By IANS,
Kabul : Amid the Afghan government’s efforts to convene Loya Jirga or traditional grand assembly of tribal elders to get national endorsement for inking the possible strategic partnership with the US, the Taliban militants have intensified attacks to spoil the step.
The armed outfit fighting the Afghan government and some 130,000 strong international troops – nearly 100,000 of them Americans – in the latest attacks targeted a logistic company providing assistance to the NATO-led forces in Herat province Thursday, killing two people and injuring three others.
The Afghan government is planning to convene a Loya Jirga within weeks, probably by the end of November to discuss the proposed Afghan-US strategic partnership and the possible establishment of the US military bases in militancy-plagued Afghanistan.
As a sign of strong opposition to the likely formation of US permanent military bases in Afghanistan, the Taliban outfit, in a statement released to media outlets days ago, termed the upcoming Loya Jirga as a trick to legalise the US military presence in Afghanistan and vowed to disrupt it.
“Under the orders of its masters, the Kabul administration wants to abuse a much respected custom of our country (Loya Jirga) and try to give a legal face to the establishment of permanent bases for the American occupying forces on the Islamic soil of Afghanistan,” the Taliban statement, sent to media houses last week, said.
“For its long term goal of permanently staying in Afghanistan, the Americans want to once again abuse this tradition through its stooge regime to call a supposed Loya Jirga, in which faces of its preference will be gathered, food will be eaten and once again, games will be played with the fate and future of the nation,” the English statement of the Taliban outfit read out.
Although the authenticity of the statement has yet to be verified, the inflexible outfit warned of dire consequence to anyone attending the traditional Loya Jirga, including tribal elders, chieftains, parliamentarians and functionaries.
To oppose the presence of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and lash out at government-initiated Loya Jirga, the militants have intensified their attacks recently.
On Oct 31, the Taliban militants stormed a guest house in their former stronghold of Kandahar, 450 km south of Kabul, leaving dead six people, including three UN employees.
Similarly, two days before Kandahar offensive, on Oct 29, the Taliban fighters carried out a brazen suicide bombing against NATO-led troops in the fortified capital city of Kabul, killing 16 people, including 13 Americans.
The coming four-day Loya Jirga is scheduled to be held under a giant tent inside a polytechnic’s compound. As a part of security measures, the government has given the polytechnic’s students holidays during the Jirga, and stationed police on the hilltops and roads leading to the venue.
Taliban militants, who attacked a peace Jirge or peace gathering under the same tent in 2010, have warned against the coming Loya Jirga.