Afghanistan in the News

2012-01-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

U.S. IN PEACE TALKS WITH INSURGENTS

"... a representative and son-in-law of longtime Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar... (said) that he had met separately with David Petraeus, former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan who is now CIA director, and had face-to-face discussions earlier this month with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, currently the top commander in the country... the discussions show that the U.S. knows that... any peace deal would have to be supported by Hekmatyar, who has thousands of fighters and followers primarily in the north and east...

"The U.S. formally declared Hekmatyar a "global terrorist" in 2003 because of alleged links to al-Qaida... He declared war on foreign troops in his country and rebuilt his military forces, which by 2008 had become a major threat to the U.S.-led coalition..."

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-us-talks-afghan-insurgent-group-184848900.html

2012-01-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

AFGHAN SOLDIER KILLS 4 FRENCH, WOUNDS 16

"Four French soldiers have been killed in northern Afghanistan after a serviceman from the Afghan National Army opened fire... Another 16 French soldiers were injured, some seriously... the French soldiers shot dead were unarmed and were "literally murdered"... France was suspending its training programmes in Afghanistan following the attack... there has been an increasing number of incidents involving Afghan soldiers turning their weapons on Nato forces..."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-asia-16645251

2011-11-04T16:47:00.000-07:00

U.S. GENERAL FIRED

"The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan has fired a senior officer from his job as the No. 2 general in charge of training for making inappropriate public remarks about Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his government... Maj. Gen. Peter Fuller has been relieved of his duties as deputy commander for the Afghan training mission... Fuller characterized Afghan leaders as erratic, ungrateful and isolated from reality.... saying Afghan leaders don't fully recognize America's sacrifices on their country's behalf..."
http://news.yahoo.com/us-general-fired-afghan-training-job-220453969.html

2011-11-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

U.S. NIGHT RAIDS KILLED OVER 1,500 AFGAN CIVILIANS

"U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) killed well over 1,500 civilians in night raids in less than 10 months in 2010 and early 2011, analysis of official statistics on the raids released by the U.S.-NATO command reveals... That number would make U.S. night raids by far the largest cause of civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan. ... Except for a relatively few women and children killed by accident, the civilians who died in the raids were all adult males who were counted as insurgents in press releases... (but) have invariably been either close relatives or neighbours who have come out to assist against an armed assault..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105704

2011-10-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

KARZAI TO BACK PAKISTAN IF U.S. ATTACKS IT

"Afghanistan would support Pakistan in case of military conflict between Pakistan and the United States... Afghan President Hamid Karzai said... "If ever there is a war between Pakistan and America, Afghanistan will side with Pakistan"... (also) Karzai said he would cease attempting to reach out to the Afghan Taliban and instead negotiate directly with Pakistan, saying its military and intelligence services could influence the militants to make peace."
http://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-back-pakistan-wars-u-karzai-023316217.html

2011-10-05T07:34:00.001-07:00

1 IN 3 VETS SEE WAR AS WASTE

"... Nearly 4,500 U.S. troops have died in Iraq and about 1,700 in Afghanistan. Combined war costs... have topped $1 trillion.... (now) One in three U.S. veterans of the post-9/11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems.. "
http://news.yahoo.com/poll-1-3-vets-sees-iraq-afghan-wars-040253311.html

2011-10-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

MOST IEDs MADE IN PAKISTAN

"Pakistan is the source of explosives in the vast majority of makeshift bombs insurgents in Afghanistan planted this summer to attack U.S. troops... From June through August, U.S. troops detected or were hit by 5,088 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the most for any three-month period since the war began in 2001... More than 80% of the IEDs are homemade explosives using calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizer produced in Pakistan..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/story/2011-10-02/ieds-traced-to-pakistan/50638686/1

2011-09-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

KABUL ATTACK NO BIG DEAL

"... (it was) the longest attack in Kabul since the US-led invasion in 2001. Eleven Afghan civilians were killed, including several children, in the fighting... along with five Afghan policemen and 11 insurgents. At least nine Afghans, including four police officers were killed, and 23 people including civilians were wounded... The US ambassador to Afghanistan has described a 20-hour assault on Kabul's diplomatic and military quarter as "not a very big deal..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/14/kabul-attacks-us-ambassador

20-HOUR INSURGENT ATTACK IN KABUL

"The 20-hour insurgent assault on the heavily guarded Afghan capital left 27 dead - including police, civilians and attackers... This week's strike was the third deadly attack in Kabul since late June..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/14/kabul-attack-ends_n_961447.html

2011-09-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

WAR ON TERROR BREEDS NEW TERRORISTS

"... The National Intelligence Estimate on “Trends in Global Terrorism” issued in April 2006 concluded that the war in Iraq was “breeding deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim World and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement.” It found that “activists identifying themselves as jihadists, although a small percentage of Muslims, are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion.” And in a prophetic warning, it said “the operational threat from self-radicalized cells will grow in importance…particularly abroad but also at home.”

"(And) If there is one place on earth where it is obviously irrational to antagonize the male population on a long-term basis, it is the Pashtun region that straddles Afghanistan and Pakistan, with its tribal culture of honor and revenge for the killing of family and friends..."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/12

2011-09-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

KARZAI AND HIS GOVERNMENT NOT SEEN AS LEGITIMATE

"... (Karzai's) brothers or high officials were mired in the Da Kabul Bank scandal. The bank appears to have been looted by its own investors and money used to by villas in Dubai. Norway, along with some internaional hosts, has suspended aid to Afghanistan until the mystery of the Bank’s missing funds is resolved...

".. (and) Not only were there charges of widespread irregularities in the 2009 presidential election, but the parliamentary elections of a year ago were likewise attended with accusations of ballot fraud...

"... As a result of these financial and electoral scandals, Karzai increasingly lacks legitimacy. This outcome is important because the new Afghan army being trained by NATO can only hope to succeed in counter-insurgency if its troops and officers believe in the government for which they are fighting..."

http://www.juancole.com/2011/09/a-tale-of-two-afghan-leaders-before-and-after-911.html

2011-09-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

AL QAEDA SUCCEEDING IN DECLINE OF U.S. POWER

"... Al Qaeda appears to have largely succeeded in its hopes of accelerating the decline of U.S. global power, if not bringing it to the brink of collapse. That appears to be the strong consensus of the foreign-policy elite which... believes that the administration of President George W. Bush badly "over- reacted" to the attacks and that that over-reaction continues to this day... The estimated three to 4.4 trillion dollars Washington has incurred either directly or indirectly in conducting the "global war on terror" account for a substantial portion of the fiscal crisis that transformed the country's politics and brought it to the edge of bankruptcy last month..."
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105041

2011-09-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

SINCE 9/11 U.S. IS NO SAFER, BUT WEAKER

"... We aren't safer from terrorism than we were a decade ago. Safety, after all, is a product of our defensive capabilities and resiliency measured against an enemy's capacity to attack us. While al-Qaeda's capacity to attack us hasn't increased significantly, the United States has far weaker capabilities than it did 10 years ago: even if al Qaeda has experienced a decline in the past decade, then the U.S. has declined more steeply... (so) it is hard to say that we've grown safer since September 11. The only chance a relatively small and weak actor like al-Qaeda has to beat a strong actor like the U.S. is by turning its strength against it. The group has managed to put the U.S. in a position where many of its offensive and defensive measures -- armies deployed in far-away and hostile places, travel and commerce slowed by cumbersome security theater -- do in fact make the U.S. more vulnerable by exhausting it..."
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/09/al-qaeda-is-winning/244701/

2011-09-05T03:35:00.000-07:00

AFGHAN SOLDIERS DESERTING

"At least one in seven Afghan soldiers walked off the job during the first six months of this year... Between January and June, more than 24,000 soldiers walked off the job, more than twice as many as in the same period last year, according to the NATO statistics. In June alone, more than 5,000 soldiers deserted, nearly 3 percent of the 170,000-strong force... At one point this summer, the pace of desertions climbed to an annualized rate of 35 percent..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/more-afghan-soldiers-deserting-the-army/2011/08/31/gIQABxFTvJ_story.html

2011-09-01T16:09:00.001-07:00

WAR ON TERROR WAS ABANDONED BY BUSH AGENCIES AS INEFFECTIVE

"... The War on Terror was based on the notion that Islamic terrorism represented a unified, ideologically coherent, and operationally centralized threat, demanding a singular and predominately military response. This notion was rejected by U.S. security officials long before the killing of Bin Laden. Indeed, it was abandoned well before the election of President Obama.

