Suicide terrorism, once unheard of in the country, has become bolder and more widespread, with 48 suicide attacks recorded so far this year -- more than double last year's total, according to the Center for Conflict and Peace Studies, a Kabul-based organization that focuses on terrorism and security analysis.

Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan have upgraded their jihad tactics, using Iraqi-style suicide and remote-controlled bombings and better communications to wage their deadliest campaign since being ousted five years ago, international security forces and experts say.

Kabul's reputation as a bastion of stability ruptured Sept. 8 when a suicide bomber detonated near a U.S. military convoy in the heart of the city, killing two American soldiers and 14 Afghans. Two days later, the governor of Paktia province and two aides were killed when a suicide bomber exploded outside his home.

But the biggest victims have been civilians, CAPS Director Hekmat Karzai told United Press International, noting that 84 percent of suicide casualties have been civilians.

The suicide bombing phenomenon began Sept. 9, 2001, when two Arab al-Qaida operatives posing as journalists killed charismatic Northern Alliance Commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, according to Karzai. It is said that al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden was doing the Taliban a favor by eliminating its most capable adversary in the likelihood of U.S. reprisal for the imminent Sept. 11 attacks, which ultimately brought about the regime's downfall in late 2001 for sheltering the terror network.

The Taliban has since evolved to view itself as "part of the global jihad," embracing a pan-Islamist ideology and its tools, Karzai told UPI. "The Taliban that we knew before was not the same Taliban -- tactically, ideologically and strategically."

Kalashnikov rifles and make-shift land mines are yesterday's weapons. Karzai said the Taliban and other militants had regrouped in lawless areas inside the Pakistani border, where imported al-Qaida operatives trained them and promoted suicide and roadside bombing tactics while highlighting their efficacy in Iraq. He added that the most advanced remote-controlled technologies are now found in Afghanistan, having made their way from Iraq and other criminal channels.

CAPS figures indicate a marked surge in attacks throughout Afghanistan: 85 in July, 136 in August, and if the frequency continues -- 150-plus for the month of September. All but two provinces in the country have experienced violent attacks, the organization said.

In May the BBC reported that foreign militants with experience in Iraq have incentivized Afghan insurgents to adopt more Iraqi-style tactics with large bounties for dead U.S. soldiers; videos of Iraqi kidnapping victims being beheaded are also said to be shown.

Last year, a man from Khost province appeared in the first video testimony of an Afghan suicide bomber. He later blew himself up at a Kabul military training center, killing 13 people.

The same Taliban that banned television and video while in power has turned to modern communications technology to attract followers and sow fear in rural areas, according to CAPS. The movement now spreads its propaganda on jihadist Web sites and radio, where illiterate Afghans fed up with a weak government that has failed to deliver security and basic services are especially prone to rumor. Pro-Taliban leaflets and pictures are commonly distributed.

Similar to Iraq, Taliban militants have also set up bogus checkpoints on main roadways, killing Afghans they accuse of collaborating with the state or international forces. CAPS documented one instance in which clean-shaven Taliban disguised as police pulled over a bus and asked passengers if they worked for the government; those that stepped forward were never heard from again.

"The copycat element is probably being used," Maj. Luke Knittig, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, told UPI. He said security forces have responded to the increasing frequency of suicide attacks and sophistication of devices with experts versed in bombing tactics, more patrols and checkpoints, and an emphasis on communications efforts to gain the vital cooperation of the Afghan population.

Conceding the threat "can ultimately be defeated, but not entirely eliminated," Maj. Knittig still asserted that violence-weary Afghans were not likely to put up with being victimized by indiscriminate Taliban violence.

A comprehensive study of 91 insurgencies after World War II conducted by Seth Jones, a counterinsurgency analyst at the RAND Corporation think tank, shows that groups who commit mass civilian killings are most likely to fail.

earlier related report
Kabul No Stranger To Insurgency
by Jason Motlagh
UPI Correspondent
Kabul (UPI) Sep 26 - A decade after the Taliban overran Kabul and imposed a brutally austere version of Islam, the Afghan capital must now cope with the nascent threat of suicide terrorism perpetrated by insurgents dying to strike at the nerve center of a weak government. Kabul has come a long way from the dark days beginning Sept. 26, 1996, when Mullah Omar's fundamentalist movement banned everything from television to kite-flying, and turned its soccer stadium into a public execution venue.

But an unprecedented series of recent suicide and remote-controlled attacks have targeted international forces and civilians already frustrated by a lack of security and economic opportunity.

"Security is OK here, but it has been better," cab driver Nabih Rahmani said as he sliced through heavy traffic. "There are still some roads around the city to avoid if possible."

A roadside bomb exploded Tuesday morning next to an International Security Assistance Force vehicle on patrol about six miles south of Kabul, killing an ISAF solider and a local child, ISAF said in a statement. Five foreign soldiers were also injured in the attack.

Among the latest suicide bombings was a Sept. 8 strike near the U.S. Embassy which killed two U.S. soldiers and 14 Afghans, followed up by a NATO announcement that a Taliban suicide terror cell was allegedly operating inside the capital. Ten days later another bomber blew up his car on the main road leading east out of the city, killing three policemen.

Analysts have been quick to note the increase in "Iraqi-style" tactics being imitated by Taliban and allied militants across the country in some of the bloodiest fighting since the regime was toppled by a U.S.-led 2001 invasion for sheltering al-Qaida operatives.

President Hamid Karzai will meet with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington Tuesday to press for greater support of his embattled government and leverage on Pakistan, which Afghan officials allege provides sanctuary to the Taliban and remnants of Osama bin Laden's terror network within its borders.

While Kabul is no Baghdad, where insurgents continue to carry out almost daily suicide attacks against Iraqi and coalition targets, there is concern that militants are growing bolder and more sophisticated in their efforts to inflict damage to a place held to be of high symbolic value.

