http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/332950p-284546c.htmlU.S. faces complex fight in Afghanistan
By JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
KABUL, Afghanistan - American troops struggling to stabilize Afghanistan in the runup to September's national election are facing not one but three distinct fronts.
Besides warring with the remnants of the radical Taliban regime, U.S. troops also are battling a resurgent Al Qaeda force, as well as fighters loyal to former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a brutal drug trafficker.
"Recently the activities of Afghanistan's enemies, both Al Qaeda and the Taliban, have increased," said Maj. Gen. Zaher Azimi, a top official in the Afghan defense ministry. "And there is coordination that has been created between the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar."
Some of the most intense fighting has occurred with Al Qaeda forces in Khowst and Paktika provinces, along the craggy border with Pakistan's lawless tribal lands of Baluchistan and Waziristan - where the CIA has long said it believes Osama Bin Laden may be hiding.
U.S. forces recently have stepped up covert operations and combat patrols in Khowst and Paktika targeting Al Qaeda and also Taliban fighters, security sources told the Daily News.
The Taliban's traditional base lies farther south, in the provinces of Kandahar and Zabul. In recent weeks, American patrols have come upon large groups of Taliban fighters.
The third front is in the north. About 125 miles east of the capital, Kabul, along the soaring peaks of the Himalayan Hindu Kush mountains, U.S. and Afghan forces have battled with Hekmatyar's fighters and other criminal forces.
It was roughly in this area that 19 U.S. special operations troops were killed last month when a CH-47 helicopter crashed near the northern town of Asadabad trying to rescue an ambushed Navy SEAL team.
While Hekmatyar's supporters are active in the area, it's also home to numerous criminal elements, and both Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked forces have cropped up as well.
A senior U.S. diplomat in Kabul said the combatants in all three hot zones are a "mixture" of criminals, Al Qaeda and Taliban. "Our concern is, will they do something dramatic?" the diplomat said.
Whatever their allegiance, the enemy fighters are determined to disrupt the parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept. 18, said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, a spokesman for the coalition forces.
"There are three or four sets of enemy tactics," O'Hara said. "But there's only one war."
Several thousand new U.S. troops have been sent here to meet the growing threat.
Peter Bergen, a CNN terrorism analyst who has interviewed Bin Laden, said Afghanistan's three distinct conflicts are "disquieting news" for the country's future.
Key gains made after the U.S. ousted the Taliban, he said, "have been called into question by the events of the past several months."
For example, "Pakistani madrassahs enroll new people on a daily basis, train them and send them to fight to different military fields," Azimi said in an interview at his fortified Kabul office. The jihadis recruited in the Islamic religious schools are motivated by long-term interests beyond simply destabilizing Afghanistan's upcoming vote, he said.
Azimi also confirmed secret U.S. intelligence reports that Pakistanis carrying military identification cards - "apparently from recent service" - have been found fighting with the Taliban. He also said that elements of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency working independently of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government have been "encouraging" the fighters.
Originally published on July 31, 2005