By the latter years of the Bush administration, the exceptional tactics that defined the War on Terror -- preventative detentions, pain-based interrogation, ethnic and religious profiling, and widely expanded domestic surveillance powers -- were either abandoned or dramatically scaled back based on overwhelming evidence that they were ineffective. Meanwhile, the actual wars initiated in the name of the War on Terror, in Afghanistan and Iraq, rapidly evolved into counter-insurgency and then counterterrorism campaigns as military leaders recognized that the U.S. was unable to replace theocrats and autocrats with stable, western-style democracies.

The War on Terror lives on today only as political theater..."

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/08/who-killed-the-war-on-terror/244273/

2011-08-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

U.S. Troops May Stay In Afghanistan Until 2024

"America and Afghanistan are close to signing a strategic pact which would allow thousands of United States troops to remain in the country until at least 2024... Afghan and American officials said that they hoped to sign the pact before the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan in December. Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai agreed last week to escalate the negotiations and their national security advisers will meet in Washington in September... "
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8712701/US-troops-may-stay-in-Afghanistan-until-2024.html

2011-08-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

$360 MILLION LOST TO TALIBAN

"... the U.S military estimates $360 million in U.S. tax dollars has ended up in the hands of... the Taliban, criminals and power brokers with ties to both... payments from the U.S. pass through companies hired by the military for transportation, construction, power projects, fuel and other services to businesses and individuals with ties to the insurgency or criminal networks..."
http://news.yahoo.com/360m-lost-insurgents-criminals-afghanistan-150450640.html

2011-08-16T14:57:00.001-07:00

TRUE COST OF WAR

"... Congress has allotted $1.3 trillion for war spending through fiscal year 2011 just to the Defense Department... the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq... and their ripple effects have cost the United States $3.7 trillion, or more than $12,000 per American... "
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/08/15/120758/true-cost-of-afghan-iraq-wars.html

2011-08-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

EFFECT OF DRONE STRIKES

"... far more civilians are being injured or dying than the Americans and Pakistanis admit... the strikes not only kill the innocent but injure untold numbers and radicalise the population. "There are just pieces of flesh lying around after a strike. You can't find bodies. So the locals pick up the flesh and curse America. They say that America is killing us inside our own country, inside our own homes, and only because we are Muslims. The youth in the area surrounding a strike gets crazed. Hatred builds up inside those who have seen a drone attack. The Americans think it is working, but the damage they're doing is far greater."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/17/us-drone-strikes-pakistan-waziristan

2011-08-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

U.S. TO KEEP CONTROL OF PARWAN PRISON

"The United States will remain in control of Afghanistan’s highest-profile prison well beyond January 2012, missing a key milestone in the plan to transfer judicial and detention operations to Afghans... over the past three years, the number of detainees has tripled. Parwan now holds 2,600 inmates... the Taliban has successfully used the prison for propaganda to galvanize insurgents, drawing on reports of harsh interrogation methods... U.S. officials decided that the Afghan legal system is still too weak to permit the hand-over of the Parwan Detention Center, even after the United States spent millions attempting to improve the country’s judiciary... U.S. officials say that giving Afghans control over the fates of suspected insurgents would allow dangerous Taliban fighters to slip through the cracks of an undeveloped legal system..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-prison-transfer-delayed/2011/08/12/gIQApCGMBJ_story.html?hpid=z2

2011-07-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

AFGHAN GUARD KILLS 2 NATO PERSONNEL

"An Afghan guard opened fire at a NATO-escorted reconstruction convoy... killing a service member and a civilian working for the coalition.. (the guard) worked as a bodyguard for the second-ranking official in Afghanistan's intelligence service — Gen. Assam Din Assam, the deputy director for National Directorate for Security..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2011-07-09-afghanistan-nato-troops-killed_n.htm

2011-07-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

U.S. SURGE FAILING, PEACE DEAL NEEDED

"... a new quarterly report from the United Nations... (shows) the American troop surge appears to be dangerously close to flunking... violence is up 51 percent since this time last year... Compared to the spring of 2010, civilian deaths and injuries are up 20 percent, with 1,090 dead and 1,860 wounded. Over 435,000 Afghans are displaced by the war, a 4 percent rise... the U.S. military’s biggest effort to rescue Afghanistan — the troop surge — failed. Now that the surge is ending, the best the U.S. can do is hope that drones, commando raids, trained Afghan soldiers and some sort of peace deal can end the war."
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/07/u-n-report-shreds-militarys-claim-of-afghanistan-progress/

2011-06-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

U. S. HAS LOST THE AFGHANISTAN WAR

"... the United States has lost the ten-year Afghan conflict, its longest war. Afghanistan remains the “graveyard of empires.” The US has failed to install an obedient regime in Kabul that controls Afghanistan. It has made foes of the Pashtun majority, and, in pursuing this war, gravely undermined Pakistan... America, for all its B-1 heavy bombers, strike fighters, missiles, helicopter gunships and drones, armor, super electronics, spies in the sky and all the other high tech weapons of modern war has failed to defeat some 30,000 tribal fighters with nothing more than small arms and legendary valor. The US has lost the all important military initiative in Afghanistan. It may linger there, but it cannot win."
http://www.ericmargolis.com/political_commentaries/a-real-pullout-or-a-shell-game.aspx

2011-06-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

KARZAI CONFIRMS PEACE TALKS

"President Hamid Karzai acknowledged that the U.S. and Afghan governments have held talks with Taliban emissaries in a bid to end the nation's nearly 10-year war..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-06-18-karzai-taliban-us_n.htm

KARZAI SAYS U.S. USING AFGHANISTAN

"... Much of Mr. Karzai’s speech, an address to the Afghanistan Youth International Conference, was devoted to broad criticisms of coalition forces in Afghanistan, saying their motives were suspect and their weapons were polluting his country... “They’re here for their own purposes, for their own goals, and they’re using our soil for that,” Mr. Karzai said..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/world/asia/19afghanistan.html?_r=2

2011-06-14T04:16:00.000-07:00

U.S. IN SECRET TALKS ON STAYING FOR DECADES

"American and Afghan officials are locked in increasingly acrimonious secret talks about a long-term security agreement which is likely to see US troops, spies and air power based in the troubled country for decades..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/13-8

2011-05-30T04:25:00.000-07:00

U.S. STRIKE KILLS 14 CIVILIANS

"... 10 children, two women and two men were killed in a strike in the southern province of Helmand... President Hamid Karza... said such operations amounted to the "murdering of Afghanistan's children and women"... scolded the US military for "arbitrary and unnecessary" missions that kill Afghan civilians, saying it was his last warning on the issue...".
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110529/ts_afp/afghanistanunrestcivilians

2011-05-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

U. S. MISSION IN AFGHANISTAN WAR NOW OBSOLETE

"... The world's most important terrorist safe haven is visibly not Afghanistan, but instead next-door Pakistan. (And) Because the U.S. presence in Afghanistan requires cooperation from Pakistan, the Afghanistan mission perversely inhibits the United States from taking more decisive action against Pakistan's harboring of terrorism..."

