Hydrablog

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/world/asia/kunar-province-suicide-bombings-kill-4-in-afghanistan.html
August 8, 2012
Fatal Attack Shows Plan to Unsettle Afghanistan
By ALISSA J. RUBIN [Afghanistan] [AfPak] [Obama’s “surge” continues] [after “surge” has success around Kandahar, insurgency strikes back?] [last week on anniversary of bin Laden raid, President Obama signed strategic partnership, then left] [quickly back to the war thru 2014?] [followup] [use psci 355-455, 463] [insurgency focuses on Kunar near the border with Pakistan] [followup] [the strategy appears to be attack where the transition from U.S-NATO to Afghanis is underway?] [*]
KABUL, Afghanistan — Three NATO soldiers and an Afghan civilian were killed Wednesday in a suicide attack in the middle of the provincial capital of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan.
The attack, in which two bombers detonated suicide vests as soldiers were patrolling near the provincial council’s office, occurred just a few days after the Taliban made a show of force in Kunar, a rugged border province that has been one of the most hard-fought regions for the American military. In those attacks, insurgents assaulted outposts and government buildings in eight districts, although few casualties were reported.
The transition of Kunar’s security to Afghan control is happening more gradually than in some other provinces, and the nature of the recent attacks shows why, in part: despite years of intensive coalition military offensives in some parts of the region, militants pose a perpetual threat, even in the provincial capital, Asadabad. The tenor and pace of attacks speak to the Taliban’s long-range strategy, in which civilians are regularly reminded of the militants’ resilience in a place where government control has always seemed tenuous.
Bolstering the sense of a tenacious insurgency was a report on civilian casualties released by the United Nations office here in Kabul. Despite a 15 percent drop in those casualties between Jan. 1 and June 30 of this year compared with the year before, officials emphasized that the improvements were being eroded. [the insurgency has never cared about non combatants—the only times the insurgency has sought to remedy high noncombatant causalties is temporarily when spotlight is on it] [*]
The reduction, which was most pronounced from January to April, appears to have partly reflected the harshness of a winter that was colder, snowier and longer than the past several years were and that discouraged insurgent attacks.
Even so, over that six-month period, 1,145 Afghan women, children and civilian men were killed, and nearly 2,000 were wounded.
“These gains are fragile; they do not reflect a move toward a peaceful society,” said Nicholas Haysom, the United Nations deputy special representative for Afghanistan. “This report does not suggest that Afghans are safer or better protected in their communities, nor does it suggest any greater effort by antigovernment elements” to avoid harm to civilians, he said.
The Taliban and other armed antigovernment groups were responsible for the vast majority of the casualties. This year, 80 percent of the casualties were caused by the antigovernment fighters, while pro-government forces, including the Americans and NATO, could be blamed for just 10 percent, according to the report. [*]The casualties caused by the Americans and NATO dropped 25 percent from the same period last year, a figure that reflected in part a recent focus on avoiding airstrikes and reducing casualties in night raids.
The remaining casualties, 10 percent, could not be attributed to either side, said James Rodehaver, the acting human rights director for the United Nations office here.
Among the most worrisome findings was an increase in targeted killings, which was all the more alarming because the increase occurred despite an overall decrease in casualties. From January through June, there 255 such targeted killings, a 53 percent increase over the same period in 2011, Mr. Rodehaver said.
Then, in the five weeks since July 1, there was a 240 percent increase in assassinations over the same period last year. And overall civilian casualties for July were 5 percent above last year in the same period, suggesting that the positive trend of the last six months is being reversed. [attempt to terrify Afghans who work for the govt side] [*]
The report also looked deeply into the behavior of the Afghan local police, who patrol in villages where there is no regular police presence. The United Nations described complaints about recruitment, vetting, lack of accountability and infiltration by insurgents.
An employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Kunar Province, Afghanistan.