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As a knee-jerk reaction to Maulvi Fayaz and his
group’s action, five Afghan employees of the
US
company Chemonics were killed in
Helmand
province on May 18, 2005. Six Afghans transporting a body from an
earlier attack to
Kabul
were ambushed and killed on May 19, 2005, in Zabul on the main road to the
capital. On the same day, an Interior Ministry spokesman identified
the kidnapper of Clementina Cantoni, an Italian aid worker, as Timoor
Shah, the leader of a criminal gang.
As violence had escalated in
Afghanistan
, the life of Maulvi Fayaz, the supporter of Karzai regime and the head of
Kandahar
’s Islamic Council, became vulnerable.
On May 29, 2005, suspected Taliban militants shot dead Maulvi Fayaz.
Two armed men riding on a motorbike opened fire on Maulvi Fayaz
when he was standing in front of his office.
The Talibans were quick to take the credit for Maulvi Fayaz’s
assassination. In a statement,
Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi [a Taliban leader] said, “Today at 2 in the
afternoon Taliban shot and killed Mullah Fayaz in
Kandahar
city. He was preaching against
the Taliban under the name of Islam and deserved to die.”
It should be pointed out that Talibans have lately started a
guerrilla-style insurgency against 18,000 coalition troops, which includes
16,000 American soldiers.
The spate of violence continued after the gunning
down of Maulvi Fayaz. A
suicide bomber disguised as an Afghan soldier attacked a crowded mosque in
the southern Afghan city of
Kandahar
on June 1, 2005, setting off a massive explosion that killed 19 people and
injured more than 50. The
blast occurred while bereaving followers of Maulvi Fayaz gathered in a
mosque for a memorial service who was killed only 3 days ago.
The Karzai Administration spent no times to blame
insurgents linked to al-Qaeda or the former Taliban government who were
ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001. The police in
Kandahar
said that the bomber’s facial features and documents found on his body
indicated he was an Arab, not an Afghan.
Also, it is very uncommon for Afghanis to perform suicide bombing.
After all, suicide bombing is an alien concept in
Afghanistan
. The Talibans are no dummy.
They have read in the newspaper or watched Al-Jazeera TV network
news to fathom out that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi-led insurgency had gathered
steam in
Iraq
causing a devastating blow to normalization process in post-Saddam
Iraq
. Americans are losing
soldiers and so are Iraqi army and police.
Therefore, they also chose suicide bombing to destabilize
Karzai’s
Afghanistan
.
The escalation of insurgency-led violence in
Afghanistan
has an objective, which is to derail the process leading up to
parliamentary elections slated for September 2005.
The brutal attack came as many residents of
Kandahar
were still reeling from the assassination of Maulvi Fayaz, leader of the
Council of Clerics in
Kandahar
and a longtime supporter of President Hamid Karzai.
Afghanis are known for taking revenge.
By taking side, Maulvi Fayaz paid the price with his life.
In April and May 2005, U.S.-led forces and units of the Afghan army
have mounted a concerted effort to root out the remnants of the Taliban --
killing about 200 insurgents in battles that have often been fiercely
fought by both sides. As a
result, the Talibans are now becoming very daring.
So far, they avoided killing civilians.
However, with the killing of Maulvi Fayaz and more civilians in
Kandahar
, it seems as if they have changed their tactics.
If they attack civilians, then there is this danger that they may
become unpopular amongst common people whose support they need so
desperately. In contrast to
what the Talibans are doing in southern
Afghanistan
, the Americans are releasing more detainees in
Afghanistan
. Only time could tell if
American policy to be lenient with the detainees will bear the fruit.
In summary, a chain reaction has started in
Kandahar
, the most populous province in
Afghanistan
. The Talibans have launched a
vicious insurgency movement in southern part of
Afghanistan
; they killed a famous cleric by the name Maulvi Fayaz who lent his
support for Karzai while denouncing Mullah Omar.
Talibans are furious because Maulvi Fayaz and other clerics have
offered their fatwa against Mullah Omar as they took away the grand title
of “Amir ul-Mumineen” reserved for the supreme Taliban leader.
The violence continued. As
faithfuls gathered to pay homage to slain cleric, Maulvi Fayaz, suicide
bomber struck the meeting. Consequently,
more blood was shed. It seems
as if the Talibans are in offensive mood as they thumb their nose at
Karzai after each killing. What
lies ahead for
Afghanistan
is not known for sure but this much is certain that Talibans will regroup
to foil the upcoming parliamentary election.
The group which is silent now is the disgruntled warlords.
If they join the Talibans, then things may turn topsy-turvy for
Karzai. Let us hope that does
not happen.
--------------------------
Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist,
writes from
New Orleans
,
USA
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