A group of Pakistani insurgents is suspected of being behind this week’s violent attacks in Afghanistan that left seven American troops dead, along with five Afghan police officers and dozens of civilians.
The Haqqani clan, which is based in Pakistan and believed to have strong ties to the Pakistani security forces, has been responsible for more than 90 percent of all attacks in eastern Afghanistan and works closely with Taliban leadership in other areas of the country, according to U.S. and Afghan sources.
Six U.S. soldiers were killed Monday by an improvised explosive device in Wardak province. Another U.S. soldier was killed Sunday in southern Afghanistan.
“The Haqqanis are at the top of the list of suspected perpetrators,” said a U.S. official regarding the Wardak attack. “We’ll continue to pound them, and they need to know that our pursuit of them will not stop.”
In June, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta pressured Pakistan to do more to go after the Haqqanis, warning that U.S. officials have reached the “limits of our patience.”
Panetta said Pakistan must stop “allowing terrorists to use their country as a safety net in order to conduct their attacks on our forces.”
Despite ongoing efforts by Afghan and U.S. forces to secure the eastern province, known as the gateway to Kabul, it has not been easy. Many of the villages and roads in Afghanistan’s eastern province border Pakistan’s tribal belt. The insurgents, who know the terrain, cross back into the Pakistan safe haven where U.S. and Afghan forces are forbidden to enter.
“Even from Kabul, they are only 45 minutes from the Pakistan border,” said a U.S. military official. “They move back and forth in the east, and these guys know the terrain. No doubt this was a Haqqani attack.”
This year, 225 NATO service members have been killed in Afghanistan. But the suicide bombs and IEDs are also taking the lives of civilians.
Five Afghan policemen were killed Sunday in Bamiyan province when they responded to a report of gunfire at a checkpoint. An Afghan police vehicle rolled over and triggered the roadside bomb when it responded to the call, according to reports.
Three suicide bombers were also responsible for the deaths on Monday of at least 10 people, including women and children, in the southern city of Kandahar.
Sara A. Carter is The Washington Examiner’s national security correspondent. She can be reached at [email protected].
