Kandahar jail break shows Afghans not ready to govern

The growing prospect of prison officials or guards acting as accomplices for Taliban militants who orchestrated a brazen escape of 480 inmates from southern Afghanistan’s largest prison again feeds the perception President Hamid Karzai’s government is not ready to take over security for parts of the country. Troops from nations participating in the NATO-led war on the Islamic extremists Taliban are eager to return home.

However, credible reports of government corruption, coupled with the incompetence of many officials and Karzai’s unwillingness to address the myriad problems undermining the war-torn country’s stability, have cast doubt about the exit strategy being pursued by the United States and others involved in the campaign. Indeed, each incident that exposes the government’s soft underbelly emboldens the Taliban, which has been battling to return to power in Afghanistan since it was ousted in 2001 by the U.S.-led coalition.

The invasion was launched by then President George W. Bush after it was shown that most of the Islamic terrorists involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on America’s mainland were trained in Afghanistan by Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida terrorist organization.

The Taliban had given bin Laden, the world’s leading terrorist, and his associates safe haven; they set up training camps in the mountain areas of the country. Bin Laden and members of his inner circle fled the country to neighboring Pakistan as the coalition forces were closing in on them. He has remained at large despite a bounty on his head.

Al-Qaida has joined forces with the Taliban, which continues to launch attacks from across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Despite being blocked by the coalition forces from occupying large swaths of land and from weakening the Karzai government, the Taliban has enjoyed some successes in its military action. On April 15, the Kandahar police chief and two other police officers were killed when a suicide bomber was able to elude security forces and enter the police station. Days earlier, security forces in Kandahar fired on crowds killing nine people during protests over the burning of the Quran by a pastor in the U.S., according to the New York Times.

Assassination attempt

In eastern Paktia province, the provincial governor narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt by insurgents. A roadside bomb exploded just behind a vehicle taking Gov. Juma Khan Hamdard to his office.

Now, the escape of more than 400 prisoners from the Kandahar prison makes it clear that the Karzai government and the coalition forces have an energized, determined enemy on their hands. What make the jail break even more troubling is that it involved months of preparation centered on the digging of a tunnel that started from under a house near the prison. The Taliban also arranged for inmates to get keys so they could open their cells on the night of the escape.

By midweek, about 70 inmates had been recaptured, but the prospects of most of them being returned to the prison seem bleak.

There can be no doubt that many of the escapees will be joining the Taliban in the battle against the NATO-led coalition.