Friday, 9 May 2008"May I emphasize, ladies and gentlemen, that we were the prime victim of terrorism and terrorism was never, nor is it today, a homegrown phenomenon in Afghanistan. Therefore, this threat can only be overcome if addressed appropriately across its regional international dimensions.ÔÇÐRecognizing that constructive regional cooperation is vital to a successful counterterrorism strategy, we proposed the holding of Joint Peace Jirgas between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and we were pleased for the support that this initiative has received from our friends in the international community."
ÔÇôHamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Statement, 62nd UN General Assembly, New York
September 25, 2007
Terrorism remained a serious problem in the region, directly and indirectly threatening American interests and lives. Increasingly, South and Central Asian terrorists expanded their operations and networks across the region and beyond. To varying degrees, U.S. cooperation with regional partners on counterterrorism issues continued to increase, but much is left to be accomplished.
Despite progress in Afghanistan, the Taliban-led insurgency remained strong and resilient in the South and East. Although the insurgency absorbed heavy combat and leadership losses, its ability to recruit foot soldiers from its core base of rural Pashtuns remained undiminished.
Pakistan continued to suffer from rising militancy and extremism. The United States remained concerned that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan were being used as a safe haven for AQ terrorists, Afghan insurgents, and other extremists.
Terrorists staged numerous attacks in India and continued to foment terrorist ideology. India continued to rank among the world's most terror-afflicted countries. Terrorists, separatists, and extremists took more than 2,300 lives this year. Although clearly committed to combating violent extremism, the Indian government's counterterrorism efforts were hampered by its outdated and overburdened law enforcement and legal systems.
Neighboring Bangladesh continued to arrest extremists, but porous borders and internal political strife threatened the progress made against violent extremists. Although the Caretaker Government made a concerted effort to crack down on corruption and address the root causes of violent extremism within its borders, mistrust between Bangladesh and India stymied potential counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries.
In Sri Lanka, both the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government engaged in numerous violations of the 2002 Cease-fire Agreement that left more than 5,000 people dead since hostilities started again in 2006. The LTTE reverted to targeting civilians in bus bombings and claymore mine attacks, while the government used anti-LTTE paramilitaries to terrorize citizens suspected of having ties to the Tigers. Both the LTTE and armed groups allied to the government engaged in wide-spread human rights abuses including extra-judicial killings, abductions, and extortion.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) briefly entered into a coalition with the government in the spring, withdrew from the coalition in September, and rejoined the government in December. The Maoists continued to engage in violence, extortion, and abductions, and tensions remained high throughout the year. Various separatist groups fought with the government as well as with each other as crime, abductions, and general lawlessness were evident throughout Nepal.
A sustained commitment to counterterrorism by Central Asian states resulted in relatively few terrorist attacks. With U.S. support, Central Asian states have undertaken to improve the capabilities of their border forces and build new border posts to impede terrorist movements and interdict drug smuggling, some of which financed terrorism in the region. The sheer length of the border and local corruption remained obstacles in Central Asia's efforts to control its borders, however. More widely, popular grievances over governance and poor economic growth enhanced the conditions that terrorists and other extremists could exploit to recruit and operate in some parts of the region, such as the Ferghana valley.
Central Asia's most significant terrorist organizations include the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and a splinter group, the Islamic Jihad Group (IJG). However, radical extremist groups such as Hizbut-Tahrir (HT) foment an anti-Semitic, anti-Western ideology that may indirectly generate support for terrorism. HT, an extremist political movement advocating the establishment of a borderless, theocratic Islamic state throughout the entire Muslim world, has followers in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and elsewhere. The United States has no evidence that HT has committed any acts of international terrorism, but the group's radical anti-American and anti-Semitic ideology is sympathetic to acts of violence against the United States and its allies. HT has publicly called on Muslims to travel to Iraq and Afghanistan to fight Coalition Forces.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan struggled to build a stable, democratic, and tolerant government in the face of vicious attacks by the Taliban and related groups on Coalition Forces, civilians, international NGOs, and other soft targets, most notably through suicide bombings. Supported by the international community, the Afghan government has made suppression of terrorism and establishment of effective law-enforcement mechanisms a high priority. The Afghan government reached out to neighboring Pakistan through a Joint Peace Jirga to find ways to root out economic and social factors contributing to terrorism. Reconciliation of low- and mid-level insurgents remained a high priority, and the Program for Strengthening Peace and Reconciliation (PTS) has brought in over 5,000 Taliban and other insurgents who have wearied from the violence and lack of opportunity offered by extremism. The Government of Afghanistan was exploring additional efforts to strengthen and expand PTS reconciliation efforts.
The Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) program, the follow-on to the earlier Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program, has disbanded 161 illegal armed groups and collected almost 36,000 weapons in 62 districts since its inception in March 2005. In April 2007, in an effort to achieve greater local government support, DIAG began offering development assistance to qualifying districts. DIAG operations expanded, intensifying efforts to build political will at the provincial and local levels to target the more threatening illegal armed groups.
In 2006, the Combined Joint Task Force (then CJTF-76), which had led the Coalition Forces' campaigns against terrorism, turned this responsibility over to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The ISAF used a combination of effective counterinsurgency means and methods, including synchronized use of combat (air and ground forces) and non-combat means (building civil governance and aiding reconstruction and development) to fight terrorism, extremism, and attempts to undermine the constitutionally constituted government. The careful targeting of insurgent leaders and insurgent centers, and proactive operations against them, were aimed at eliminating terrorists and facilitating the flow of reconstruction and development. The increasingly professional and effective Afghan National Army (ANA), and to a lesser extent, the Afghan National Police (ANP), more often took the lead in counterterrorism operations and cooperated closely with the United States. In December, the ANA combined with UK and U.S. forces to retake the Taliban-held town of Musa Qala in southern Helmand Province.
New integrated civilian-military counterinsurgency approaches in the east, particularly Nangarhar, have begun to yield successes. Despite progress, the Taliban-led insurgency remained a capable, determined, and resilient threat to stability and to the expansion of government authority, particularly in the Pashtun south and east. The insurgency continued to suffer heavy combat losses, including senior leaders, but its ability to obtain AQ support and recruit soldiers from its core base of rural Pashtuns remained undiminished. Taliban information operations were increasingly aggressive and sophisticated.
Streams of Taliban financing from across the border in Pakistan, along with funds gained from narcotics trafficking and kidnapping, have allowed the insurgency to strengthen its military and technical capabilities. At a Joint Peace Jirga held in August, Pakistani President Musharraf acknowledged that support to the Afghanistan insurgency was being provided from within Pakistani territory.
The Taliban continued to target police, police recruits, government ministers, parliamentarians, civil servants, and civilians, including urban crowds, in numerous violent incidents. Having increased the use of improvised explosive devices, suicide bombings became both more numerous and more costly in terms of innocent lives lost. According to media reports of UN- compiled figures, terrorists launched approximately 140 suicide bombing attacks this year, inflicting large numbers of civilian casualties.
Terrorists, often supported by criminal gangs, have also increasingly turned to kidnapping foreigners, most notably the July abduction of South Korean missionary aid workers. This kidnapping was an attempt to extort ransom as well as to make a political point; the Taliban killed two hostages before releasing the remaining 21 after talks with the Afghan and South Korean governments.
Insurgents also targeted international NGOs, UN workers, and recipients of NGO assistance. They attacked teachers, pupils (especially girls), and schools. They also threatened and often brutally killed those who worked for religious tolerance, including ex-insurgents, tribal leaders, and moderate imams, mullahs, and religious scholars. The Taliban coupled threats and attacks against NGOs with continued targeting of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, de-mining teams, and construction crews on road and other infrastructure projects.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh continued to arrest dozens of alleged members of Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB), the banned Islamic extremist group responsible for a wave of bombings and suicide attacks in late 2005, and recovered bomb-making materials and weapons from their hideouts. The arrests, combined with the execution in March of six senior JMB leaders, appeared to have depleted the membership of the organization. Although there was speculation that JMB remnants might try to reorganize to launch a new wave of attacks, no such terror campaign unfolded.
On May 1, three small bombs went off at railroad stations in the major cities of Dhaka, Chittagong, and Sylhet. Authorities found a message signed by "Zadid al-Qa'ida" at each of the sites threatening non-governmental agencies if they did not leave Bangladesh within ten days. The deadline passed without incident and it remained unclear who was responsible for the attacks.
Neighboring India continued to allege that the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and other anti-India insurgency groups operated from Bangladesh with the knowledge of senior Bangladeshi government officials. India also blamed the terrorist group Harakat ul-Jihadi-Islami-Bangladesh (HUJI-B) for bomb attacks in the city of Hyderabad in May and August. Bangladesh strongly denied these allegations. The absence of counterterrorism cooperation between India and Bangladesh fueled mutual allegations that each country facilitated terrorism inside the borders of the other.
Bangladesh's caretaker government pledged to pass a series of amendments that would strengthen Bangladesh's Anti-Money Laundering Act and a draft Anti-Terrorism Act, but failed to do so by the end of the year. The legislation would help Bangladesh enter Egmont, the international body of Financial Intelligence Units that plays a critical role in fighting terror financing.