"The less committed we are to Afghanistan, the more independent we are of Pakistan. The more independent we are of Pakistan, the more leverage we have over Pakistan. The more leverage we have over Pakistan, the more clout we have to shut down Pakistan's long, vicious, and now not credibly deniable state support for terrorism."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/09/frum.pakistan.trap/index.html?iphoneemail

2011-05-08T10:13:00.000-07:00

BIN LADEN -- WE ENABLED ONE MAN TO COST U.S. $3 TRILLION

"... bin Laden cost the United States at least $3 trillion over the past 15 years, counting the disruptions he wrought on the domestic economy, the wars and heightened security triggered by the terrorist attacks he engineered, and the direct efforts to hunt him down... What do we have to show for that tab? Two wars that continue to occupy 150,000 troops and tie up a quarter of our defense budget; a bloated homeland-security apparatus that has at times pushed the bounds of civil liberty; soaring oil prices partially attributable to the global war on bin Laden's terrorist network; and a chunk of our mounting national debt, which threatens to hobble the economy..."

"The... expense we can attribute to bin Laden comes from policymakers' response to 9/11. The invasion of Afghanistan was clearly a reaction to al-Qaida's attacks. It is unlikely that the Bush administration would have invaded Iraq if 9/11 had not ushered in a debate about Islamic extremism and weapons of mass destruction. Those two wars grew into a comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign that cost $1.4 trillion in the past decade—and will cost hundreds of billions more. The government borrowed the money for those wars, adding hundreds of billions in interest charges to the U.S. debt..."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclusive/20110506/pl_yblog_exclusive/the-cost-of-bin-laden-3-trillion-over-15-years

2011-05-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

EXPENSIVE HIGHWAY, FUNDS FUNNELED TO TALIBAN

"... the Gardez-Khost Highway... The 64-mile highway, which has yet to be completed, has cost about $121 million so far, with the final price tag expected to reach $176 million — or about $2.8 million a mile ... Security alone has cost $43.5 million so far... Despite the expense, a stretch of the highway completed just six months ago is already falling apart and remains treacherous. The unfinished portion runs through Taliban territory, raising questions about how it can be completed. Cost overruns are already more than 100 percent... the failures have financed the very insurgents that NATO and Afghan forces are struggling to defeat. Some American officials and contractors involved in the project suspect that at least some of the money... made its way to the Haqqani group, a particularly brutal offshoot of the Taliban..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/world/asia/01road.html?_r=1

2011-04-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

AFGHAN OFFICER KILLS 8 AMERICAN TROOPS

"Eight American troops and a U.S. contractor died Wednesday after an Afghan military pilot opened fire during a meeting at Kabul airport... He served his country for years. He loved his people and his country. He had no link with Taliban or al-Qaeda... It was the seventh time so far this year that members of the Afghan security forces, or insurgents impersonating them, have killed coalition soldiers or members of the Afghan security forces..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-04-27-afghanistan-attack_n.htm?csp=usat.me

2011-03-09T04:03:00.000-08:00

FAILING IN AFGHANISTAN

"Despite hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of troops, the US is unable to conclude its longest war... hard news from the ground tell a story of US fatigue, backtracking and tactical withdrawals or redeployments which do not bode well for defeating the Taliban or forcing them to the negotiations' table... news from the war front show the Taliban unrelenting, mounting counterattacks and escalating the war especially in areas where the US has "surged" its troops. And while the majority of the 400 Afghan districts are "calmer", they remain mostly out of Kabul's control... The mere fact that the world's mightiest superpower cannot win over the poorly armed Taliban after a long decade of fighting, means it has already failed..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/20113718714585594.html#

2011-03-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

KARZAI REJECTS U.S. APOLOGY FOR KILLING 9 BOYS

"... Hamid Karzai told Gen. David Petraeus... that expressing regret was not sufficient in last week's killing of the boys, ages 12 and under, by coalition helicopters... Regrets and condemnations of the incident cannot heal the wounds of the people..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/06/karzai-rejects-us-apology-afghanistan-boys-killed_n_831972.html

2011-03-02T06:38:00.000-08:00

NATO APOLOGIZES FOR KILLING 9 CHILDREN

" NATO has apologized for killing nine civilians in Kunar province... nine boys, ages 12 and under, were killed as they were gathering firewood... four of the nine boys killed were age 7, three were age 8, one was nine years old and one was 12. Also, one child was wounded..."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/03/02/world/asia/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html?hp

2011-03-02T05:57:00.000-08:00

WAR MONEY NEEDED BY STATES

"The U.S. is spending about $2 billion a week in Afghanistan alone. That’s about $104 billion a year — and that is not including Iraq. Compare that with the state budget shortfalls. According to a recent report by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “some 45 states and the District of Columbia are projecting budget shortfalls totaling $125 billion for fiscal year 2012.” The math is simple: The money should be poured back into the states, rather than into a state of war..."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_battle_of_the_budgets_new_fronts_in_the_afghan_and_iraq_wars_20110301/

2011-02-24T16:28:00.000-08:00

U.S. USED PSY-OPS ON LAWMAKERS VISTING AFGHANISTAN

"... military personnel deployed to win Afghan hearts and minds were instructed over their own objections to carry out “psychological operations” to help convince visiting members of Congress to increase support for the training mission there... Psychological operations and deception... are understood as being aimed at adversarial or neutral audiences — not at Americans."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/world/asia/25military.html

2011-02-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

PETRAEUS: AFGHANS BURNED THEIR OWN CHILDREN

"To the shock of President Hamid Karzai's aides, Gen. David H. Petraeus suggested Sunday at the presidential palace that Afghans caught up in a coalition attack in northeastern Afghanistan might have burned their own children to exaggerate claims of civilian casualties... (Petraeus is quoted as saying) that in the midst of the [operation] some pro-Taliban parents in contact with a government official decided to create a civilian casualty claim to pressure international forces to cease the [operation]. They burned hands and legs of some of their children and sent them to the hospital."

"... U.S. and Afghan officials are investigating what happened during the three- to four-day operation in the mountains of Ghaziabad district... U.S. military officials said there is no evidence that civilians died. The governor of Konar, Fazlullah Wahidi, disagreed, citing reports from villagers that dozens of women and children perished. Karzai's office placed the civilian death toll at 50..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/21/AR2011022104514.html

2011-02-20T15:17:00.000-08:00

NATO KILLS 22 WOMEN AND 26 YOUNG BOYS

"The governor of Afghanistan's Kunar province said Sunday that 64 people, including some civilians, were killed in a joint operation by NATO's International Security Assistance Force and Afghan security forces over the past few days.... the dead included 16 insurgents, 22 women, and 26 young boys..."
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/02/20/afghanistan.civilians.killed/index.html?iphoneemail

2011-01-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

DID CONGRESS APPROVE THIS LONGEST WAR?

"Obama... doesn't assert that the constitution gives him the unilateral power to make war and peace. Nevertheless... Obama is not simply winding up a war he did not start; he has expanded it – bringing in more troops than ever before. Meanwhile, Congress is nowhere to be found.

"... almost all the insurgent leaders... are in the tribal areas of Pakistan, not Afghanistan. Is this really the basis of Obama's right to determine the future conduct of America's longest war?... When Congress responded to the tragedy of the twin towers, it was authorising a limited war in Afghanistan – not a 100-year struggle against terrorism-in-all-its-forms. By pretending otherwise, we are speeding down a slippery slope that cuts future Congresses out of all serious participation in the big decisions on war and peace..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/27/afghanistan-congress

2011-01-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

MONEY FOR AFGHAN SECURITY FACILITIES AT RISK OF WASTE

"... the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction concluded that the... United States is at risk of wasting roughly $11.4 billion unless it comes up with a plan for constructing and maintaining nearly 900 Afghan National Security Forces facilities... the money is "at risk" because of "inadequate planning" and the lack of a "long-range construction plan" for the facilities... (the investigation began because) the NATO mission in Afghanistan was unable to provide documents "describing the size, location or use of Afghan National Security Force facilities, such as Afghan National Army garrisons."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/27/sigar-afghan-aid-security-waste_n_814733.html

2011-01-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

BASE CONSTRUCTION PROBLEMS DELAY NATO WITHDRAWAL

"... Building Afghanistan's security forces almost from scratch is the cornerstone of allied plans for a gradual withdrawal from the country.... (but) hundreds of new Afghan outposts, barracks and garrisons are "seriously behind schedule, making it doubtful that the construction efforts would keep pace with recruitment and training." Of 884 projects for completion over the next two years, only 133 are finished. Another 78 are under way, but 673 have not begun... Poor planning, weak management and corruption were behind the delays..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8281330/Plans-for-Nato-withdrawal-could-be-hit-by-base-construction-delays.html

2011-01-27T13:42:00.000-08:00

WAR IN AFGHANISTAN UNWINNABLE

"... the Obama administration has to decide what 'winning' is. If winning is denying al-Qaeda to Afghanistan, we have won. That's according to the CIA, which says no more than 50 al-Qaeda are ever in Afghanistan.