Noting that suicide bombing had previously been alien to Afghanistan, Joanna Nathan, a Kabul-based senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said that insurgents are using "classic tactics to try and promote fear that goes wider than the specific incidents." This "demonstrates an ability to have an impact in areas where they don't predominate," she told United Press International.

Fear of the Taliban permeates the southern Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, with NATO forces bogged down in the fiercest fighting in five years despite claims that hundreds of militants have been killed in pitched gun battles. These provinces are also the primary source of record opium crops Taliban has allowed farmers to cultivate in return for kickbacks to fuel their insurgency; intimidation measures such as burning schools and summary killings are reportedly reserved for those who resist their advances.

But Kabul -- bolstered by the heavy presence of ISAF forces and about 5,000 Afghan police officers -- remains far from being in significant danger, according to police officials and security analysts.

Ali Shah Paktiawal, director of the crime unit for Kabul police, dismissed the NATO spokesman's claim that a Taliban suicide terror cell existed in the capital, maintaining that security forces are working with vigilance in a city no different from any other prone to single-actors committed to doing harm to innocent people.

"This is propaganda and not reality... There is no Taliban in Kabul," he told UPI. "Terrorism is the same here as it is everywhere. Some people will always get through."

Analysts surveyed in Kabul agree that although suicide attacks have increased the threat pales in comparison with volatile provinces elsewhere. They note that criminal gangs and other violent groups may commit isolated incidents, but tout the efforts of Afghan and international forces monitoring the capital.

"I don't see Kabul as being a place subject to a serious threat," Hamid Karzai, head of the Center for Conflict and Peace Studies in Kabul, told UPI. "(Security forces) are in many ways doing a lot of work, capturing suspects. The morale of the people in general is still very good."

But Karzai, a nephew of President Karzai, did point out that violent activity has been documented in all but two of the country's 34 provinces, including Wardak province, just 25 miles west of Kabul.

On Saturday, Kabul city police also found a cache of weapons north of the capital containing mines, rockets, mortars and other explosives, according to an ISAF statement. No specific links to any insurgent groups were established.

Crisis Group's Nathan further stressed the importance of making a distinction between violent Taliban acts and those committed by criminal elements connected to warlords or drug traffickers.

An ISAF spokesman told UPI security forces were adapting apace with new insurgent tactics, calling in counter-insurgency experts, increasing street patrols, and beefing up checkpoints around the city. He added that extra emphasis was being placed on community relations initiatives to gain the cooperation of local Afghans best suited to look out for trouble.

But many Kabul residents seasoned to hard times in past years marred by Taliban rule and sustained shellings insist recent attacks will not disrupt their lives.

"I was here back when the Taliban took over and never once thought of leaving," white-haired Jayed Bashir said, standing outside his curio shop. "What do I have to fear now?"

earlier related report
Poland Speeds Up Afghan Deployment To Help Reinforce NATO
by Lorne Cook
Brussels (AFP) Sept 26 - Poland will accelerate the deployment of its troops to Afghanistan and supply most of the reinforcements NATO needs to tackle the insurgency in the volatile south, a NATO spokesman said Tuesday.

"It is for Poland to time the deployment," the spokesman said, but he added "the initial elements of that battalion will be going in relatively soon and will continue to flow into the country until early next year."

Polish leaders pledged earlier this month to boost the country's contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan from 120 troops to about 1,000 by next February.

That pledge came after NATO military commander General James Jones urged the military alliance's 26 members to find some 2,000 extra personnel to confront the insurgency, led by fighters from the Taliban, once in power in Kabul.

ISAF is on a twin-track mission to spread the influence of President Hamid Karzai's weak central government by providing security and fostering reconstruction.

Ideally the reserve force would comprise a battalion of between 500 and 700 combat troops plus attack helicopters and reconnaissance staff, probably from other countries, whose logistical backing would involve around 1,500 personnel.

The NATO spokesman, James Appathurai, could not say exactly how many troops Poland would send but he noted that Warsaw has agreed to lift its "caveats", or restrictions, on the use of its contingent.

"The Polish government has agreed this battalion can be used in an uncaveated way, and of course without geographical restrictions and can be used where necessary by the commander as a reserve," he told reporters, adding that it "goes a significant way to meeting the requirements that SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander Europe) has put forward."

A NATO diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that "the first officer already left about 10 days ago. Two hundred Polish soldiers left at the same time for Lebanon, Kosovo and Afghanistan."

In Warsaw, a defence ministry spokesman was more circumspect, saying that "final decisions have not been taken. Consultations are ongoing."

But he acknowledged that "efforts have been made to accelerate the deployment of troops, within the general framework of principles that have already been defined."

In its most ambitious ground operation ever, NATO took control in late July of international forces in volatile southern Afghanistan.

But the Taliban, ousted by the US-led military coalition in late 2001 for harbouring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has shown surprising resistance, backed by allies among drug runners and fighters loyal to local warlords.

More than 100 foreign soldiers have been killed in hostile action in Afghanistan this year, about half of them US troops, and few countries offered reinforcements for operations in the south.

The Polish government's offer of troops has caused it headaches at home.

Last week, Poland's lower house of parliament began a debate on the pledge by Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski to increase by nearly tenfold the country's troop contributions in Afghanistan.

Sikorski told the lawmakers that Poland's credibility in NATO was at stake.

"If we want NATO to invest in our security, our army cannot remain in barracks while NATO is battling dangerous fanatics," he said, noting that the alliance has invested some 500 million euros (634 million dollars) in Poland's defense infrastructure.

Afghanistan, and in particular the issue of reinforcements, is set to dominate informal talks uniting US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with his NATO counterparts in Slovenia starting on Thursday.

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