NYT : Taliban Escalate Fighting With Assault on U.S. Base

Taliban Escalate Fighting With Assault on U.S. Base

By CARLOTTA GALL and SANGAR RAHIMI | August 20, 2008

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents mounted their most serious attacks in six years of fighting in Afghanistan over the last two days, including a coordinated assault by at least 10 suicide bombers against one of the largest American military bases in the country, and another by about 100 insurgents who killed 10 elite French paratroopers.

The attack on the French, in a district near Kabul, added to the sense of siege around the capital and was the deadliest single loss for foreign troops in a ground battle since the United States-led invasion chased the Taliban from power in 2001.

Taken together, the attacks were part of a sharp escalation in fighting as insurgents have seized a window of opportunity to press their campaign this summer — taking advantage of a wavering NATO commitment, an outgoing American administration, a flailing Afghan government and a Pakistani government in deep disarray that has given the militants freer rein across the border.

As a result, this year is on pace to be the deadliest in the Afghan war so far, as the insurgent attacks show rising zeal and sophistication. The insurgents are employing not only a growing number of suicide and roadside bombs, but are also waging increasingly well-organized and complex operations using multiple attackers with different types of weapons, NATO officials say.

NATO and American military officials place blame for much of the increased insurgent activity on the greater freedom of movement the militants have in Pakistan’s tribal areas on the Afghan border. The turmoil in the Pakistani government, with the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf on Monday, has added to the sense of a vacuum of authority there.

But at least as important, the officials say, is the fact that Pakistan’s military has agreed to a series of peace deals with the militants under which it stopped large-scale operations in the tribal areas in February, allowing the insurgents greater freedom to train, recruit and carry out attacks into Afghanistan.

More foreign fighters are entering Afghanistan this summer than in previous years, NATO officials say, an indication that Al Qaeda and allied groups have been able to gather more foreigners in their tribal redoubts.

The push by the insurgents has taken a rising toll. Before the attack on Monday, 173 foreign soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan this year, including 99 Americans. In all of 2007, 232 foreign troops were killed, the highest number since the war began in 2001.

The attack with multiple suicide bombers, which struck Camp Salerno in the eastern province of Khost, wounded three American soldiers and six members of the Afghan Special Forces, Afghan officials said. It was one of the most complex attacks yet in Afghanistan, and included a backup fighting force that tried to breach defenses to the airport at the base.

The assault followed a suicide car bombing at the outer entrance to the same base on Monday morning, which killed 12 Afghan workers lining up to enter the base, and another attempted bombing that was thwarted later.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, reached by telephone at an unknown location, said the attack was carried out by 15 suicide bombers, each equipped with machine guns and explosives vests, and backed by 30 more militants.

He also claimed that some of the bombers had breached the walls of the base and had killed a number of American soldiers and destroyed equipment and helicopters. This last claim was denied by Gen. Zaher Azimi of the Afghan military.

The insurgents began attacking with rockets and mortars at 11 p.m. Monday, and a group of militants began to move toward the airport side of the base, the Afghan military said. An Afghan commando unit encircled them, killing 13 militants, including 10 who were wearing suicide vests, General Azimi said.

A fierce battle raged through much of the night, until 7 a.m. Tuesday, said Arsala Jamal, the governor of Khost. American helicopter strikes against the militants, who were moving through a cornfield around the base, also struck a house in a village, killing two children and wounding two women and two men, the provincial police chief, Abdul Qayum Baqizoy, said.

The attack on the French also began late Monday and continued into Tuesday, after they were ambushed by an unusually large insurgent force while on a joint reconnaissance mission with the Afghan Army in the district of Sarobi, 30 miles east of Kabul, according to a NATO statement.

The French soldiers, part of an elite paratrooper unit, had only recently taken over from American forces in the area as part of the expanded French deployment in Afghanistan under President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In addition to the 10 French soldiers killed, 21 were wounded, the NATO statement said. It was the deadliest attack on French troops since a 1983 assault in Beirut killed 58 French paratroopers serving in a United Nations force.

