The data retrieved from a mysterious laptop is responsible for a spike
in Afghan and U.S. attacks on the Taliban.
Today, the New York
Times reported that the last couple of months have seen a market increase
in the number of night raids conducted by Afghan and U.S. Special Operations
forces in Afghanistan. The New York Times believes that this surge in
raids is due to the data retrieved from a laptop detailing Al Qaeda operations
in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The intelligence found on the laptop is “possibly
as significant as the information found in the computer and documents of Osama
bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan,” the article notes.
The
laptop’s owner, Abu Bara al-Kuwaiti, was killed during a raid that took place
in Nazyan district of eastern Afghanistan, bordering the Khyber tribal agency
in Pakistan, a safe haven for Islamic militants across the world. Kuwaiti may
have been the assistant and right hand of Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, Al Qaeda’s
chief of staff, and may have taken over some of the latter’s duties and
responsibilities.
There are
no precise numbers on the number of night raids and how many militants have
been killed in the last few months, yet according to an
unnamed official, the scale and scope of operations is “unprecedented for this
time of year” (the fighting season usually starts in early to late spring in
the country). “It’s all in the shadows now. The official war for the Americans
— the part of the war that you could go see — that’s over. It’s only the secret
war that’s still going. But it’s going hard,” emphasized a former
Afghan security official, confirming the above statement.
The
increase in night raids is also attributable to a new security pact,
signed by President Ashraf Ghani in September 2014, which eased restrictions on
night raids by American and Afghan Forces. Gen. John F. Campbell, the commander
of U.S. and NATO ground forces in Afghanistan, allegedly increased the tempo of
Special Forces operations right after the signing. Ghani’s predecessor, Hamid
Karzai, was vehemently opposed to those raids and put severe limits on them, to
the dismay of many Afghan military commanders.
For
example, when I interviewed an Afghan
major at a small combat outpost in Eastern Afghanistan two and a half years
ago, he unequivocally endorsed night raids: “I am also in favor of
unrestricted night raids by U.S. forces. I could noticeably see the difference
in my area of operation when the Taliban were afraid to get attacked at night
where now they can openly rest and recuperate while we still lack some of the
special forces capabilities and training that U.S. forces enjoy.”
One of
the recent victims of night raids was Mullah Abdul Rauf Khadim, who had a falling out with the
Taliban leadership, after which he replaced White Taliban flags with the black
flags of the Islamic State, donned black battle fatigues, and pledged
allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He was killed this Monday. By Franz-Stefan Gady
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