On May 2, 2012, Roznama Islam, an Urdu-language Pakistani daily, carried several articles on the first anniversary of the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a U.S. operation in Abbottabad, assessing the success or failure of the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan and arguing that the U.S.-led war now involves defending Kabul itself.
In an article titled "Martyrdom of Osama: Who is the Victor?" columnist Abid Mahmood Ezam questioned the U.S. claims of victory, reminding the U.S. that it had to bear heavy losses in the year after bin Laden's killing. In fact, he argued, Osama bin Laden succeeded in his goal of pushing the U.S. into a valley of humiliation.
In another article, titled "Could the Afghan Security Forces Compete with the Taliban after the Foreign Forces' Pullout from Afghanistan?" and written by one "Abdullah", the Urdu daily argued that several regions of Afghanistan are in the Taliban's complete control, and the recent Taliban attacks in Kabul indicate that the jihadist forces are strong.
"Today, When The Abbottabad Incident Completes Its One Year, The U.S. Seems To Be Unsuccessful; The U.S. Had To Bear Great Losses In The Past Year…; The Fact Is That Al-Qaeda [Wasn't] Weakened With Osama's Martyrdom"
Following are excerpts from Abid Mahmood Ezam's article:[1]
"The incident of martyrdom of Al-Qaeda chief Sheikh Osama bin Laden occurred at Abbottabad on May 2, 2011. Some helicopters came in the night and started firing on a house, and then afterwards the U.S. president Barack Obama himself gave the good news of the martyrdom of the Al-Qaeda chief to the American nation. All the Allied countries, including the U.S., rejoiced fully and this incident was called the biggest news of the century. The glad tidings of the end of Al-Qaeda and Mujahideen were given, while it was called the biggest success of the U.S.
"But today, when the Abbottabad incident completes its one year, the U.S. seems to be unsuccessful. The U.S. had to bear great losses in the past year. The fact is that Al-Qaeda [wasn't] weakened with Osama's martyrdom, but the U.S. seems to be staggering to a greater extent, and it could be guessed from the report of Rand Corporation, a prominent U.S. research organization.
"It has been said in this report that Al-Qaeda supports terrorist incidents under individual jihad and self help. Their contractors do not feel the need of the organization and prefer individual jihad. They want to avoid various types of hindrances.
"This Al-Qaeda strategy is opposed to its former central character and ideology and represents the present facts. Although the jihadi organizations have weakened, still they continue to remain a symbol of threat and it is evident from the history of Al-Qaeda that it attempts to mold itself according to the situation."
"Though Al-Qaeda's Influence Is Limited In Afghanistan, Some Sources Are Proving Al-Qaeda's Full Role In The April 15th Attacks Of Afghanistan By The Taliban"
"Earlier, U.S. President Obama's deputy security advisor John Brennan said in an interview that finding Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri was their first priority. He said that Osama's killing is the demonstration of their capability and that the actions of counter terrorism will be in place in Pakistan sooner.
"Describing Al-Qaeda and its sub-groups as the biggest challenge to the United States, U.S. intelligence officials have said that the unstable situation in the Arab world has provided time for these jihadi groups to complete their network. There is no doubt in the fact that it has been a year since Sheikh Osama's martyrdom, but Al-Qaeda remains a headache for the U.S. and the threat of Al-Qaeda is hovering over the U.S. as a cloud continuously.
"Though Al-Qaeda's influence is limited in Afghanistan, some sources are proving Al-Qaeda's full role in the April 15th attacks of Afghanistan by the Taliban. The attack was so comprehensive that NATO took recourse to air strikes through the latest helicopters only instead of confronting [the Taliban] face to face. In the capital Kabul, mujahideen launched repeated attacks on the building of Afghan Parliament and NATO headquarters, including on the U.S., German, British, Japanese, and Russian embassies. Meanwhile, the mujahideen set ablaze a hotel in Kabul, also after getting hold of it; [they] killed many troops by launching attacks on the city of Kabul from two sides, and the U.S. airbase in Jalalabad was targeted.
"The martyrdom of Sheikh Osama is being used as a [trump] card in the U.S. elections, but according to a report Obama's reputation has gone down in the U.S. and that is why his victory is not easy now. According to many analysts in the U.S., a big part of the Americans are not ready to accept that Sheikh Osama was martyred in Abbottabad. They are calling the incident as a drama. There are lots of objections in the minds of Americans, including not publishing the pictures of Osama bin Laden, and the U.S. administration is not in a position to answer [those questions].