The latest casualties bring to 24 the number of French troops killed in Afghanistan since they were first sent there in 2002.

The Taliban have seemingly made it part of their strategy to attack newly arriving forces, as well as those of NATO countries whose commitment to the war has appeared to waver, in an effort to influence public opinion in Europe. NATO countries have been under increasing pressure from the United States to increase their troop commitments to Afghanistan, which many have been hesitant to do.

The Taliban’s surge in attacks also comes at a delicate moment in American political life, as the departing Bush administration will have to hand over control of the war to a new president, whose administration will need time to get up to speed.

But Mr. Sarkozy, who has been a strong supporter of the United States, made it clear that the French would be undeterred.

“In its struggle against terrorism, France has just been hard hit,” Mr. Sarkozy said in a statement. He arrived in Kabul on Wednesday, according to Reuters, a trip he made to reassure French troops that “France is at their side.”

But Mr. Sarkozy said France would not be deterred from its Afghan mission, where 3,000 troops are serving in a NATO force of more than 40,000 soldiers from nearly 40 nations.

“My determination is intact,” he said. “France is committed to pursuing the struggle against terrorism, for democracy and for freedom. This is a just cause; it is an honor for France and for its army to defend it.”

The Sarobi District has been the scene of a growing number of insurgent attacks in recent months, most thought to be instigated by fighters loyal to the renegade mujahedeen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is allied with the Taliban but not formally part of the movement.

Mr. Hekmatyar, who NATO officials say is based in Pakistan, has increased his militant activity in northeast Afghanistan and around Kabul, while the Taliban, foreign fighters and Al Qaeda have accelerated their attacks in the east, southeast and south.

The increase in insurgent activity northeast of Kabul is part of an attempt by the insurgents to encircle the capital and put pressure on the Afghan government and the foreign forces, some NATO and Afghan officials say.

Insurgent activity has also increased sharply in recent months in Logar and Wardak Provinces, south of the capital, sometimes making the main roads impassable.

The deployment of elite French troops to the area was intended to reinforce the Afghan Army and help keep the insurgent threat to the capital at bay. General Azimi, the Afghan military spokesman, said two companies of Afghan Army soldiers were sent in at dawn to assist the French.

In all, about 27 Taliban were believed to have been killed in the clash in the Sarobi District, around Uzbin, he said. Thirteen insurgents were later found dead on the battlefield, including a Pakistani fighter, he said.

Carlotta Gall reported from Bamiyan, and Sangar Rahimi from Kabul, Afghanistan. Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from Paris.

WaPo : 10 French Soldiers Killed by Taliban

10 French Soldiers Killed by Taliban

Fighters in Afghanistan Also Target NATO Base

By Candace Rondeaux | Washington Post Foreign Service | August 20, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 19 -- In unusually large and well-coordinated attacks in eastern Afghanistan, Taliban insurgents killed 10 French paratroopers in a mountain road ambush and at least six suicide bombers attempted to storm a NATO alliance base, NATO and Afghan officials said Tuesday.

The ambush, the deadliest single attack on the French military since 1983, led French President Nicolas Sarkozy to fly to Afghanistan to offer condolences and emphasize that France would stay in the war despite public misgivings at home. France recently sent 700 more soldiers to the country.

In the Afghan war, high death counts among international troops have usually been the result of aircraft being shot down or cleverly placed bombs. Monday's attack on the French, however, was carried out by massed Taliban fighters. Likewise, suicide attacks are normally the work of lone bombers, but at the NATO base, six came together.

As violence in Iraq has settled down in the past year, it has been on the upswing in Afghanistan, with the Taliban showing increasing boldness and sophistication. In the last three months, more foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq, making this year one of the most lethal since U.S.-led military operations began in Afghanistan in 2001.