"If it's defeating the Taliban, then we need to know who the Taliban is. The CIA estimates there are 17,000 Afghan Taliban, mostly farmers who get paid $10 a day to shoot at U.S. and NATO forces. In opposition to the 17,000 'Taliban' are 550,000 international and Afghan personnel working to provide security in Afghanistan—100,000 U.S. military, 40,000 NATO, 60,000 U.S. contractors, 175,000 Afghan National Army, 175,000 Afghan National police. If it is a military 'win' the U.S. is looking for, then with that overwhelming number challenging the Taliban, we have to be winning—and if we're not, why?

"The answer is that there is no military solution, as expressed by virtually all the leaders of the countries that have been a part of the international coalition—except U.S. leaders..."

--Retired Colonel Ann Wright Discusses Why the War in Afghanistan is Unwinnable, Maui Times, January 19, 2011
http://www.mauitime.com/Articles-i-2011-01-20-75645.113117-Retired-Colonel-Ann-Wright-Discusses-Why-the-War-in-Afghanistan-is-Unwinnable.html

2010-12-27T04:10:00.000-08:00

SECURITY IN AFGHANISTAN DETERIORATED IN PAST YEAR

"Confidential UN maps show a clear deterioration in security in parts of Afghanistan this year... highlight a particular decline in parts of the north and east... in the provinces of Badghis, Sari Pul, Balkh, Parwan, Baghlan, Samangan, Faryab, Laghman and Takhar..."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101227/tap-afghanistan-unrest-un-eea7cf4.html

2010-12-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

PENTAGON IGNORES GLOOMY WAR VIEW

"... the most recent National Intelligence Estimates reports... warn that large swathes of Afghanistan are at risk of falling to the Taliban. The latest NIE report, a consensus view of America's 16 intelligence agencies, concludes that the US cannot succeed in Afghanistan while Pakistan remains unwilling or unable to shut down militant safe havens in its territory or end covert support for the Afghan Taliban. The contradiction has set the US intelligence community on a collision course with the Pentagon, which was working overtime yesterday to discredit the NIE report..."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/pentagon-ignores-gloomy-war-view/story-e6frg6so-1225971734981

2010-12-18T10:36:00.000-08:00

NIE National Intelligence Estimate Gives Negative View of War

"... reports, called National Intelligence Estimates, represent the consensus view of the United States’ 16 intelligence agencies, as opposed to the military... (and) offer a more negative assessment... (saying) there is a limited chance of success unless Pakistan hunts down insurgents operating from havens on its Afghan border..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/world/asia/15policy.html?_r=1

2010-11-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

OTHER INCIDENTS OF AFGAN FORCES KILLING NATO TROOPS

"... NATO is investigating an incident in which two U.S. Marines were killed earlier this month in southern Helmand province, allegedly at the hands of an Afghan army soldier. On July 20, an Afghan army sergeant got into an argument at a shooting range in northern Afghanistan and shot dead two American civilian trainers before being killed... In a July 13 attack, an Afghan soldier stationed in the south killed three British troopers, including the company commander, with gunfire and a rocket-propelled grenade in the middle of the night. Also, in November 2009, an Afghan policeman killed five British soldiers at a checkpoint in Helmand. A month earlier, an Afghan policeman on patrol with U.S. soldiers fired on the Americans, killing two..."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/11/29/world/asia/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html?_r=2

AFGHAN POLICE OFFICER KILLS 6 NATO TROOPS

"An Afghan border police officer opened fire on NATO troops... killing six... the latest in a series of shootouts in which Afghan security forces have turned on their NATO partners... the Afghan Interior Ministry.. confirmed that the gunman was a border police officer, rather than an insurgent who had donned the uniform to infiltrate government forces..."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/11/29/world/asia/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html?_r=2

2010-11-25T13:29:00.000-08:00

AFGHANISTAN VIOLENCE AT ALL TIME HIGH
Taliban emboldened by NATO departure date

"Violence in Afghanistan has reached an all-time high, with clashes up fourfold since 2007... the Pentagon attributed much of the increase in violence to the growth in the coalition force after US President Barack Obama's escalation this year... Approximately 97,000 US troops and 48,800 troops from other countries are in Afghanistan at present... the US defence department is suggesting the strategy of American, British and other politicians is the cause of the Taliban's success... America would deny it is going to leave... but a handover by collation forces in four years' time is exactly what was agreed at the Nato summit last weekend."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11825294

2010-11-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

BLEAK PICTURE OF KANDAHAR CAMPAIGN

"... the military's purported gains in the southern war zone do not align with the bleak picture painted by most sources on the ground... reports from journalists embedded with troops in the field are at variance with the official assertions. Most describe a stalemate at best, or even describe the Taliban as having the initiative. Aid organizations, meanwhile, note that civilian casualties in Kandahar are at an all-time high. Thousands have fled their homes en masse. Development projects are at a near standstill..."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2030184,00.html

2010-11-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

U.S. CAN'T ACCOUNT FOR BILLIONS BUSH SPENT IN AFGHANISTAN

"The U.S. government knows it's awarded nearly $18 billion in contracts for rebuilding Afghanistan over the last three years, but it can't account for spending before 2007... The finding raises doubts about whether the U.S. government ever will determine whether taxpayers' money was spent wisely in Afghanistan..."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/27/102724/us-cant-untangle-billions-sent.html

2010-11-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

$511 MILLION EXPANSION OF KABUL EMBASSY

"The U.S. government will spend $511 million to expand its embassy in Kabul... as a demonstration of America's long-term commitment to Afghanistan..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/11/03-5

2010-11-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

IRAN CONCERNED OVER HUMAN RIGHTS IN U.S.

"... Police brutality, the mistreatment of prisoners, inmates’ problems in gaining access to lawyers, illegal detentions, discrimination toward minorities, and insults directed toward the sanctities of religions under the pretext of “freedom of speech” are examples of human rights violations in the United States, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman stated...

"... there were 45 executions in the United States in 2009... 2,574 prisoners serving sentences of life without the possibility of parole for crimes committed when they were under age 18... (and) the incarcerated population had reached an all-time high of nearly 2.4 million. The United States continues to have both the largest incarcerated population and the highest incarceration rate in the world..."