"A grave situation has been created in the U.S. regarding Sheikh Osama. Two groups have come face to face. Officials of the U.S. intelligence have claimed that Al-Qaeda has been finished, but its allied organizations are still posing a threat while the [U.S.] Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is of the opinion that Al-Qaeda has been weakened, but it cannot be claimed that it has been done away with."
"If America Is Considering Osama's Killing As Its Success, Then It Is Absolutely Wrong Because The Aim of Sheikh [Osama] Was To Send The U.S. In The Valley Of Humiliation And Disgrace, And Osama Has Seen The U.S. Being Disgraced In Afghanistan"
"According to a foreign news agency, a U.S. intelligence official has said on the condition of anonymity that Al-Qaeda has been weakened primarily after the death of Osama bin Laden in the Abbotabad operation and it is not possible for it to achieve the power of carrying out the attacks like 9/11, still declaring victory against Al-Qaeda would be premature and that Al-Qaeda as an ideology would keep existing outside Pakistan. Meanwhile, talking to journalists before his visit to Latin America, the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said: we have said both before the operation against Osama and after that that Al-Qaeda is not finished and it is not easy to end it; however, we have to work according to our capabilities for more success.
" Al-Qaeda's strength can be judged with this fact - that even on the first death anniversary of Sheikh [Osama], many countries raised a high alert due to the fear from Al-Qaeda. Sensitive places and government buildings were put under vigil.
"On the other hand, despite all the efforts by the U.S., the love for Sheikh [Osama] in the hearts of the people could not be taken out. On the occasion of the first death anniversary of Sheikh [Osama], the alleged house of Osama bin Laden, which is now an empty plot after its demolition, has became the center of public devotion. People are coming to ask dua [prayers] and say Fatiha [saying prayer for the dead] to that place.
"People are reaching that place, coming from far and wide a year after the American operation, and are taking hotels in Abbottabad on rent. Former deputy speaker of National Assembly [Pakistan] Sardar Yaqoob described the Osama compound as a national heritage in an interview to a daily and said that living nations keep their historical heritage carefully. The nation would never forgive the leaders for demolishing the compound. Osama bin Laden will always be alive in people's hearts.
"In fact, neither the realities are supporting the claim that the U.S. had made about the end of Al-Qaeda with the martyrdom of Al-Qaeda chief Sheikh Osama nor is the U.S. admitting it, because after the martyrdom of Sheikh [Osama] it has testified many times about the might of Al-Qaeda. And if America is considering Osama's killing as its success, then it is absolutely wrong because the aim of Sheikh [Osama] was to send the U.S. in the valley of humiliation and disgrace and Osama has seen the U.S. being disgraced in Afghanistan, Iraq, and many other places with his own eyes… But there is nothing that can be called as success even if the U.S. got Sheikh Osama martyred after being disgraced for ten years after 9/11. Success is for Osama and Al-Qaeda, who achieved their goal, and the U.S. is still faced with tormenting times."
"The Security Situation in South-Eastern Afghanistan and Some of the Northern and Western Parts of the Country is Worse Than That; Here There are Innumerable Areas Which are Under the Taliban's Complete Control"
Following are excerpts from Abdullah's article:[2]
"The Taliban began their war activities of the spring [season] with the extremely comprehensive attacks on [Afghan] Parliament, Western [countries'] embassies and NATO headquarters, including many fortified places in Kabul [on April 15, 2012] … In the 18 hours of fighting between the Taliban and the Afghan and NATO forces, 30 persons are said to have lost their lives, in which two-thirds are reported as being the Taliban. Although this Taliban attack is not considered very devastating so far as the loss of life and property to Afghan and NATO forces are concerned, the Taliban's penetration into the area which is considered extremely sensitive and their reaching near the Presidential Palace indicates the weakness of the Allied forces.
"The security situation in south-eastern Afghanistan and some of the northern and western parts of the country is worse than that; here there are innumerable areas which are under the Taliban's complete control. The Afghan government has accused the Haqqani Network of this attack as usual and has claimed that some Taliban captured in the attack have admitted this fact, though the Afghan Taliban's leadership has taken responsibility of this attack. However, the NATO command is yet to ascertain this fact as to whether or not the Haqqani Network was involved in this attack.
