AFGHAN ARMY TO TAKE MANY MORE BILLIONS AND YEARS

"... the United States has spent more than $17 billion since 2001 trying to build the ANA (Afghan National Army)... The Afghan government claims that the ANA numbers more than 100,000 troops... (but)... an unpublished preliminary military report... for Central Command Commander Gen. David Petraeus... indicates that at least some ANA battalions (Kandaks) are undermanned by as much as 50 percent... .Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi expects to expand the ANA to 240,000 soldiers for which the United States has pledged an additional $16 billion..."
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis/2010/01/05/Outside-View-Training-the-Afghan-army/UPI-83911262709907/

"... Mr. Karzai... once again rais(ed) the prospect of a far more drawn-out foreign troop presence before Afghans would be able to assume full responsibility for their own security. It could take 5 to 10 years for Afghan forces to take over from the American-led coalition,... and even longer to end his country’s dependence on financial aid to sustain its military. That is far longer that President Obama’s goal to begin drawing down American forces by the summer of 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/world/asia/29diplo.html?sudsredirect=true

LONDON CONFERENCE ON AFGHANISTAN

Plan for Withdrawal
"They say it is not about withdrawal... But it looks as if the London conference on Afghanistan is partly about just that, wrapped up in policies about "transferring primacy" to Afghan forces and "talking to the Taliban". It is about giving Western public opinion the confidence that there is a strategy not only for fighting the war but also for getting out of it..."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8480368.stm

Plan to Buy Off the Taliban
"... In advance of an international conference in London to discuss Afghanistan's future... Japan, the US and Britain are said to be leading the proposal... to pay up to $500 million to Taliban fighters to persuade them to lay down their arms... The sum could be as much as between $500 million and $1bn over the next five years.."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/01/2010127102734689234.html

AMBASSADOR EIKENBERRY WARNED AGAINST SURGE

"The United States ambassador in Kabul warned his superiors... about the leadership of the Afghan government, the state of its military and the chances that a troop buildup would actually hurt the war effort by making the Karzai government too dependent on the United States.... Mr. Eikenberry, a retired Army lieutenant general who once was the top American commander in Afghanistan, repeatedly cautioned that deploying sizable American reinforcements would result in “astronomical costs” — tens of billions of dollars — and would only deepen the dependence of the Afghan government on the United States..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/world/asia/26strategy.html?sudsredirect=true

NUMBERS OF FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN
(Not including over 100,00 US troops and 38,000 NATO troops)

"... According to testimony last month before the independent Commission on Wartime Contracting, the number of U.S. defense contractors in Afghanistan is expected to reach 160,000 this year, more than the number of U.S. troops... The Obama administration has envisioned an Afghan army that would number 134,000 by the end of this year and grow to 240,000 in 2013. The Afghan national police currently stand at 96,800 with a proposal to expand to 160,000 by 2013, according to recent Pentagon testimony..."
http://huffpostfund.org/stories/2010/01/flaws-iraqi-police-contract-raise-questions-about-afghan-effort

McCHRYSTAL SAYS ENOUGH FIGHTING, HOPES FOR TALIBAN DEAL

"... Stanley McChrystal... the commander of Nato forces... (said) an increase in the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan could lead to a negotiated peace with the Taliban... (saying) "It's not my job to extend olive branches, but it is my job to help set conditions where people in the right positions can have options on the way forward. As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/01/20101251080294781.html

DEFENSE CONTRACTORS SPENT $27 MILLION LOBBYING AT TIME OF SURGE

"The ten largest defense contractors in the nation spent more than $27 million lobbying the federal government in the last quarter of 2009... as the White House announced it would ramp up military activity in Afghanistan and Congress considered appropriations bills to pay for that buildup..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/21/top-defense-contractors-s_n_431542.html

ASSESSING THE TROOPS: AL QAEDA VS. AMERICA

"... there are currently about 100 al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan, as well as "several hundred" in Pakistan and... a similar number in Yemen. Members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Algeria, Mali and Mauritania) and those based in Somalia undoubtedly fall into the same category at several hundred each.... al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia never had more than 1,300-4,000 active fighters... Combined, these groups ... add up to perhaps 2,100 fighters... Members have access to rocket-propelled grenades, small arms of various sorts, the materials for making deadly roadside bombs, car bombs, and of course underwear bombs..."

