Talibs Report Success

The information from Afghanistan is rather contradictory

Talibs are becoming very active in Afghanistan again. According to news reports from Afghanistan, several clashes between governmental troops and Taliban guerrillas have happened in the country over recent several days. Yet, it is absolutely impossible to try to understand, who is winning and who is losing. Apparently, the two feuding sides are competing in the art of the propaganda war.

On Monday, officials of the Afghan government said, up to 50 Talibs had been destroyed as a result of the joint operation conducted by governmental troops and the American contingent in the south of Afghanistan. "The deaths were the result of heavy bombing by U.S. forces and ground attacks by government forces. We have seen 40 to 50 dead bodies," spokesman for the Afghan government Hamdullah Watandoost said in a statement. It is not clear, how many of them were killed indeed and whether they were Taliban fighters at all.

Hardly had governmental troops reported the success, when Taliban guerrillas (if one may say so) struck back. ITAR-TASS news agency reported with reference to the Pakistani newspaper The News, a spokesman for the Taliban movement had released a statement about a successful operation against American troops in northern Faryab province, which borders on Turkmenistan. Three vehicles were shot with grenade launchers and automatic fire on the highway between Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab, and the town of Almar. Eleven American military men were allegedly killed in the battle, as well as two soldiers of the Afghan government forces, who were accompanying the column. Three Taliban guerrillas were reportedly wounded.

However, other sources do not have any information to confirm that message. There are no American army bases in Faryab province. It is possible that Talibs passed off an attack against a humanitarian column as an attack against American troops. It is not ruled out, there will be no information at all to confirm the attack of Taliban fighters, even if it happened indeed. Such things are very common in the war, even in the propaganda war.

A lot of media outlets, including PRAVDA.Ru, have reported on many occasions, Hamid Karzai's government was persistently asking the world community for a financial help to reconstruct the country and stabilize the situation there. The Afghan government is unable to find a way out of the situation. Calls for help often coincide with another outburst of Talibs' activity. Maybe it is just a coincidence, maybe it is not.

The American government has finally heeded Hamid Karzai's request and decided to assign one billion dollars for Afghanistan. CNN reported, the USA will also send several groups of civil and military counselors to assist in the reconstruction process. Maybe, Karzai's government will manage to achieve some progress with their help, although it is extremely hard to forecast further events in Afghanistan against the background of the contradictory and scanty information.