U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2005 - Afghanistan

Afghanistan continued its progress toward building a democratic government, holding National Assembly and provincial council elections in September. In spite of Taliban threats to disrupt the democratic process, only minor incidents occurred, and the election results were accepted as legitimate by the Afghan people. The National Assembly was inaugurated December 19, marking the final milestone of the Bonn Process.

Programs designed to combat terrorism and lawlessness continued. The Program for Strengthening Peace (PTS), which reconciles former Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami Gulbuddin (HiG) members, founded six regional offices. As of December, more than 600 former fighters had joined the program. The Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program processed more than 63,000 former combatants. The Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) process began work in June, focusing on vetting parliamentary candidates to ensure they had no ties to illegal armed groups (IAGs). The DIAG disqualified a number of candidates, using the program more as an effort to push compliance rather than punish individuals for past and present actions. The program's next phase will be a province-by-province effort to disband the most notorious IAGs, coupled with the identification and removal of government officials with links to IAGs.

Increasingly, the Afghan National Army (ANA), with more than 26,000 personnel in its ranks, and the Afghan National Police (ANP), with 54,500, have taken the lead in counterterrorism operations. Proactive arrests of presumed terrorists have continued, probably preventing many bombings.Despite this progress, Afghanistan saw an increasing number of violent incidents in 2005. More than 1,500 people were killed in terrorist attacks.

The use of improvised explosive devices and suicide bombings in Afghanistan increased; there were an estimated 15 suicide attacks, compared to four in 2004. Suspected terrorists and anti-Coalition militants targeted candidates and election workers in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. Terrorists and anti-Coalition militants may be changing tactics to reduce the number of direct fire attacks against Coalition forces.

Overall attacks against non-combatants decreased but terrorists and anti-Coalition militants targeted international NGO and UN workers and recipients of NGO assistance in an attempt to hamper reconstruction efforts and drive the international assistance community out of Afghanistan. Thirty-three NGO staff members were killed, up from 23 in 2004.