by Xinhua writer Yan Liang
KABUL, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The goals of NATO-led International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan seemed doomed to failure if night raid, a tactic commonly used by ISAF in the war-torn country, continues, because it was turning local people against them, observers told Xinhua Tuesday.
Last Friday night, two Afghan employees of a private commercial company in Kabul namely Tiger International were killed by NATO- led troops. ISAF later said that the operation was coordinated with Afghan security forces after they received information that the security of US embassy in Afghanistan was threatened.
However, many local Afghan people still doubted if it was really a coordinated operation, and they were infuriated by the fact that it was two security guards rather than Taliban who were killed in the incident.
The raids were considered by NATO troops to be effective to root out Taliban insurgents, but it angered Afghan civilians. Local people want to see an end to night raids, Waheed Mujda, a political analyst at the Afghan Research Center for Strategy Studies, told Xinhua.
"Night raids cause a great problem for Afghan people, especially for women and children, not only frightens them during their sleep, but also gives them a great psychological pressure," said Mujda.
In some cases, according to him, innocent civilians were killed during night raids due to wrong intelligence, and local people sometimes gave ISAF wrong information to carry out night raids for their own purposes, for example to take revenge or settle feuds.
Due to civilian casualties caused by night raids, public support had dramatically eroded for the NATO mission in many areas of Afghanistan, observers said.
It would be counterproductive, and family members who lost relatives would join Taliban to avenge the NATO soldiers, said Mujda, "When innocent civilians were hurt by coalition operations, the Taliban wins."
The use of dogs in house searches was unacceptable in the Afghan culture and it would be used by Taliban to undermine grass root support for the coalition and the Afghan government.
"We Afghan people do not like these night raids, they broke our tradition and not consider our feelings," said a local driver Abdullah in Kabul, "unless the night raids stopped, we would fight against them."
Night raid has already become a contentious issue for ISAF and the Afghan people, which may doom their mission here if it continues, local observers warned.
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