"The US military has spent about $1 trillion on its post-9/11 wars so far. It has an army, a navy, an air force and a marine corps... trillions of dollars in weapons, materiel and other assets... spy satellites, advanced fighter planes and bombers, high-tech drones and helicopters, fleets of trucks, tanks and other armored vehicles... advanced missiles and smart bombs, aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and state-of-the-art ships... In addition, the US military has... approximately 1.4 million active duty men and women under arms and another 1.3 million reserve personnel. It employs more than 700,000 civilians in support roles... and utilizes untold tens of thousands of private security contractors... The active duty US military alone enjoys a 666:1 advantage over the estimated number of al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Somalia..."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LA16Df02.html


"What does it say about Washington's ''war on terror'' that dozen and a half people with paper cutters forced hundreds of thousands of Western troops into the battlefields of the "greater Middle East" region;
That 100,000 foreign soldiers are bogged down in occupied Afghanistan wondering how many dozens of al-Qaeda operatives have remained, if any;
That the most liberal democracy enacted new controversial illiberal laws and unpatriotic practices under its "Patriot Act";
That one shoe-bomber has forced millions of people to take off their shoes every time they take a flight;
That one underpants-bomber will expose every other traveler in most humiliating of ways;
That after US loss of deterrence and prestige as well as trillions of dollars of military and other expenditures, al-Qaeda's top leadership remains at large; its bases/cells proliferate globally; that volunteers continue to flock into its ranks and young supporters to its websites… (and) that it continues to terrorize America and Americans.
So much that one gets the impression that America is fighting a world superpower despite the incredible disparities in capacity, numbers and support.
Is al-Qaeda winning? Has the United States lost?"
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/imperium/2010/01/14/al-qaeda-winning

THREE TIMES AS MANY AL QAEDA IN YEMEN AS AFGHANISTAN

"Gen. Stanley McChrystal says he is not discouraged by estimates that there are many more al Qaeda fighters in Yemen than there are in Afghanistan where he is overseeing a major surge in U.S. troops... (saying) "I don't think that this war's in the wrong place"... (He) was reacting to a question from ABC's "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer who cited intelligence estimates that there are only 100 al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan while there are as many as 300 in Yemen..."
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/afghanistan-general-stanley-mcchrystal-tells-diane-sawyer-surge/story?id=9525700&cid=yahoo_pitchlist

U.S. TO TURN BAGRAM PRISON OVER TO AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan judiciary will try the inmates.

"Hundreds of inmates held without trial at a controversial prison on a US base will be allowed to challenge their detention through the courts when Afghanistan takes over the jail... the prison at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul has been compared to the Cuba-based Guantanamo Bay detention centre and Abu Ghraib in Iraq due to harsh treatment of prisoners detained there without charge.... Afghans have long been asked why, when we have a legal government, our citizens are taken away never to be heard from again... "
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iGRVVfWuxHAg0MeD9YC_xrWnqzuQ

WASTE AND FRAUD UNDERMINING U.S. RECONSTRUCTION OF AFGHANISTAN

"... Concerns have been raised in past months that the waste and fraud that has undermined the U.S. reconstruction effort in Iraq is being repeated in Afghanistan... The international community has invested more than $60 billion since 2002 in reconstruction efforts, including $40 billion from the U.S. alone... The U.S. agency overseeing the multibillion dollar Afghanistan reconstruction effort is investigating 38 criminal cases ranging from contract fraud to theft — most involving non-Afghans... the government might not be ready to deal with the flow of additional funds into Afghanistan..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100112/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan_reconstruction;_ylt=AkVV9tQzfghRfJ5raQNbQGcUewgF;_ylu=X3oDMTNpZ2wybzVrBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMTEyL2FzX2FmZ2hhbmlzdGFuX3JlY29uc3RydWN0aW9uBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMgRwb3MDMgRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA3VzaW52ZXN0aWdhdA--