The fighting with the French began late Monday afternoon when about 100 insurgents ambushed a French-led reconnaissance patrol near the town of Sarobi, about 40 miles east of Kabul, according to French and NATO officials. Shortly after the ambush, air support and a quick-reaction force of NATO and Afghan soldiers were sent to reinforce the French patrol, which also suffered 21 wounded.

Gen. Mohammed Zaher Azimi, chief spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said at least 13 insurgents were killed and 14 were injured in the exchanges. Azimi said that heavy fighting continued well into Tuesday morning but that NATO and Afghan soldiers were close to clearing the area of insurgents by late afternoon.

The death toll was the highest the French armed forces had suffered anywhere in a single incident since 1983, when 58 troops died in a suicide attack in Beirut carried out in tandem with one that killed 241 U.S. service members.

The NATO base that the suicide bombers targeted was in Khost province. On Monday, a car bomb was detonated outside the base, killing 10 Afghans and wounding 13. A second car bomb was seized before it went off, NATO said. On Tuesday, insurgents followed up with a second attack.

Arsala Jamal, governor of Khost province, said he believed that as many as 10 suicide bombers may have taken part in Tuesday's assault. By his account, the trouble began when 10 to 15 Taliban fighters were seen approaching the base, known as Camp Salerno. NATO troops repelled them with heavy gunfire from the ground and helicopters, Jamal said.

Three of the bombers were killed when they detonated vests laden with explosives, the alliance said, and three others were fatally shot before they could set off their bombs. No NATO casualties were reported.

France has about 1,670 troops in Afghanistan, NATO officials said. Sarkozy agreed to augment his forces there in March after the United States called on its allies in NATO to step up their involvement in the military mission. The war is unpopular in many European NATO countries, where polls show people seeing no end to a conflict that is taking an ever-higher cost.

On Tuesday, Sarkozy said in a statement that the attack would not diminish France's support for the war in Afghanistan. "My determination is intact," he said. "France is determined to continue the struggle against terrorism for democracy and freedom. The cause is just."

Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, expressed sorrow over the losses. "This is a difficult time right now for the families and friends of those who died or were injured," Blanchette said in a statement. "The lives of these soldiers are irreplaceable, but this loss does not deter ISAF from supporting the people of Afghanistan in their fight against the enemies of peace and stability."

The battle on the outskirts of Kabul occurred amid increasing concern that Taliban insurgents were preparing a major attack on the capital itself. Insurgents have mounted several serious attacks on NATO and Afghan soldiers as well as civilians in areas near the eastern, western and southern edges of the city in recent months. Several rockets have been fired at the city.

The increased fighting has raised the international death toll. The Associated Press found that at least 44 international troops died in Afghanistan in June, compared to about 30 in Iraq

And, last week, three Western aid workers were killed by Taliban fighters who ambushed their marked convoy in Logar province, about 40 miles south of Kabul. The incident prompted the aid agency, the International Rescue Committee, to temporarily suspend its operations in the region.

Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said the mission's head, Kai Eide, recently met with several nongovernmental organizations to discuss growing security concerns in the region. In an effort to help minimize the threat to aid workers on highways, the United Nations has decided to increase the number of seats available to workers with such groups on its flights across the country, Siddique said. "We haven't seen this many security incidents since 2001," he said. "The security challenge we face is increasing."

Siddique added that Afghan security forces appear to be stepping up to the challenge. Noting the deployment Monday of about 7,000 Afghan soldiers and police in and around Kabul because of Independence Day celebrations, Siddique said increased involvement of Afghan forces appears to be helping to buttress the capital's defenses.

Special correspondent Javed Hamdard in Kabul contributed to this report.

IHT : Spotlighting one of France's darkest days

Spotlighting one of France's darkest days

By David E. Gumpert | August 22, 2007

Sunday will mark the 65th anniversary of one of France's darkest days: On Aug. 26, 1942, French gendarmes fanned out across the unoccupied southern half of the country, on orders of German occupiers in the north, and began the roundup of 7,000 Jews, including children. By the end of that year more than 42,000 Jews had been sent from France to Auschwitz for extermination.

