by Captain Andrew R. Feitt
Download the full article: Countering the IMU in Afghanistan
Foreign Fighters (FF) have always played a significant role in the conflicts in Afghanistan. Whether it was the large numbers of Arabs, Central Asians, and others who swelled the ranks of the mujahidin during the Soviet invasion or the al-Qa'ida and other Islamist fighters who buttressed the Taliban's forces during the late 1990s and the past decade, well-equipped and motivated FF groups have provided a manifest benefit to their allies. Outside of al-Qa'ida itself, one of the most numerous and active FF groups operating in Afghanistan is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Though its members and operations are focused in only a handful of districts in Afghanistan, the IMU's disciplined fighters form an elite training cadre acting as a true combat multiplier for the Afghan Taliban, and thus its influence is felt exponentially across much of the country's south. In places like the Deh Chopan district of Zabul province, the IMU is a critical piece of the local insurgency. However, the past year has dealt a series of setbacks to the group: from the possible death of their leader, Tahir Yuldashev, to the large-scale Pakistani Military operations directed against their safe havens in Waziristan. Deprived of leadership and under pressure in Pakistan, the IMU is now at a crossroads regarding its future in the Afghan conflict. This article will briefly examine the history of the IMU in southern Afghanistan; their importance to the Taliban insurgency, and examine how to best counter the group's dangerous influence in light of General McChrystal's population-centric focus and the addition of 30,000 new U.S. soldiers to the country.
The IMU has its origins in the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. The victory of the mujahidin and the collapse of Communism formed a nexus of burgeoning Islamism across Central Asia. It was in the volatile Fergana Valley at the crux of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, where a young mullah named Tahir Yuldashev and a former Soviet paratrooper with the nom du guerre 'Juma Namangani' first began to organize an Islamist movement against the autocratic Uzbek government of Islam Karimov. When the government cracked down on their movement in 1992, Yuldashev and Namangani fled to neighboring Tajikistan. Following that country's descent into civil war a short time later, they again fled -- this time to Afghanistan. It was during this period that the rebel Uzbek movement grew closer to the Taliban and al-Qa'ida, and took on its current character.
Download the full article: Countering the IMU in Afghanistan
Captain Andrew R. Feitt is a Military Intelligence officer assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne). He has deployed to Iraq in 2005 and 2007 with the 3rd Infantry Division, and to Afghanistan in 2009 with the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne).