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=229665

2010-11-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

AFGHAN POLICE UNIT DEFECTS TO TALIBAN

"In Khogeyani, a volatile area southwest of the capital, the entire police force... defected to the Taliban side... 19 officers vanished, as did their guns, trucks, uniforms and food... A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the Afghan officers decided to defect after “learning the facts about the Taliban.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/world/asia/02afghan.html?_r=1&ref=world

2010-10-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

U.S. BUILDING UP AFGHAN BASES FOR LONG HAUL

"Military construction projects scheduled for completion over the next 12 months will deliver 4 new runways, ramp space for 8 C−17 transports, and parking for 50 helicopters and 24 close air support and 26 intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft... Construction and expansion work at bases... including the mega-bases at Bagram and Kandahar, is ongoing, often at a startling pace. The Army, for example, has indicated it plans to build a 24,000 square-foot, $10-million command-and-control facility as well as a “Joint Defense Operations Center” with supporting amenities... at Bagram Air Base. At bustling Kandahar Air Field... a $28.5 million deal for the construction of an outdoor shelter for fighter aircraft, as well as new operations and maintenance facilities and more apron space... Additional minor construction plans called for the construction of over 12 new FOBs and expansion of 18 existing FOBs... construction was slated to begin on at least three $100 million base projects, including FOB Dwyer, that were not “expected to be completed until the latter half of 2011... (and) the Army sought bids from contractors willing to supply power plants and supporting fuel systems at forward operating bases in Afghanistan for up to five years..."

"The documents reveal plans for large-scale, expensive Afghan base expansions of every sort and a military that is expecting to pursue its building boom without letup well into the future. These facts-on-the-ground indicate that, whatever timelines for phased withdrawal may be issued in Washington, the U.S. military is focused on building up, not drawing down, in Afghanistan..."

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175310/tomgram%3A_nick_turse%2C_base_desires_in_afghanistan/#more

2010-10-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

U. S. IN PEACE TALKS WITH TALIBAN

"The United States is helping senior Taliban leaders attend initial peace talks with the Afghan government in Kabul... the American public at some point might have to swallow the idea of reconciliation with the Taliban to achieve peace in Afghanistan... Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, appearing before reporters with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a NATO conference... (said) “We have always acknowledged that reconciliation has to be part of the solution in Afghanistan, and we will do whatever we can to support this process.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/world/asia/15nato.html?_r=2

2010-10-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

AFGHAN INSURGENCY GAINING STRENGTH

"The insurgency in Afghanistan is gaining strength... some districts in northern provinces are in danger of slipping beyond control... insurgents are now operating advanced administrations in the south and east..."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/10/15/afghanistan.report/index.html?iphoneemail

2010-10-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

U.S. PAYING TALIBAN TO GUARD BASES

"Afghan private security forces with ties to the Taliban, criminal networks and Iranian intelligence have been hired to guard American military bases in Afghanistan... Providing contracts to local militia leaders with ties to the Taliban “gives these warlords an independent funding source... And it gives them a feeling of impunity.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/world/asia/08contractor.html?_r=2

2010-10-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

CONVOY DAMAGE UNDER-REPORTED

"Attackers... in northwestern Pakistan struck a NATO convoy carrying fuel to Afghanistan... The attack... damaged many more vehicles than previously reported... Initially, authorities had said 17 oil tankers and four containers were set ablaze... (but) Fifty-four oil tankers and containers were damaged... Taliban says it has a special squad to attack NATO supply efforts..."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/10/07/pakistan.supply.route/index.html?iphoneemail

2010-10-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

TALIBAN AND KARZAI IN TALKS TO END WAR

"Secret talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan have begun between representatives of the Taliban and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai... a comprehensive agreement that would include participation of some Taliban figures in the government and the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops... a spokesman for Karzai denied that President Obama's stated goal of beginning to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan in July 2011, if conditions allow, spurred the Afghan government to set up the council or reach out to the Taliban."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/afghanistan/2010-10-06-taliban-government-war-talks_N.htm?csp=usat.me

2010-09-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

QURAN BURNING EFFECT ON AFGHANISTAN
Support the troops, burn a Quran

"... a hundred or so demonstrators gathered outside a US military base at Mirwais in southern Afghanistan on hearing that there had been a ritual Quran-burning inside the base. In fact, it had been a routine pit burn of documents. At one point in the rally, a demonstrator raised an AK-47 toward a base tower guard, and was shot... there have been several such demonstrations in Afghanistan, and hard line Muslim fundamentalists have used their cover to tear down the campaign posters of the liberal or female candidates for seats in parliament... The anti-Muslim bigots in the US who provoked all this trouble with their Nazi-like threats of book-burning (some of which have been followed through on) did US troops in Afghanistan no favors. I think the growing urban legend in Afghanistan that virtually all Americans enjoy a good Quran barbecue regularly and that it is a central ritual on US military bases is a real psy-ops threat to US counter-insurgency efforts..."
http://www.juancole.com/2010/09/demonstration-outside-us-base-in-afghanistan-against-quran-burning-turns-violent.html

2010-09-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

U.S. TAXPAYERS LIKELY TO BAIL OUT FAILED KABUL BANK

"... Da Kabul Bank, among the country’s biggest such institutions, has been taken over by the Afghanistan government in the face of a persistent run on it by frightened depositors. The bank has huge debts and has been being run like a private fief. The central bank had earlier denied that it would take over the troubled Kabul Bank. But the government pays government and military salaries through it, and could not easily lose it, or risk that its failure would lead to a collapse of the country’s entire financial sector, with massive runs on other banks. The central bank’s takeover makes it most likely that American taxpayers will bail out the Kabul Bank, which had been used by a clique around Karzai to buy up real estate (some of it now worthless) in Dubai..."
http://www.juancole.com/2010/09/1-dead-45-wounded-in-kabul-anti-american-protest-kabul-bank-taken-over-by-government.html

2010-09-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

SECURITY IN AFGHANISTAN DETERIORATING

"Afghanistan is more dangerous than it has ever been during this war, with security deteriorating in recent months... Large parts of the country that were once completely safe, like most of the northern provinces, now have a substantial Taliban presence... Unarmed government employees can no longer travel safely in 30 percent of the country’s 368 districts... and there are districts deemed too dangerous to visit in all but one of the country’s 34 provinces... With one attack after another, the Taliban and their insurgent allies have degraded security in almost every part of the country... The Afghan N.G.O. Safety Office says that by almost every metric it has, Afghanistan is more dangerous now than at any time since 2001..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/world/asia/12afghan.html?_r=2

2010-09-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

US SOLDIERS KILLED CIVILIANS, COLLECTED FINGERS

"Twelve American soldiers... members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan... face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies... They face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/09/us-soldiers-afghan-civilians-fingers

2010-08-19T05:38:00.000-07:00

RUSSIAN BUSINESS DEALS IN AFGHANISTAN

"... Russia has already begun a broad push into Afghan deal-making, negotiating to refurbish more than 140 Soviet-era installations, like hydroelectric stations, bridges, wells and irrigation systems, in deals that could be worth more than $1 billion. A Russian helicopter company, Vertikal-T, has contracts with NATO and the Afghan government to fly Mi-26 heavy-lift helicopters throughout the country..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/world/europe/19russia.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fworld%2Fasia%2Findex.jsonp

2010-08-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

KARZAI BANS PRIVATE SECURITY FIRMS

"Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has given private security firms working in Afghanistan four months to end their operations... saying they undermine government security forces... more than 50 private security companies, roughly half of them Afghan and the other half international, employ 30,000 to 40,000 armed personnel in Afghanistan... the conduct of private security personnel had caused "a lot of uproar among the Afghan population".
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/08/2010816104813959499.html

2010-08-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

U.S. SUPERSIZES BAGRAM BASE BEFORE WITHDRAWAL

"BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — Anyone who thinks the United States is really going to withdraw from Afghanistan in July 2011 needs to come to this giant air base an hour away from Kabul. There’s construction everywhere. It’s exactly what you wouldn’t expect from a transient presence.... But two years ago there were about 18,000 troops and contractors living here. Now that figure is north of 30,000, all for a logistics hub and command post that the United States didn’t ever imagine possessing before 9/11.
In 2011, the U.S. military probably won’t be thinking about turning over the keys to a new, huge base. It’ll be thinking about how it can finish up the construction contracts it signed months ago -– if not some it’s yet to ink."
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08/u-s-afghan-mega-base/