The caretaker government took a strong stance against corruption and arrested many leading politicians and businessmen on graft charges. The United States launched a $20 million, five-year anti-corruption program in Bangladesh to further transparency and good governance efforts, necessary foundations for counterterrorism activity.
U.S. and Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies cooperated well on several cases related to domestic and international terrorism. The United States continued to fund Antiterrorism Assistance programs for Bangladeshi security forces. Bangladesh also continued cooperation with the United States to strengthen control of its borders and land, sea, and air ports of entry.
India
India continued to rank among the world's most terror-afflicted countries. The conflict in Jammu and Kashmir, attacks by extreme leftist Naxalites and Maoists in eastern and central India, assaults by ethno-linguistic nationalists in the northeastern states, and terrorist strikes nationwide by Islamic extremists took more than 2,300 lives this year. The Indian government's counterterrorism efforts remained hampered by outdated and overburdened law enforcement and legal systems. The Indian court system was slow, laborious, and prone to corruption; terrorism trials can take years to complete. Many of India's local police forces were poorly staffed, lacked training, and were ill-equipped to combat terrorism effectively.
The Indian government accused Islamic extremists for the following terrorist attacks:
The February 19 attack on the Friendship Train service between New Delhi and Lahore, Pakistan that killed dozens;
The May 18 bomb blast at the Mecca Masjid (Mosque) in Hyderabad that killed eleven;
The August 25 nearly simultaneous explosions on at an amusement park and a market in Hyderabad that killed dozens;
The October 11 blast at a Sufi mosque in Ajmer, Rajasthan, that killed three;
The October 14 explosion in a cinema in Ludhiana, Punjab, that killed seven; and
The November 23 three simultaneous explosions on in judicial complexes in Lucknow, Varanasi, and Faizabad (all in Uttar Pradesh) that killed 13.
These attacks, which killed and injured both Muslims and Hindus, were probably conducted by extremists hoping to incite anger between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Indian officials claim that the perpetrators of these attacks have links to groups based in Pakistan and Bangladesh, particularly Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami, among others.
These groups also have links to terrorist activity in Jammu and Kashmir. The number of civilians killed were approximately half of that in the previous year. In May, the Indian government acknowledged that the level of infiltration across the Line of Control had fallen, but noted that insurgents had in some case shifted routes to enter India through Bangladesh and Nepal. Attacks in Kashmir continued. For example, on October 11, two civilians and five soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED), and on July 29, six people were killed when a bomb exploded on a tourist bus.
The Government of India is very concerned with the threat from leftist extremist (Maoist or agrarian Naxalite) groups to India's internal stability and democratic culture. Leftist extremist groups were very active in wide areas of impoverished rural eastern and central India, and also operated in parts of southern India. Hundreds of people were killed in conflicts between the government and various leftist extremist groups, such as the Naxalites and the Communist Party of India; Maoists (CPI-Maoists) and the government; and between the groups themselves. There were at least 971 Naxalite attacks in the first seven months of the year, approximately equal to that of the entire previous year. Leftist extremists were highly active across a wide swath of India, including the states of Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal. They were also active in some areas of Orissa, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. Extremists have targeted elected officials: On March 4, CPI-Maoists shot a Member of Parliament from Jharkhand and five others during a soccer game, and on August 25, leftist extremists killed the son of a former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh during a cultural performance in the city of Hyderabad. Ethnic-linguistic separatist groups were responsible for numerous attacks in Northeastern India, particularly in the states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, and Meghalaya.
Several proscribed terrorist groups operated in the northeast, including the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and the People's Liberation Army. At least 850 died in conflicts between dozens of insurgent groups and security forces, and in conflicts between the groups.
Lack of security, remoteness, and inhospitable terrain combined to prevent the government from providing security and other basic services in many of the areas in which the leftist extremists and the northeastern separatist groups operated. Both types of groups increased the level of sophistication of attacks this year by using satellite phones and sophisticated IEDs. In some districts, they took control of a large proportion of the territory, making it impossible for government service providers to enter the area. Infighting, particularly among groups in the northeast, may have slowed the increase in the attacks, but poverty and isolation combined to make the rural, mountainous, and forested areas of India vulnerable to both the Maoists and those who claimed to be fighting for liberation in the northeast.
The United States-India Counterterrorism Joint Working Group (CTJWG) has met nine times since its creation in 2000, most recently on November 28. India participated in CTJWGs with 15 other countries, and in multilateral CTJWGs with the EU and with the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, an organization that promotes economic cooperation among Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal. In October, the Indian government held the second round of consultations with Pakistan under the bilateral counterterrorism joint mechanism, and hosted a ministerial level meeting of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation on Counterterrorism.
U.S. State Department
30 April 2008 |
Friday, 9 May 2008
Terrorism
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