It's an anniversary that won't get much attention in France. Many French citizens either actively or passively collaborated with their German conquerors, and the nation has yet to fully confront this past.

But in the tiny southern village of Montegut, in the shadow of the Pyrenees, the events of that day are being recalled in a way that can provide lessons to the entire country on how to finally come to grips with this traumatic period. Montegut has recently opened a museum that examines the events in the village leading up to and following Aug. 26, 1942.

In a series of eight carefully designed placards, Montegut tells the story in words and photos of how 100 Jewish children from Germany and Austria, ages 3 to 17, hid in a château two kilometers outside the village. The exhibit doesn't lay blame. In merely telling the story in a non-judgmental way, it reflects the schizophrenic nature of France's experience with its German overseers.

The children arrived at the château in early 1941 under the auspices of the Swiss Red Cross. Montegut allowed several dozen of its new residents under age 12 to attend its school. When the children turned 18, making them subject to arrest by Vichy authorities, a few local farmers took them in as laborers.

All semblance of normalcy ended on Aug. 26, 1942. At about 4 a.m., about 50 French gendarmes forced themselves in to the château over the objections of a 30-year-old Swiss Red Cross nurse, Rosli Näf, who oversaw the children. The gendarmes called out the names of 39 children ages 15 and older and marched them onto buses. Several dozen Montegut residents stood watching the children walk in pairs the few hundred yards from the château to the buses, many with tears in their eyes. The police commander refused to say where the children were being taken.

With help from a sympathetic government bureaucrat, Näf eventually located the children at Le Vernet, a French transit camp 30 kilometers away - one of about a dozen the French constructed to hold arrested Jews. She arrived at the camp in a taxi and so surprised camp officials by marching in and demanding that the children be released (not many strangers pushed their way into these camps), that they let her remain in a small hut.

After five days of cajoling by Näf and a Swiss Red Cross colleague in Vichy, the French relented, and the children were left standing at a rail siding as hundreds of other Jewish inmates of Le Vernet were loaded onto box cars destined for Auschwitz.

The children returned to the château and would eventually go into more serious hiding before making efforts to escape to Switzerland and Spain, which Näf aided. Amazingly, 90 of the 100 children survived, and Näf and her colleague were later honored by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust museum.

For Montegut and its few hundred citizens, though, there were only years of silence, much as there was in the rest of France.

Then, in September 2000, about 40 of the children who had lived at Château de la Hille gathered there for a reunion, and invited Montegut officials and residents to participate in commemorative ceremonies at the château. These citizens admitted they knew little or nothing about the events that took place in their midst. They were so moved by meeting the survivors that the town's leaders resolved to devote half their small library to the museum.

At ceremonies on June 23, some 250 local residents, along with about a dozen survivors and their families, gathered to dedicate the new "Musée for the Children of Château de la Hille."

But the stars of the dedication ceremony were some 25 children, ages 8 to 10, who took turns reading the story of those terrible events. It had the feeling of the Passover reading of the Haggadah, in which the youngest children usually recite key parts of the story of the Jews' exodus from ancient Egypt.

In its unique approach to commemorating the terrible years of the occupation, Montegut has taken a path to healing that all of France can learn from.

David E. Gumpert is co-author, with his aunt, Inge Joseph Bleier, who was one of the children of the château, of the book, "Inge: A Girl's Journey Through Nazi Europe."

IHT : France shifts its stance on the conflict in Iraq

France shifts its stance on the conflict in Iraq

By Katrin Bennhold | August 21, 2007

PARIS: After years of shunning involvement in a war it said was wrong, France now believes it may hold the key to peace in Iraq, proposing itself as an "honest broker" between the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish factions.

The shift was one of the most concrete consequences yet of the thaw in French-American relations following the election in May of President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose administration no longer feels bound by the adamant refusal to take a role in Iraq that characterized the reign of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.