2010-08-04T05:20:00.000-07:00

PAKISTAN SAYS NATO LOSING WAR IN AFGHANISTAN

"Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said on Tuesday the international community was losing the war against the Afghan Taliban... Zardari gave a stark assessment of the nine-year Afghanistan war, and said the West was to blame for failing to win the support of ordinary Afghans..."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6721R820100803

2010-07-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

TALIBAN CAPTURE NATO PLANE

"Taliban militants captured a NATO plane in Kunduz province... An official with NATO-led forces in Kunduz province also confirmed the incident. "A reconnaissance UAD plane made emergency landing in Yangariq area of Qalai Zal district"...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-07/28/c_13419226.htm

2010-07-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

PAKISTAN HELPING TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN

"... Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, the country's spy service, has been holding strategy sessions with Taliban leaders to aid their efforts in Afghanistan..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/07/20107265854311217.html

2010-07-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

U.S. ATTACK KILLS OVER 45 CIVILIANS

"A rocket attack on a village in... Sangin district in the southern province of Helmand last week killed at least 45 civilians, including women and children... men, women and children fled to Regey village and were fired on from helicopter gunships as they took cover..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/07/2010726132052786267.html

2010-07-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

LEAKED FILES EXPOSE TRUTH OF OCCUPATION

"A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency...
The war logs also detail:
• How a secret "black" unit of special forces hunts down Taliban leaders for "kill or capture" without trial.
• How the US covered up evidence that the Taliban have acquired deadly surface-to-air missiles.
• How the coalition is increasingly using deadly Reaper drones to hunt and kill Taliban targets by remote control from a base in Nevada.
• How the Taliban have caused growing carnage with a massive escalation of their roadside bombing campaign, which has killed more than 2,000 civilians to date...
Most of the material, though classified "secret" at the time, is no longer militarily sensitive..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/afghanistan-war-logs-military-leaks

LEAKED FILES SHOW TALIBAN HAVE STINGERS

"The reports ... shed light on some elements of the war that have been largely hidden from the public eye:
• The Taliban have used portable heat-seeking missiles against allied aircraft, a fact that has not been publicly disclosed by the military. This type of weapon helped the Afghan mujahedeen defeat the Soviet occupation in the 1980s...
The documents... show that the American military made misleading public statements — attributing the downing of a helicopter to conventional weapons instead of heat-seeking missiles.."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/asia/26warlogs.html?no_interstitial

2010-07-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

AFGHAN SOLDIER KILLS U.S. TRAINERS

"An Afghan soldier opened fire on U.S. civilian trainers at an army base in northern Afghanistan, killing two Americans and another Afghan troop... An argument started during a weapons-training exercise and the Afghan soldier turned his gun on the Americans... The shooter was a "group leader" — an Afghan soldier selected to train other soldiers on the base..."
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2005386,00.html

2010-07-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

NATO SAYS TROOPS WILL ALWAYS STAY IN AFGHANISTAN

"... the secretary general of Nato warned... that coalition troops would stay in the country even after Afghan troops had taken complete control of security... when the full transition finally happened, "international forces won't leave, they will simply move into a supportive role".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/20/afghanistan-troops-no-quick-exit

2010-07-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

U.S. KANDAHAR BUILD-UP WILL STRENGTHEN TALIBAN

"... the Afghanistan NGO Security Office, which monitors trends in violence on behalf of aid organisations, said... The US military build-up in Kandahar is likely to further strengthen the hold of the Taliban over the vital southern Afghanistan city... Nato's counter-insurgency strategy was not showing any signs of succeeding amid rising violence, the unchecked establishment of local militias and a huge increase in attacks on private development workers across the country."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/us-military-buildup-in-ka_n_651825.html

2010-07-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

AFGHAN SOLDIER KILLS NATO TROOPS

"A member of the Afghan National Army opened fire on a group of British soldiers yesterday, killing three and wounding four others. The attack occurred on a NATO base outside of Kandahar when the soldier opened fire with a machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade launcher before fleeing...

"... there have been numerous attacks by ANA soldiers against NATO troops. In December 2009 an Afghan soldier shot and killed a US soldier and wounded two Italian soldiers on a joint-NATO/Afghan base in Badghis Province. A month earlier, an Afghan policeman “possibly in conjunction with another” killed five British troops at a checkpoint in Helmand Province..."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/07/14-8

2010-06-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

PAKISTAN TO BROKER TALIBAN PEACE DEAL WITHOUT U.S.

"Pakistan is exploiting the troubled U.S. military effort in Afghanistan to drive home a political settlement with Afghanistan... offering to broker a deal with the Taliban leadership... that would give Pakistan important influence there but is likely to undermine US interests... Pakistan is presenting itself as the new viable partner for Afghanistan to President Hamid Karzai, who has soured on the Americans... (which) heightens the risk that the U.S. will find itself cut out of what amounts to a separate peace between the Afghans and Pakistanis, and one that does not necessarily guarantee Washington’s prime objective in the war: denying Al Qaeda a haven... The dismissal of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal will almost certainly embolden the Pakistanis in their plan as they detect increasing American uncertainty..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/world/asia/25islamabad.html

2010-06-21T18:28:00.001-07:00

TIMES SQUARE BOMBER PLEADS GUILTY 100 TIMES

"... He said he wanted "to plead guilty and 100 times more" to let the U.S. know that if it did not get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, halt drone attacks and stop meddling in Muslim lands, "we will be attacking U.S."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_times_square_car_bomb

2010-06-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

KARZAI GIVES JAPAN PRIORITY TO ACCESS MINES

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai said this week that Japan -- not the U.S. -- takes priority over other nations when it comes to mining his country's vast mineral deposits.... He pointed to Japan's status as Afghanistan's second-biggest donor, and reasoned that Japan should enjoy special access to Afghan resources with estimated values that range from $1-3 trillion dollars. "Morally, Afghanistan should give access as a priority to those countries that have helped Afghanistan massively in the past few years," Karzai told the institute. "What . . . we have to reciprocate with is this opportunity of mineral resources, that we must return at the goodwill of the Japanese people by giving Japan priority to come and explore and extract," Karzai said."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/20/japan-has-priority-on-rig_n_618545.html

2010-06-14T04:11:00.000-07:00

AFGHAN MINERAL WEALTH

June 2010
U.S. DISCOVERS MINERALS IN AFGHANISTAN

"The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan... including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium... Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world... The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?hp

December 2009
U.S. FIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN WHILE CHINA INVESTS IN MINES

"... the China Metallurgical Group Corporation, a Chinese state-owned conglomerate, bid $3.4 billion... for the rights to mine deposits near the village of Aynak. Over the next 25 years, it plans to extract about 11 million tons of copper — an amount equal to one-third of all the known copper reserves in China... In a single move, Beijing strengthened its hold on a vital resource, engineered the single largest investment in Afghan history, promised to create thousands of new Afghan jobs and established itself as the Afghan government’s pre-eminent business partner and single largest source of tax payments... While the United States spends hundreds of billions of dollars fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda here, China is securing raw material for its voracious economy. The world’s superpower is focused on security. Its fastest rising competitor concentrates on commerce..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/world/asia/30mine.html?_r=2&sudsredirect=true

2010-06-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

PAKISTAN SUPPORT OF TALIBAN UNDERMINES U.S. IN AFGHANISTAN

"Pakistan's main spy agency continues to arm and train the Taliban and is even represented on the group's leadership council despite U.S. pressure to sever ties and billions in aid to combat the militants... (This) could heighten tension between the two countries and raise further questions about U.S. success in Afghanistan since Pakistani cooperation is seen as key to defeating the Taliban..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_pakistan

2010-06-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

KARZAI DOUBTS U.S. CAN WIN AGAINST TALIBAN
Is negotiating with Taliban

"... Karzai had lost faith in the Americans and NATO to prevail in Afghanistan... Karzai has been pressing to strike his own deal with the Taliban and the country’s archrival, Pakistan, the Taliban’s longtime supporter... Karzai’s maneuverings involve secret negotiations with the Taliban outside the purview of American and NATO officials..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/world/asia/12karzai.html?hp

