Taliban's regrouping and stiff resistance against the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are likely to divide
the Western alliance as public opinion in some of the Western
countries is against fighting in Afghanistan.
The number of Westerners opposing the war in Afghanistan is much
higher than five years ago when the US-led military alliance
invaded the war-ravaged Central Asian country to topple the Taliban
regime on Oct. 7, 2001.
A majority of the people of Canada, a major ally of the United
States in the war on terror, are against the military presence of
Canada in Afghanistan, according to a survey conducted last
month.
Fifty-nine percent of 2,038 Canadians interviewed in September
were against Canada's military mission in Afghanistan, saying
Canadian soldiers "are dying for a cause we cannot win".
Only 20 percent of Canadian adults between 18 to 34 years old,
according to the survey, were willing to fight.
Canada has lost 39 soldiers since the beginning of its mission
in Afghanistan nearly five years ago and the number is on the rise
as Taliban militants are pointing their guns on Canadian troops in
Taliban's former stronghold Kandahar where some 2,300 Canadian
forces have been stationed to stabilize security.
Taliban-led militancy has claimed the lives of more than 2,400
people including more than 110 foreign soldiers since the beginning
of this year, a figure almost double the casualties last year.
Out of the foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year, 69
are Americans, according to the Western media reports. And the
United States has lost 280 soldiers ever since it launched the
campaign against Taliban regime in late 2001.
The rising casualties have caused concern among the NATO member
states and allies as none of the military alliance member was
willing to commit more troops to Afghanistan when their defense
ministers met in Belgium last month despite appeal by NATO-led ISAF
Commander in Afghanistan General David Richards.
Taliban's rapid resurgence and increasing attacks on the US-
dominated forces in Afghanistan have also shocked Britain, another
stanch ally of Washington in the war on terror as Prime Minister
Tony Blair has admitted that the battle with Afghan insurgents has
been more difficult than anticipated.
"I think the particular mission was tougher than any one
expected but I am not surprised it was tough," Blair told BBC in an
interview last month.
British Defense Secretary Des Browne in an address to the Royal
United Services Institute in September also admitted that the
battle in southern Afghanistan "had been harder than expected."
Another key ally of the United States in the war on terror in
Afghanistan is Italy, which has been torn by bitter controversies
over its military presence in the post-Taliban nation after one of
its soldiers was killed and five others were wounded in a roadside
bomb attack late last month outside Kabul.
The casualties, according to media reports, have prompted
several political forces including the Communist and Green parties
to urge Rome for a quick disengagement from Afghanistan.
Some 33,000 NATO-led ISAF forces and 8,000 US troops have been
stationed in Afghanistan to stabilize security, track down Taliban
militants and al-Qaida operatives and bolster the reconstruction
process of the war-battered country.
Nevertheless, the well equipped Western military alliance and
the US well disciplined army with its hi-tech military hardware
have failed to root out Taliban militants in mountainous southern
provinces, where the militias rose in mid last decade and impose
strict law in most part of the country.
The Western military alliance's inability to eliminate a
militant group and Taliban's firm resolve to fight back the world's
powerful alliance speak of the alliance daunting challenges facing
in Afghanistan that could undermine its credibility in the
future.
(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2006)
