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Afghan and NATO leaders will gather in Chicago this weekend todiscuss the future of security in Afghanistan as internationaltroops prepare to end combat operations in 2014. Throughout the past decade, international conferences about theAfghan conflict like this one have become a fixture on theinternational political landscape, though often producing opaqueresults. Unlike past summits, however, the Chicago conference represents thefirst time such an event takes place amid a reduction in violence a 43 percent drop of insurgent attacks, according to a reportreleased last month by the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office. ANSO called the drop in attacks the first reliable indicator thatthe conflict may be entering a period of regression after years ofsustained, and compounded, growth by all actors in the field. It remains unclear if this decline will stick. As the US pushes fora negotiated settlement to end the war, the Taliban has shown signsof increasing division. The ensuing fragmentation of the groupcould be behind the drop in violence, in which case the presentcalm remains extremely fragile. The Afghanistan NGO Safety Office logged the 43 percent decrease ininsurgent initiated attacks for the first quarter of 2012 ascompared to the same period last year. The organization s securityreports are considered among some of the most reliable. Over thepast year, they ve been at odds with American and internationalmilitary statistics that tracked a downturn in violence while ANSOrecorded increases. Still, many Afghan leaders are cautious. Fewer attacks don t mean that the Taliban left the areas andthat s why their attacks have decreased, says Ali Akbar Qasimi,a former Afghan Army general and a member of parliament from Ghazniprovince. He says that the Taliban and other insurgent groupsremain active in many areas. Though members of the group may not becarrying out attacks, they often intimidate locals and impose theirultra-traditional views on rural communities. The report also warns that a continued upsurge in criminality andthe growth of irregular militias may present new problems forAfghanistan even if the downward trend of insurgent violencecontinues. Widening fissures The drop in attacks comes at a time when there appears to bewidening fissures among the Taliban due to internal disagreementsabout whether to negotiate with the US. Earlier this month, 25 prominent members of the Taliban werereportedly executed by the organization for talking to the USwithout authorization. Additionally, a Taliban splinter group known as the Mullah DadullahFront carried out the assassination of Maulvi Arsala Rahmani, asenior member of the Afghan High Peace Council, last Sundayallegedly outside the knowledge and control of the central Talibanorganization. Maybe it s because of the negotiation process that the Talibanis divided in parts, says Naqeebullah, a former Afghan Armygeneral who now serves as a member of parliament for LaghmanProvince. Like many Afghans he only uses one name. This decreasein attacks might be because of the internal problems inside theTaliban. Whenever they have problems or disagreements inside,normally the attacks would get suspended for a short time ordecrease. The distance between the Taliban foot soldiers fighting inAfghanistan and their leadership, believed to be mostly inPakistan, has grown in recent years. Those fighting in Afghanistansustain the vast majority of losses and have reportedly becomeembittered with the leadership hiding in Pakistan who is notexposed to the same level of danger. The group's mid-level leadership has been particularly hard hit byAfghan and international operations. Last year, internationalforces conducted 2,200 night operations, which traditionally targetthe Taliban and insurgent group commanders. In 83 percent of thoseraids, soldiers managed to kill or capture their primary target oran associated insurgent. 'Not a monolithic movement'. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Swing Arm Barrier , Automatic Swing Gate Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Automatic Barrier Gate today!
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