"The Taliban and the U.S. were holding talks until last month. This process was initiated a year ago with German mediation. The Taliban leaders had ordinary success in getting their names removed from the U.S. Security Council's most wanted list of terrorists. The establishment of a Taliban office in Qatar was approved so that the initiative could be taken in establishing peace and the pact for the exchange of prisoners with the U.S. could be [made] possible. Perhaps the legal intricacies in the release of three Taliban [commanders] from Guantanamo Bay kept the Obama administration at bay from fulfilling the aspirations of the Taliban on this issue. Consequently, the Taliban were forced to leave these talks unilaterally.
"Thus, the Taliban attack on the capital of Afghanistan makes sense, which has confounded the Karzai government. After the announcement of opening an office in Qatar by the Taliban, President Karzai had gone to Saudi Arabia to get facilities for Afghan negotiations."
"The Taliban's Launch of the Spring Season of Attacks in Kabul Through Severe Guerrilla Actions is a Signal against the U.S. Attempts for Establishing Peace with the Taliban Without Taking Afghanistan and Pakistan into Confidence"
"There is no possibility of ignoring Pakistan by either Afghanistan or the U.S. in any activity of establishing peace with the Taliban. Pakistan's distinct historical, ethnic, and geographic ties with Afghanistan are such a compulsion that Pakistan would be fully involved in the process of establishing peace in Afghanistan. The Taliban's launch of the spring season of attacks in Kabul through severe guerrilla actions is a signal against the U.S. attempts for establishing peace with the Taliban without taking Afghanistan and Pakistan into confidence. The second and the more important reason behind it is the need for a schedule for the withdrawal of the U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan.
"The real cause of the pullout of the U.S. and other Western forces from Afghanistan is the inability of the U.S. and its Western Allies in continuing war for more time. This bloody war has now entered into its eleventh year and now its cost has become unbearable for the crises-stricken Western economies, and therefore the opinion of all the countries involved in this war is effectively going against the war.
"The justification of this withdrawal from the U.S. is different from the above-mentioned reasons. The Pentagon's senior leadership is continuously making claims that the power of the Taliban has been reduced. The Obama administration officials and especially Secretary of State Hillary Clinton say that the U.S. is doing a favor to the Taliban by holding talks with them. But since the Taliban have forsaken the talks with the U.S. and are continuing with the war, the U.S. and NATO forces' pullout in 2014 is in danger now. The U.S. is restless for the resumption of the talks with the Taliban.
"As a part of the withdrawal the U.S. wants to bring the presence of its troops in Afghanistan to the level of 2009 by September 2012 i.e. it wants to bring down the numbers of American troops to 68,000. By that time, 330,000 Afghan troops would take the positions of the withdrawing forces of NATO and the U.S."
"After 12 Years Of War, If The War's Aim Has Become Limited To The Defense Of Kabul Only, Then We Can Very Well Guess As To What Kind Of Political Situation Could Arise… After The Withdrawal Of The Foreign Troops"
"The question arises here whether the Afghan army and police would be able to keep control over the areas handed over to them by the international forces. For example, the 10,000 U.S. troops in Helmand, which has a strong hold of the Taliban, would hand over the responsibility of safeguarding it to the Afghan forces by September. [In this condition] could the Afghan army keep their hold on its capital city? If the Taliban can launch easy attack in the most sensitive areas of the capital Kabul by taking cover in buildings under construction and take people hostage and Afghan troops could not stop them, then how would they stop the Taliban from occupying the capital city of Helmand province?
"After the Taliban's attack on Kabul, the U.S. and NATO commanders are reportedly preparing for retaliatory action in the current summer season to stop all future attacks of the Taliban on Kabul through all the routes leading to the Afghan capital. And for this they would try to weaken the Taliban's hold in the Ghazni province, which connects the southern and eastern parts of the country or would intensify the war in the eastern Paktia and Paktika provinces.
"A retaliatory attack which is aimed at safeguarding only Kabul from the Taliban attacks does not fit in anywhere with the mentioned U.S. and NATO strategy, which has vowed to defeat the Taliban and said that there would be withdrawal between 2012 to 2014, and after that the Afghan forces would take hold of the security in Afghanistan…
"After 12 years of war, if the war's aim has become limited to the defense of Kabul only, then we can very well guess as to what kind of political situation could arise in Afghanistan if the Afghan security forces failed demonstrate the performance like that of the U.S. and the NATO forces after the withdrawal of the foreign troops…"
