# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread December 2010



## GAP (2 Dec 2010)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread December 2010 *               

*News only - commentary elsewhere, please.
Thanks for helping this "news only" thread system work!*


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## GAP (2 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December, 2010*

Goodspeed Analysis: Afghanistan — NATO’s partner in war, mistrust
Article Link

Canadian Ambassador William Crosbie’s leaked diplomatic cable highlights the extremely fragile relationship that exists between the government of Afghanistan and the NATO alliance.

It is now obvious from Mr. Crosbie’s cable and the U.S. documents in the WikiLeaks trove that relations between Hamid Karzai, the Afghanistan president, and his foreign backers have become particularly poisonous.

Relations on a long list of issues continue to deteriorate, including disputed elections, corruption, a banking scandal, as well as the political and security situation.

The leaked Canadian memo is an independent confirmation of an earlier description of the corrupt and complex dynamics of the Afghan government made last year by Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan.

The picture painted by Mr. Crosbie of an Afghanistan President on the verge of potentially quitting his alliance with NATO comes at a time when Canada has just made a commitment to stay in the country for another three years. Canadian military trainers will head to Afghanistan after combat troops withdraw next year.

But as Mr. Crosbie reveals, despite NATO’s commitment to Afghanistan, relationships continue to worsen.

“We have gone through numerous crises as an international community in our relations with the Karzai government,” Mr. Crosbie wrote to Ottawa. “Rather than strengthening ties they have served to exacerbate and weaken them.”

Mr. Crosbie’s memo is not the first to highlight the disastrous relations with Mr. Karzai.

Mr. Eikenberry is a veteran victim of leaked diplomatic documents that highlight the controversial dynamics of U.S. foreign policy.
More on link


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## GAP (3 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 3, 2010*

Mounted gun delayed exit from chopper attacked in Afghanistan: DND
 By Derek Abma, Postmedia News December 2, 2010
Article Link

OTTAWA — The placement of a mounted gun at the main door of a Chinook helicopter brought down by enemy fire Afghanistan in August impeded the exit of personnel after landing, the Department of National Defence says in a preliminary report on the incident.

The report indicated that all CH147 Chinooks in use in Afghanistan for such transport missions have since been modified to have their gun mounts on a swivel and are able to be pushed away in the event of an emergency exit.

DND said the investigation into this forced landing — made while flying low from a Panjwaii operating base to military facilities near the Kandahar Airfield — is ongoing. It said a final report would be issued about a year after the incident, which took place on Aug. 5.

The report issued this week said the helicopter, which was transporting coalition troops and supplies, was hit by enemy fire, though the exact weapon used has still not been determined.
More on link

 Canadian deputy commander knows IED threat 'front and centre'
  Article Link 
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News December 2, 2010

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The new Canadian deputy commander of NATO's war in the south of Afghanistan is cautious about gains made against the Taliban this past summer.

"We and the (Afghan National Security Forces) have done a lot of damage to the Taliban," says Brig.-Gen. Andre Corbould.

"But one of the things we are trying to figure out is what is the difference between a seasonal change and a truly enduring change," he says, referring to the usual lull in fighting that occurs every winter in Afghanistan. "We've seen time and time again where we have had a very successful fall and then some issues in the spring that we (have) had to deal with."

However, there is some evidence that the situation might be different than in the past, the general says, referring to recent Eid celebrations in Kandahar City, which the Taliban had threatened to disrupt.

"The ANSF had a solid security plan and there were no spectacular attacks in Kandahar City during Eid," according to Corbould. "That is the first time that that has happened for five or six years.
More on link

 Why it's so hard for NATO to train Afghan forces
  Article Link
Corruption, drug addiction, and too many Afghan deserters, make handing over power a daunting task, say NATO officials and Western diplomats.

By Julius Cavendish, Correspondent / December 2, 2010
Sangin, Afghanistan

Men hurried through the dark with a stretcher, flares burst, and a helicopter thumped in to the forward operating base in southern Afghanistan. The evacuation was evidence of slick professionalism. But the casualty – a young Afghan policeman who had apparently overdosed on drugs – was an illustration of the immense difficulties facing NATO as it prepares Afghan National Security Forces to take responsibility for their country. 

Handing over security to the Afghan government, as per the Lisbon summit two weeks ago, is an uphill task. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen want to finish transferring security by the end of 2014. Yet there are too few NATO trainers, too many Afghan deserters, and too much corruption, NATO officials and Western diplomats say, to make that a credible scenario.

IN PICTURES: Winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan

A recent review commissioned by the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, the body responsible for strengthening the Afghan security forces, found that most Afghan police “did not know the law they were responsible to enforce," that the training mission was critically understaffed and that most ordinary Afghans see the police as a predatory militia “rather than trusted law enforcement officials.” Drug addiction and illiteracy are also problems.

"All these factors make it difficult to recruit people and train them,” says Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, a well-respected think tank in Kabul. “Already the timeline of handover by 2014 makes it hard enough to meet the target figures,” which call in the short term for the 115,500-man police force to hit 134,000 officers by October next year and the Army to reach 176,600. 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (3 Dec 2010)

Daily brief: Karzai seen as "weak" by own cabinet, U.S. (lots of links at piece)
_Foreign Policy_, "AfPak Daily brief", Dec. 3
http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/12/03/daily_brief_karzai_seen_as_weak_by_own_cabinet_us



> ...
> U.S. diplomatic cables released by the web site Wikileaks follow Afghan President Hamid Karzai's trajectory from an "eager leader anointed by the West to an embattled politician who often baffles, disappoints or infuriates his official allies" (NYT, AFP, CNN). Some members of Karzai's cabinet and inner circle described him as a "weak man" who does not "listen to facts but was instead easily swayed by anyone who came to report even the most bizarre stories or plots against him" (Guardian, Reuters, AP). U.S. ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry wrote about Karzai in a cable last summer: "Two contrasting portraits emerge. The first is of a paranoid and weak individual unfamiliar with the basics of nation building and overly self-conscious that his time in the spotlight of glowing reviews from the international community has passed. The other is that of an ever-shrewd politician who sees himself as a nationalist hero who can save the country from being divided" by political rivals, neighboring countries, and the U.S.
> 
> The cables also detail a "steady current" of "grim assessments" about the extent of corruption in Afghanistan...
> ...



