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NATO Struggles to Win Support in Afghanistan

08/09/09September 8, 2009

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has won an absolute majority in the presidential election, according to the Afghan Independent Election Commission. The announcement comes despite claims by the UN-backed independent Election Complaints Commission that the poll was marred by widespread fraud. Meanwhile in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has once again promised an inquiry into last week’s NATO airstrike in the northern province of Kunduz. The airstrike killed a considerable number of people and has attracted severe criticism internationally.

https://p.dw.com/p/Lrqw
Afghan officials inspect burnt oil tankers, at the site of a NATO-led air strike targeting Taliban militants, in Kunduz
Afghan officials inspect burnt oil tankers, at the site of a NATO-led air strike targeting Taliban militants, in KunduzImage: dpa

The Electoral Complaints Commission or the ECC of Afghanistan is still investigating large number of ballots in the much disputed poll.

Karin Von Hippel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies or CSIS in Washington says, “It remains to be seen over the next few weeks whether or not the ECC is able to nullify those votes and push the candidate to a second round. So there’s still a possibility even though now they are declaring Karzai as the winner.”

The Kunduz incident

After NATO increased troop levels ahead of the election, the fighting intensified and casualties among Western forces increased. General Stanley McChrystal, the newly appointed head of the NATO and the US forces in Afghanistan, recently called for an overhaul of the strategy in Afghanistan in his review report.

McChrystal suggested revamping counterinsurgency strategy to make Afghans feel safer. He came down heavily on his German counterparts over an aerial strike which targeted stolen NATO fuel supply trucks in Kunduz. The bombing allegedly left over 100 dead, Taliban and civilians. McChrystal was prompt in ordering an investigation, “What the Afghan people want is security and I think they welcome us if we can provide that. I think if we are not careful in how we operate, if we use our power ineffectively and we cause harm to people, I think they don’t appreciate that.”

Abdul Mateen Sarfaraaz of the Pajhwok Afghan News agency was one of the first reporters to get to the sight of the air strike.

“Afghan people, specially the Kunduz people had a good view of German soldiers until now. But now they are questioning the German action in Kunduz,” said Sarfaraaz. “If the Germans continue like this, the people will have a bad memory of the German army. People will join hands with the Taliban and act against the German army.”

Distrust among people

The Kunduz incident has raised questions within NATO. The airstrike was criticized sharply by some member nations.

“It’s a vital time for Afghanistan’s people to come together,” said David Miliband, the British foreign secretary.

“We have a very strong NATO commitment, we need a strong Afghan commitment and obviously incidents like this can only undermine that and that’s why its important that we are very open and clear about what happened and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Karin Von Hippel of the CSIS in Washington DC has a very different take on the Kunduz incident. “Not enough effort is made by the international press or the Afghan press to talk about the civilian casualties caused by the Taliban. I think the reporting is very uneven, it is far more focused on civilian casualties caused by NATO troops and by the Taliban members and of course the Taliban are purposely targeting the civilians whereas the NATO troops are not.”

Joint effort required

Karin feels that a combined effort would be required to get Afghanistan back on track. “We can say that the Karzai regime is corrupt and hasn’t been delivering, at the same time we can also say that the international community has fallen far short. Not only have the US government, the UN but all of our allied partners have been doing the job what we should’ve been doing during this period of time.”

While the allied forces in Afghanistan struggle to stabilize the region, distrust within the Afghan people against the forces only seems to be growing.

Author: Pukhraj Choudhary
Editor: Grahame Lucas