MUST READ: CHENEY ATTACK REVEALS TALIBAN SUICIDE BOMBING PATTERNS

Cheney Attack Reveals Taliban Suicide Bombing Patterns
By Dr. Brian Glyn Williams and Cathy Young

The information for this article came from a five-month study of suicide bombings from 2001 to 2007 in Afghanistan. No suicide bombing was listed in the study unless it was corroborated by numerous sources. Sources varied from coalition countries' press releases, open media, al-Qaeda/Taliban websites, U.S. military sources and Afghan news agencies. While the sample analysis of 158 attacks is not definitive, its overall findings are indicative of general Taliban targeting trends.

The recent suicide bombing attack on Bagram Air Base, which killed between 15-23 people during the visit of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, has highlighted the growing problem of suicide bombers in Afghanistan. While the United States has dismissed the Taliban's claims that they attacked Bagram in an effort to assassinate Cheney, the targeting of a U.S. base fits previous Taliban targeting patterns.

Prior to the Bagram incident, U.S. military and government sources routinely spoke of the "Iraqification" of the Afghan conflict. Recent statistics from U.S. and Afghan agencies seem to support this claim. While Afghanistan had 25 suicide bombings in 2005, in 2006 it experienced as many as 139 suicide attacks. Recent media images from Afghanistan of bombed buses, shattered markets and burnt out U.S. humvees further support the notion that the carnage that has shredded the fabric of Iraqi society has come to the so-called "Forgotten War" in Afghanistan.

If taken at face value, these claims represent a disastrous, if unintended side effect of the invasion of Iraq and bode ill for the upcoming year. Yet despite the mounting evidence that the Iraqi invasion has destabilized Afghanistan via the sharing of Iraqi tactics with Afghan insurgents, the suicide bombing campaign in Afghanistan has its own specific dynamics. It is little noticed local characteristics that distinguish suicide bombing in Afghanistan from that in the Iraqi theater.

...


Pertinent Links:

1) Cheney Attack Reveals Taliban Suicide Bombing Patterns