabul authorities’ involvement in the stabilization of the country, following a similar model to the one used in Iraq. Despite the deserved criticism of Hamid Karzai’s government for corruption and association with warlords, greater public participation is needed in the electoral process to legitimize the government’s ability to secure the state.

The Helmad offensive thus represents an audacious strategy to strike Al-Qaeda in its feud with the Taliban. The commitment of E.U. countries, with the exception of the United Kingdom and Poland, has largely been symbolic. Spain will only contribute 450 soldiers to the effort. The question now is to what extent the U.S. and U.K. can sustain a long-range offensive to occupy and pacify a country where, historically, all other major world powers have failed.