CIVILIAN POSTS TO BE FILLED WITH MILITARY
"... announcing a new strategy last month, President Obama promised “a dramatic increase in our civilian effort” in Afghanistan that would include “agricultural specialists and educators, engineers and lawyers”... the requirement for the “civilian surge” eventually would include hundreds of people with experience in such areas as small-business management, legal affairs, veterinary medicine, public sanitation, counter-narcotics efforts and air traffic control... to work on civilian reconstruction in combat zones. But enough of those civilians are not readily available... forcing the administration to turn to the military, Pentagon civilians and private contractors..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/world/asia/23military.html?_r=1&hp
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
U.S. LACKS CAPACITY TO WIN OVER AFGHANS
"U.S. military and civilian agencies lack the skills and training as well as the institutional framework necessary to carry out culturally and politically sensitive socio-economic programmes at the local level in Afghanistan, or even to avoid further alienation of the population... the U.S. government does not even have a minimum corps of people capable of speaking Pashto, the language of the 14 million ethnic Pashtuns who represent about 42 percent of the population of Afghanistan... 5,000 U.S. officials had learned Vietnamese by the end of the Vietnam War. The Foreign Service Institute should be turning out 200 to 300 Pashto speakers a year... (but) the United States has turned out a total of only 18 Foreign Service officers who can speak Pashto, and only two of them are now serving in Afghanistan (which) belies the U.S. commitment to a nation-building and counter-insurgency approach..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46578
"U.S. military and civilian agencies lack the skills and training as well as the institutional framework necessary to carry out culturally and politically sensitive socio-economic programmes at the local level in Afghanistan, or even to avoid further alienation of the population... the U.S. government does not even have a minimum corps of people capable of speaking Pashto, the language of the 14 million ethnic Pashtuns who represent about 42 percent of the population of Afghanistan... 5,000 U.S. officials had learned Vietnamese by the end of the Vietnam War. The Foreign Service Institute should be turning out 200 to 300 Pashto speakers a year... (but) the United States has turned out a total of only 18 Foreign Service officers who can speak Pashto, and only two of them are now serving in Afghanistan (which) belies the U.S. commitment to a nation-building and counter-insurgency approach..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46578
Monday, April 6, 2009
EFFECT OF DRONES
"American drone attacks on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan are causing a massive humanitarian emergency... As many as 1 million people have fled their homes in the Tribal Areas to escape attacks by the unmanned spy planes as well as bombings by the Pakistani army... 546,000 have registered as internally displaced people (IDPs)... there are thousands more unregistered people who have taken refuge with relatives and friends or who are in rented accommodation..."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6036512.ece
"American drone attacks on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan are causing a massive humanitarian emergency... As many as 1 million people have fled their homes in the Tribal Areas to escape attacks by the unmanned spy planes as well as bombings by the Pakistani army... 546,000 have registered as internally displaced people (IDPs)... there are thousands more unregistered people who have taken refuge with relatives and friends or who are in rented accommodation..."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6036512.ece
Friday, April 3, 2009
NEW LAW FOR WOMEN
"A new law for Shi'ite Muslims in Afghanistan... passed by parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai... is meant to legalise minority Shi'ite family law... could legalise marital rape and prohibit women from leaving the home without the permission of their husbands... it contained several articles that would seriously damage women's rights. One would legalise the marriage of girls from the age of nine and another said a woman had to wear make-up if her husband demanded it.... Some parliamentarians said the law is a major step backwards for Afghan women and that Karzai approved it to appease Shi'ite voters..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSL2330877
"A new law for Shi'ite Muslims in Afghanistan... passed by parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai... is meant to legalise minority Shi'ite family law... could legalise marital rape and prohibit women from leaving the home without the permission of their husbands... it contained several articles that would seriously damage women's rights. One would legalise the marriage of girls from the age of nine and another said a woman had to wear make-up if her husband demanded it.... Some parliamentarians said the law is a major step backwards for Afghan women and that Karzai approved it to appease Shi'ite voters..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSL2330877
MAJOR BASES = LONG COMMITMENT IN FACE OF UNCLEAR POLICY
"The Army is building $1.1 billion worth of military bases and other facilities in Afghanistan and is planning to start an additional $1.3 billion in projects this year... Massive construction of barracks, training areas, headquarters, warehouses and airfields for use by U.S. and Afghan security forces -- which could reach $4 billion -- signals a long-term U.S. military commitment at a time when the incoming Obama administration's policy for the Afghan war is unclear..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/12/AR2009011203015.html
"The Army is building $1.1 billion worth of military bases and other facilities in Afghanistan and is planning to start an additional $1.3 billion in projects this year... Massive construction of barracks, training areas, headquarters, warehouses and airfields for use by U.S. and Afghan security forces -- which could reach $4 billion -- signals a long-term U.S. military commitment at a time when the incoming Obama administration's policy for the Afghan war is unclear..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/12/AR2009011203015.html
AFGHANISTAN: A LONG SLOG WITH LOW EXPECTIONS
"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday signaled sharply lower expectations for the war in Afghanistan, warning the conflict will be "a long slog" and that U.S. and allied military forces, even at higher levels, can achieve limited goals... The U.S. force in Afghanistan numbers about 36,000..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/27/AR2009012700472.html
"Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates yesterday signaled sharply lower expectations for the war in Afghanistan, warning the conflict will be "a long slog" and that U.S. and allied military forces, even at higher levels, can achieve limited goals... The U.S. force in Afghanistan numbers about 36,000..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/27/AR2009012700472.html
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