During a three-day visit to Baghdad that ended Tuesday, the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said that the time had come for France, and Europe, to play a greater role in Iraq.

"I believe this is the moment. Everyone knows the Americans will not be able to get this country out of difficulty alone," Kouchner told the French radio station RTL on Tuesday before returning to Paris. "I really believe that depending on what happens here it will change the world."

"This is about having an opinion and knowing what positive things one can do and what role France can play in this region," he said, adding that Iraq was "expecting something" from France.

The United States broadly welcomed Kouchner's visit to Baghdad this week, saying it was evidence that the world was increasingly intent on bringing stability to Iraq. British and German diplomats also hailed greater French involvement in the country.

A senior official close to Kouchner explained that the French sought a role in political mediation in Iraq, and had no intention to enter the military conflict.

One of the options under consideration, the official said, is a peace conference that would bring Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish representatives around one table, modeled on a similar gathering that Kouchner organized for various Lebanese factions last month. Such a conference could be organized in France or in one of the countries neighboring Iraq, said the official, who declined to be identified because the issue was still under discussion.

Another possibility was shuttle-diplomacy led by Kouchner among the factions, the official said.

The French move carries the personal mark of Kouchner, who was one of the few French politicians who backed the forcible removal of Saddam Hussein before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and whose longstanding and close relations with Kurdish and Shiite leaders have earned him credibility in the region. During his visit to Iraq, he held talks with religious and political leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani, whom he has known for three decades.

"France in general and Bernard Kouchner in particular are uniquely placed to be a honest broker in Iraq," the French official said.

He did not rule out that France would at some point help train more Iraqi security forces or that French companies might participate in the country's reconstruction as part of a larger European initiative, but he stressed that this was not the focus of the current proposal.

Kouchner's trip, the first to Iraq by a French minister since the invasion in 2003, renewed interest in reports that the French oil company Total may seek a stake in Iraqi oil fields. This month, the French media reported that Total and one of its American rivals, Chevron, were seeking to jointly explore Iraq's fourth-largest oil field.

But Kouchner's office said that no executives had accompanied Kouchner to Iraq and that economic interests were not the focus of the trip.

Previously, France had limited its involvement in postwar Iraq to scrapping €4 billion, or almost $5.5 billion, in debt the country owed and using its permanent seat in the UN Security Council to vote for a greater role for the United Nations.

British officials, in particular, voiced their enthusiasm, saying they had barely discussed Iraq with their French counterparts over the past year, knowing that Paris had earlier had no intention of getting involved.

"This is a real bonus. Anything is better than nothing," said one senior diplomat. "Kouchner has the credibility and he knows all the players - with his record and his style, you can easily see him doing more negotiation between the parties."

But selling the idea to the French people may prove more difficult. Even within Kouchner's own Foreign Ministry, a number of diplomats remain skeptical toward his initiative, warning that it could put France and its citizens at greater risk from terrorist attack.

One French diplomat explained: "The prevailing view in a significant part of the French diplomatic community is that mediation in Iraq is futile and that the civil war needs to run its course and hand a decisive victory to one faction before the violence can end."

Meanwhile, political opponents of the French leadership jumped at the opportunity to criticize Kouchner, a founder of the aid organization Doctors Without Borders and a former UN administrator for Kosovo.

Jean-Pierre Chevènement, a former Socialist minister and presidential candidate, accused Kouchner of "repenting" before President George W. Bush for France's opposition to the war, and said the trip risked destroying France's diplomatic standing in the Arab world.

Nonetheless, in the French press a cautious consensus appeared to emerge on both sides of the political divide that it might be in the French interest to take a role in Iraq.

"France owed it to itself to return to Iraq," the conservative newspaper Le Figaro said in an editorial Tuesday. "You can shut yourself off for four years in the conviction to have been right but that doesn't increase the role our country plays on the international scene."

Or, as left-leaning Le Monde put it: "It's time to stop lecturing the Americans about their errors and start contributing to a solution."