2010-06-11T04:49:00.000-07:00

BRITISH P.M. AFRAID TO VISIT BASE
Anglo-American campaign in Helmand was unsuccessful

"British Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to abandon a planned visit to a military base in Helmand, Afghanistan during his trip to that country because of fears that the Taliban might attempt to shoot rocket propelled grenades at his helicopter. It is always a bad sign when the imperial leader cannot safely visit the outskirts of the empire. The incident underlined that the Anglo-American campaign in Helmand this winter did not in fact defeat the insurgents in the area... the Taliban have come back strong in the past two weeks...."
http://www.juancole.com/2010/06/cameron-plans-changed-by-rpg-threat-taliban-resurge-in-helmand.html

2010-06-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

KARZAI HAS LOST FAITH IN U.S. STRATEGY

"... President Hamid Karzai has lost faith in the US strategy in Afghanistan and is increasingly looking to Pakistan to end the insurgency... because Karzai believes Nato is unable to deal with insurgent sanctuaries on the eastern border, he is looking for an alternative strategy: rather than use western support to "harden" Afghanistan against its neighbour, he is instead striking a less robust attitude to Pakistan and the Taliban..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/09/afghanistan-taliban-us-hamid-karzai

2010-05-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

PENTAGON DOUBTS McCHRYSTAL WAR PLAN
McChrystal hopes for extension past mid-2011

"Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's plan for wresting the Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar from the Taliban... have raised serious doubts among top military officials in Washington about whether the plan is going to work... even more serious concerns are being expressed behind the scenes... The key finding is that the Taliban have "reinfiltrated the cleared areas" of Helmand and "dissuaded locals from meeting with the Afghan government" by executing some who had initially collaborated. The overall negative tone of the analysis of what happened in Helmand appears to reflect a decision by Pentagon officials to withhold its vote of confidence in the McChrystal war plan...

"McChrystal's staff has made no secret of their hope to convince the U.S. public that his strategy... should be extended past mid-2011, when President Obama has said he would begin a U.S. military withdrawal and transition to Afghan responsibility for security..."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51376

2010-04-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

SIXTEEN NATO OIL TANKERS BURNED
Afghan Army helps burn them

"... Around 1,000 people Sunday poured onto the streets against the killing of three members of a family in a coalition operation in the central province of Logar, the second demonstration against US troops in two days. The angry residents, chanting slogans against the United States and the provincial administration, blocked the Logar-Gardez highway in the Nasir village near Pul-i-Alam and burnt 16 tankers carrying fuel for NATO-led forces... Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were part of the raiding party..."
http://www.outlookafghanistan.net/news_Pages/Main%20news3.html#01

2010-04-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

NATO AGREES ON TRANSFER OF AFGHANISTAN
Corruption will be tolerated

"Nato has agreed on its long-awaited road map for the future of Afghanistan... an area will be deemed ready for transfer if serious violence has been in abeyance for a period of time, if there is access to power by different ethnic and tribal elements and if the conditions are present for development projects taking place in relative safety... a degree of corruption will necessarily have to be tolerated as long as it does not threaten the security of Nato forces..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/allies-to-turn-blind-eye-to-corruption-as-afghan-exit-strategy-agreed-1952987.html

2010-04-23T08:31:00.000-07:00

TALIBAN DEFECTORS REJOIN INSURGENCY
Nato trying to create false perception of winning them over

"... Nato plans to spend more than $1 billion over the next five years tempting Taleban foot soldiers to lay down their arms. But... those efforts could make matters worse by swelling the ranks of the insurgency, exacerbating village level feuds and fuelling government corruption.... Almost a quarter of the low-ranking Taleban commanders lured out of the insurgency in southern Afghanistan have rejoined the fight because of broken government promises and paltry rewards...

"A report by the Afghan NGO Safety Office, which provides independent security advice to charities across Afghanistan... warns charity staff to prepare for Nato’s withdrawal by late 2011. “We note that International military forces have made their withdrawal contingent on being able to demonstrate two key… conditions: a degraded armed opposition and an improved government security force. We assess... that there is an awareness neither of these conditions can be genuinely extant in time and so strategies to create the perception of them are being pursued instead.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7104508.ece

2010-04-19T17:03:00.000-07:00

94% OF KANDAHAR WANTS NEGOTIATION WITH TALIBAN BROTHERS

"An opinion survey of Afghanistan's Kandahar province funded by the U.S. Army has revealed that 94 percent of respondents support negotiating with the Taliban over military confrontation with the insurgent group and 85 percent regard the Taliban as "our Afghan brothers"... The decisive rejection of the use of foreign troops against the Taliban by the population in Kandahar casts further doubt on the fundamental premise of the Kandahar campaign, scheduled to begin in June, that the population and tribal elders in those districts would welcome a U.S.-NATO troop presence to expel the Taliban..."
http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=3002

2010-04-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

U.S. CONTRADICTS KARZAI, WILL OCCUPY KANDAHAR WITHOUT CONSENT OF TRIBES

"The U.S. military has now officially backtracked from its earlier suggestion that it would seek the consent of local shuras, or consultative conferences with those elders, to carry out the coming military occupation of Kandahar city and nearby districts – contradicting a pledge by Afghan President Hamid Karzai not to carry out the operation without such consent....

"President Karzai said to a shura of between 1,000 and 2,000 Kandahar province tribal elders Apr. 4... (that) NATO's Kandahar operation would not be carried out until the elders themselves were ready to support it... (and) the elders were not calling for expelling the Taliban from the city and its environs. When Karzai asked the assembled elders whether they were "happy or unhappy for the operation to be carried out", they shouted loudly, "We are not happy."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51059

2010-04-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

PARALLELS TO VIETNAM

"... things are going from bad to much worse than anyone could have imagined. The insurgents are spreading fast across the countryside. Corruption is rampant. Local military forces, recipients of countless millions of dollars in U.S. aid, shirk combat and are despised by local villagers. American casualties are rising. Our soldiers seem to move in a fog through a hostile, unfamiliar terrain, with no idea of who is friend and who is foe...

"After years of lavishing American aid on him, the leader of this country, our close ally, has isolated himself inside the presidential palace, becoming an inadequate partner for a failing war effort. His brother is reportedly a genuine prince of darkness, dealing in drugs, covert intrigues, and electoral manipulation...

"It is an eerie summary of relations between the Kennedy administration and South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon nearly half a century earlier, in August 1963. If these parallels are troubling, they reveal the central paradox of American power over the past half-century in its dealings with embattled autocrats like Karzai and Diem across that vast, impoverished swath of the globe once known as the Third World..."

http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175233/

2010-04-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

KARZAI MAY CANCEL U.S. OFFENSIVE IN KANDAHAR

"The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai... threatened to delay or even cancel... Nato’s planned summer offensive against the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar, as more than 10,000 American troops pour in for the fight. Karzai threatened to delay or even cancel the operation — one of the biggest of the nine-year war — after being confronted in Kandahar by elders who said it would bring strife, not security, to his home province... On the streets of the city this weekend there appeared to be little or no support for a Nato push in the province. .."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7094217.ece

2010-04-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

U.S. TROOPS KILL CIVILIANS ON BUS

"American troops raked a large passenger bus with gunfire near Kandahar... killing as many as five civilians and wounding 18, and sparking anger in a city where winning over Afghan support is considered pivotal to the war effort..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/world/asia/13afghan.html?sudsredirect=true

