Violence and Upheaval in Afghanistan

Danielle Nelson

The U.S. involvement in Afghanistan began with an invasion in 2001 following the September 11^th attacks to remove Al Qaeda and the Taliban from power.  Although the invasion was successful, neither group was dissolved.  Since then, American forces have been focusing on helping the Afghan government gain control of the insurgency.  The month of August has seen developments in military and political aspects of the conflict.  These developments include an air collision, an attack on a Chinook transport helicopter, and political controversy over Afghan elections. 

This month a collision between an RQ-7 Shadow, an unmanned aerial vehicle, on a surveillance mission and a C-130 cargo plane occurred in Afghanistan.  The cargo plane was forced to land on base in eastern Afghanistan; however, the crew was unharmed, and the plane received only minimal damage from the collision.  Remotely piloted aircraft have been used extensively in the past ten years to fire antitank missiles or to take pictures from high altitudes.  Despite the rarity of collisions, the military is developing sensor technology to help avoid future collisions. On August 6^th insurgents shot down a Chinook transport helicopter on a mission in the Tangi Valley of the Wardak Province.  The attack occurred during an assault on a Taliban compound in the Jaw-e-Mekh Zareen village.  Officials say that this valley has been used by the Taliban to move across the Wardak and Logar Province boarder and acts as a stronghold for insurgents.  The attack on the helicopter killed thirty Americans and eight Afghans.  Among the dead were Navy Seal commandos and soldiers from Seal Team 6 that had been involved in the killing Osama bin Laden.

Almost 25% of the votes recorded in elections held almost a year ago were determined invalid by Afghanistan’s election commission.  It then decided to remove winners from their seats in Parliament.  The president called the Supreme Court to convene a Special Court that declared 62 of the removed candidates should regain their seats.  Due to this action, protests and street demonstrations resulted because the Afghan Constitution declares that the election commission has the final determination of the election results.  The president announced this month that the Special Court would be resolved and that the election commission would determine the results.  The commission declared that nine members from Parliament would be replaced by nine of the candidates. Since August, violence has continued with an organized attack by the Taliban in Kabul.  The attackers aimed at the U.S. embassy as well as other organization headquarters with small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, and suicide bombers.  The fighting settled as Afghan National Security Forces with coalition forces arrived to clear out the Taliban insurgents and secure the city.  It has been reported that three police officers along with one civilian died in the attack while 18 were wounded.