DEPLETED URANIUM BOMBS CAUSING CANCER EPIDEMIC

"... The real hazard for Iraqis these days is cancer. Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment... In Falluja, which was heavily bombarded by the US in 2004, as many as 25% of new- born infants have serious abnormalities, including congenital anomalies, brain tumors, and neural tube defects in the spinal cord... The cancer rate in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad has risen from 500 diagnosed cases in 2004 to 9,082 in 2009... In Basra there were 1885 diagnosed cases of cancer in 2005.... the number increased to 2,302 in 2006 and 3,071 in 2007... about 1,250-1,500 patients visit the Oncology Center every month now... Iraqi doctors and some Western scholars say the massive quantities of depleted uranium used in U.S. and British bombs, and the sharp increase in cancer rates are not unconnected. ... the incubation period for depleted uranium is five to six years, which is consistent with the spike in cancer rates... The water, soil and air in large areas of Iraq, including Baghdad, are contaminated with depleted uranium that has a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years..."

"There are also similar patterns of birth defects among... Afghan infants who were also born in areas that were subjected to depleted uranium bombardment... in infants in eastern and south- eastern Afghanistan... Many children are born with no eyes, no limbs, or tumors protruding from their mouths and eyes..."

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=80e260b3839daf2084fdeb0965ad31ab

ARMY SAYS CIA IGNORANT ABOUT AFGHANISTAN

"... Major General Michael Flynn, deputy chief of staff for intelligence in Afghanistan for the U.S. military and its NATO allies... described U.S. intelligence officials there as "ignorant of local economics and landowners, hazy about who the powerbrokers are and how they might be influenced ... and disengaged from people in the best position to find answers"... calling the United States "clueless" because of a lack of needed intelligence about the country..."
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre60403v-us-afghanistan-usa-intelligence/

STATUS OF U.S. IN AFGHANISTAN AT NEW YEAR

"... the US is killing schoolchildren far too often, enraging the Afghan public. It has provoked a studnet protest movement against it in Jalalabad and Kabul. Its informants are double agents (who blew up 7 CIA officers). Its supposed partner, the Afghan army, mostly doesn't actually exist and couldn't be depended on to show up to anything important; and that is when they aren't taking potshots at US troops; and there is no Afghan government as we go into 2010."
http://www.juancole.com/2010/01/serial-catastrophes-in-afghanistan.html

U.S. RAIDERS SHOOT 8 SCHOOL CHILDREN, SPARKING STREET PROTESTS

"The US military launched a raid in Kunar Province... in which President Hamid Karzai alleged that 10 civilians, some 8 of them schoolchildren, had been killed (some say dragged out of their beds and executed).... "They gathered eight school students from two compounds and put them in one room and shot them with small arms."... The charitable theory is that in a nighttime raid, US troops got disoriented and hit the wrong group of young men...
"The outraged Afghan public saw this raid as an atrocity, and... mounted street protests against the US in Jalalabad, an eastern Pashtun city, and Kabul. In Jalalabad, hundreds of university students blocked the main roads, and then marched in the streets, chanting "Death to Obama" and "Death to America," and burning Obama in effigy..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/world/asia/31afghan.html?_r=2

"... ten Afghans, eight of them schoolchildren, were killed... US-led troops dragged innocent children from their beds and shot them during a nighttime raid. Afghan government investigators said the eight students were aged from eleven to seventeen, all but one of them from the same family... NATO officials have insisted that they believe the people who were killed were part of a Taliban network making improvised explosive devices, homemade bombs, the roadside explosives..."
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/6/us_led_forces_accused_of_executing