Yearbook 2010
Afghanistan. The military situation, seen from the
perspective of the government and NATO forces, steadily
deteriorated during the year. Already in early November,
well over 600 NATO soldiers had been killed, more than 100
more than 2009. Even in the northern provinces of which the
Swedish force is responsible for the fighting increased
significantly. During the year, three Swedish soldiers were
killed and several wounded.
 According
to COUNTRYAAH, the number of Afghan civilian casualties also continued
to rise, both as a result of NATO bombings and bomb attacks
by the Taliban. The increasingly strong resistance movement
carried out a series of suicide attacks in the center of
Kabul.
The biggest offensive to date against the Taliban was
carried out during the spring in the southern province of
Helmand and was first described as a great success. After a
few months, the Taliban appeared to have picked up new
forces and a announced new offensive in Qandahar was shelved
for the time being.
President Hamid Karzai spoke more and more about the need
for peace contacts with the Taliban movement, and even
military and political leaders from NATO countries began to
support the idea of talks with the enemy. In October, NATO
confirmed that the Taliban leader had given free rein to
Kabul. Later, newspaper reports came out that a man
described as high-ranking Taliban leader may have been a
fraudster who disappeared after receiving a larger sum of
money. Supreme Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar dismissed
the details of peace contacts, and some political analysts
suspect that key Taliban leaders seized in Pakistan during
the year may have been those who advocated peace talks
without the approval of Pakistani military security service
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
President Hamid Karzai, whose reputation was weakened by
a debatable victory in the 2009 elections, continued to have
problems and made several startling appearances. He had to
rely on an incomplete government all year, after Parliament
rejected several of his appointments. Karzai's decision to
take control of the UN-supported Electoral Complaints
Commission, which in 2009 rejected a number of votes that
accrued to him, received harsh criticism and he was
gradually forced to retreat. He also had to back down from a
decision that all private security companies should be
stopped. The president also received sharp answers to the
accusation against the UN and the EU for trying to dismiss
him through cheating in the 2009 election. His request that
the United States reduce the war effort was also rejected
with surprisingly raised eyebrows.
Primarily due to a fungal attack, the opium harvest fell
sharply to 3,600 tonnes, almost halving since 2009. However,
the value of the harvest increased by 38 percent to $ 604
million at the producer level.
A report from the US Department of Defense Pentagon in
November confirmed that successes against the Taliban were
modest despite 30,000 more soldiers. US spokesmen were
skeptical of NATO's goal for Afghan forces to take over
responsibility for the country in 2014. US commander Stanley
McChrystal was fired in June following critical statements
about the circle of President Barack Obama. He was replaced
by David Petraeus, who previously led the efforts in Iraq.
The Dutch NATO force ended its presence in Afghanistan on 1
August. In several other countries, public opinion for an
exit from the country increased.
In September, parliamentary elections were held. The
result was delayed until the end of November, after the
electoral commission had annulled a quarter of all votes and
rejected 24 candidates who had first been declared victors
in their constituencies. The cheating was most widespread in
the Pashtunian-dominated provinces, which led to the
country's largest population being heavily
under-represented. The opposition was given the hope of
being able to put the Karzai Pashtun under tougher pressure.
The Afghan civilian population was also hit harder by
other than the fighting. A UN report in January showed that
the residents in the previous year had to pay the equivalent
of about SEK 17 billion in bribes to public officials in
order to get cases settled. A recent report from the World
Organization stated that corruption helps keep the
population in poverty and diminishes the powers of the
people in respect of human rights. Although at least US $ 35
billion has been allocated for aid since 2002, the majority
of residents are still living in poverty.
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