2010-04-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

AFGHANISTAN: NUMBERS ON THE RISE

"... the Defense Logistics Agency shipped 1.1 million hamburger patties to Afghanistan in the month of March 2010 (nearly doubling the March 2009 figure). Almost any number you might care to consider related to the Afghan War is similarly on the rise. By the fall, the number of American troops there will have nearly tripled since President Obama took office; American deaths in Afghanistan have doubled in the first months of 2010, while the number of wounded has tripled; insurgent roadside bomb (IED) attacks more than doubled in 2009 and are still rising; U.S. drone strikes almost doubled in 2009 and are on track to triple this year; and fuel deliveries to Afghanistan have nearly doubled, rising from 15 million gallons a month in March 2009 to 27 million this March. (Keep in mind that, by the time a gallon of gas has made it to U.S. troops in the field, its cost is estimated at up to $100.)"
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175228/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_numbers_to_die_for__/#more

2010-04-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

U.S. PUPPET CUTS HIS STRINGS: KARZAI THREATENS TO JOIN TALIBAN

"Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened over the weekend to quit the political process and join the Taliban if he continued to come under outside pressure to reform..."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100405/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

"... in the speech he accused the Western coalition fighting against the Taliban of being on the verge of becoming invaders — a term usually used by insurgents to refer to American, British and other NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan. “In this situation there is a thin curtain between invasion and cooperation-assistance,” said Mr. Karzai, adding that if the perception spread that Western forces were invaders and the Afghan government their mercenaries, the insurgency “could become a national resistance.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/world/asia/02afghan.html

"... "It's just to make sure that we all understand as to where each one of us stands," Karzai said. "Afghanistan is the home of Afghans, and we own this place. And our partners are here to help in a cause that's all of us. We run this country, the Afghans..."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-04-06-Karzai_N.htm?csp=usat.me

"... Karzai dropped a bombshell, asserting the U.S. was occupying Afghanistan to dominate the energy-rich Caspian Basin region, not because of the non-existent al-Qaida or Taliban. Karzai said Taliban was “resisting western occupation"... he began openly defying his American patrons and adopting an independent position. The puppet was cutting his strings..."
http://www.torontosun.com/comment/columnists/eric_margolis/2010/04/09/13530691.htm
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2010-04-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

BOTCHED U.S. RAID FOLLOWED BY LIES, COVER UP, EXPOSE, APOLOGY

On February 12 of this year, U.S. forces entered a village in the Paktia Province in Afghanistan and, after surrounding a home where a celebration of a new birth was taking place, shot dead two male civilians (government officials) who exited the house in order to inquire why they had been surrounded, and then shot and killed three female relatives (a pregnant mother of ten, a pregnant mother of six, and a teenager) who sought to help the victims. The Pentagon then issued a statement claiming that (a) the dead males were "insurgents" or terrorists, (b) the bodies of the three women had been found by U.S. forces bound and gagged inside the home, and (c) suggested that the women had already been killed by the time the U.S. had arrived, likely the victim of "honor killings" by the Taliban militants killed in the attack..."
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/05/afghanistan/index.html

"... Two pregnant women, a teenage girl, a police officer and his brother were shot on February 12 when US and Afghan special forces stormed their home in Khataba village, outside Gardez in eastern Afghanistan... US special forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims' bodies... then washed the wounds with alcohol before lying to their superiors about what happened... Brigadier-General Eric Tremblay, a Nato spokesman, said: "We deeply regret the outcome of this operation, accept responsibility for our actions that night, and know that this loss will be felt forever by the families."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7087637.ece

2010-04-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

OF 800 CLAIMS FOR KILLED CIVILIANS, MANY NOT PAID

"More than 800 complaints have been filed by families of civilians killed in US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan... many of the claims were denied under the "combat exemption" clause to the Foreign Claims Act (FCA), "which provides that harm inflicted on residents of foreign countries by US soldiers during combat cannot be compensated under the FCA, even if the victims had no involvement whatsoever in the combat"... Due to the claim denials, many innocent civilians were not compensated for their harm or were referred to the Commander's Emergency Response Program for a discretionary condolence payment that is subject to an automatic 2,500-dollar limit per death..."
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100402/twl-us-iraq-afghanistan-unrest-lawsuit-7e07afd.html

2010-03-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

OBAMA RHETORIC PROLONGS U.S. ROLE IN CIVIL WAR

"President Obama (said)... “We did not choose this war. This is the region where the perpetrators of that crime, al Qaeda, still base their leadership"... That’s clever phrasing, to use the word “region” and not “country,” since Al Qaeda’s forces are no longer in Afghanistan. They’re in Pakistan. So the U.S. is not waging a war against Al Qaeda anymore—and hasn’t been for years. It’s taking sides in a civil war, with the Pashtuns and the Taliban squaring off against warlords from the north and Karzai’s government. But that’s a harder sell, so Obama didn’t make it..."

"Sixteen months from now, the odds are that the civil war in Afghanistan will look much the way it does today. And because Obama asserted that the outcome in Afghanistan is “absolutely necessary, absolutely essential to America’s safety and security,” then there is no way the U.S. will be able to leave. So prepare for a longer war. Obama’s rhetoric guarantees it."

http://www.progressive.org/wx032910.html

2010-03-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

KARZIA FLOUTS U.S. INFLUENCE

"... Karzai is putting distance between himself and his American sponsors... Even as Mr. Obama pours tens of thousands of additional American troops into the country to help defend Mr. Karzai’s government, Mr. Karzai now often voices the view that his interests and the United States’ no longer coincide.... Karzai recently told lunch guests at the presidential palace that he believes the Americans are in Afghanistan because they want to dominate his country and the region, and that they pose an obstacle to striking a peace deal with the Taliban... The American goal, he said, was to keep the Afghan conflict going, and thereby allow American troops to stay in the country... The recent visit by Mr. Ahmadinejad seemed designed to generate as much attention as possible... With Mr. Karzai standing at his side in Kabul, Mr. Ahmadinejad accused the United States of promoting terrorism."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/world/asia/30karzai.html?sudsredirect=true

2010-03-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

2/3 OF BOYS IN AFGHAN JAILS BRUTALIZED

"Nearly two of every three male juveniles arrested in Afghanistan are physically abused... (by) a justice system that subjects juveniles, many of whom are already innocent victims, to torture, forced confessions and blatant violation of their rights in court..."
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50843

2010-03-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

U.S. CONSIDERING GUANTANAMO #2 IN AFGHANISTAN

"The White House is considering housing international terrorism suspects at Bagram air base, as is done at Guantanamo Bay... Gen. Stanley A. McCrystal, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and other senior officials strongly oppose it, fearing that expansion of the U.S. detention facility at Bagram air base could make the job of stabilizing the country even tougher..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-prison21-2010mar21,0,2058216.story

2010-03-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

INNOCENT CIVILIAN CASUALTIES UP

"American and NATO troops firing from passing convoys and military checkpoints have killed 30 Afghans and wounded 80 others since last summer, but in no instance did the victims prove to be a danger to troops, according to military officials in Kabul. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the senior American and NATO military commander in Afghanistan, is trying to cut civilian deaths, saying, “We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat."

"... There are stories after stories about how these people are turned into insurgents... Every time there is an escalation of force we are finding that innocents are being killed.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/world/asia/27afghan.html?ref=world

2010-03-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

THEN AND NOW

"... many parallels between what the Soviets were doing eight years into their occupation of Afghanistan... and what the United States and its allies are doing today. In the late '80s, the Soviets were trying to strike at cross-border sanctuaries in Pakistan, pursue reconciliation with insurgents, strengthen Afghan security forces and control population centers. It was a good strategy... and the Soviets lost... we're losing in Afghanistan."
http://www.tampabay.com/news/world/afghanistan-experts-at-usf-symposium-agree-on-one-thing-things-dont-look/1082567

2010-03-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

TALIBAN ARRESTS STOP PEACE TALKS

"... recent arrests of high-ranking Taliban figures by Pakistan had severed important secret communications between the Taliban and the West meant to foster peace negotiations.... the United Nations had been quietly involved in early discussions with the Taliban in Dubai. He said those talks were upended by the arrests of senior Taliban leaders, including the group’s second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar... "
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/world/asia/20afghan.html?sudsredirect=true