WikiLeaks: “Much Ado about Nothing?”
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Dec. 3
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1291394506/0#0

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (4 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 4, 2010*

 For the British, Afghanistan exposed army's limitations
Article Link

Two summers ago at the laundry at Kandahar Airfield I had a long conversation with a very angry U.S. Army colonel who had just returned from spending a year with British forces in
neighbouring Helmand province.

The gist of the colonel's complaint, which was dressed up, as such complaints often are, with a steady stream of expletives, was that the British had proudly and stupidly insisted that there was little difference between Helmand and Northern Ireland.

The officer was furious at how ill-equipped and poorly led the British were, trying to use unarmoured Land Rovers and a laid-back fighting style, to prosecute a war against an enemy whose weapons of choice, the homemade improvised explosive device, was chewing the British army up. 

These factors help explain why Britain has suffered more than twice as many casualties as Canada, although the Canadians have fought in a much more populous province where there are arguably more Taliban.

The colonel was not the first or last American soldier to decry Britain's effort in Helmand. It has been an open secret for ages in Afghanistan that the British were no longer up to fighting a sustained overseas campaign in anything like the numbers that the Blair and Brown governments sent off to Iraq and Afghanistan, and that British commanders were not nearly as aggressive as its NATO or Afghan allies would have liked.

Those shortcoming have finally been confirmed, and then some, in a series of harsh criticisms of British forces contained in diplomatic cables that were released this week to certain American, British and German media by WikiLeaks.

As reported by the BBC, Gen. Dan McNeill, who ran NATO's war in Afghanistan three years ago, said that British forces had "made a mess of things in Helmand." Many later cables to Washington said much the same thing.
More on link

7 Afghan demining experts released by captors
By RAHIM FAIEZ - Associated Press  12/03/10
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan — Seven Afghan demining experts have been released, two days after kidnappers ambushed them near the Pakistan border, the border police commander for eastern Afghanistan said Saturday.

The deminers were released Friday after local elders helped in negotiations with the kidnappers, Gen. Aminullah Amerkhail said. Two of them had been beaten, he said.

The seven were the last to be released of a team of 16 Afghans seized Wednesday near the Pakistan border. The others were released several hours after the attack near the Torkham border crossing in Nangarhar province.

Also Saturday, NATO said a service member died of a non-combat injury in eastern Afghanistan. The military coalition did not provide further details.

Although NATO forces have poured troops into the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand and have been making progress in rolling back the Taliban, fighting has continued in the eastern provinces. The area bordering the Pakistani region of North Waziristan has been the target of numerous drone strikes against the Taliban, al-Qaida and the forces of the Haqqani network, a Taliban faction affiliated with al-Qaida
More on link

 Elite Taliban bombers take name from slain leader
Article Link

The Canadian Press

Date: Friday Dec. 3, 2010 2:47 PM ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — They consider themselves the rock stars of the insurgency in Afghanistan -- and some are even taking garish names to reflect their gruesome status.

They are the bomb-makers and roadside bombers who have exacted a bloody toll on Canadian and NATO soldiers throughout southern Afghanistan.

There was a time when Taliban bombers, if they took a "nom de guerre" at all, chose something mundane -- usually a Pashto word, like "mistari" (mechanic) or "malim" (teacher).

That was until last summer, at the height of the Taliban's ferocious counter-offensive to drive NATO forces out of the rural enclaves of Kandahar. One name appeared over and over again as the fighting season raged west of the provincial capital -- the Zarqawi Network.

Elite and likely foreign-trained, the bombers named themselves after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born al-Qaida kingpin killed in Iraq in 2006. They specifically targeted Canadian troops in the Panjwaii district last summer.

When he first heard it, the battle group commander at the time, Lt.-Col. Conrad Mialkowski, rolled his eyes.

"Oh, that's original," he snorted. 
More on link

Cleric offers reward to kill Christian woman
By Faris Ali, Reuters
Article Link 

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A hardline, pro-Taliban Pakistani Muslim cleric on Friday offered a reward for anyone who kills a Christian woman sentenced to death by a court on charges of insulting Islam.

The sentence against Asia Bibi has renewed debate about Pakistan’s blasphemy law which critics say is used to persecute religious minorities, fan religious extremism and settle personal scores. Non-Muslim minorities account roughly 4 percent of Pakistan’s about 170 million population.

Maulana Yousef Qureshi, the imam of a major mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, offered a $5,800 reward and warned the government against any move to abolish or change the blasphemy law.

“We will strongly resist any attempt to repeal laws which provide protection to the sanctity of Holy Prophet Mohammad,” Qureshi told a rally of hardline Islamists.

“Any one who kills Asia will be given 500,000 rupees in reward from Masjid Mohabat Khan,” he said referring to his mosque.

While Qureshi is not believed to have a wide following, comments by clerics can provoke a violent response and complicate government efforts to combat religious extremism and militancy.

Qureshi, cleric who has been leading congregation at the 17th century Mohabat Khan mosque for decades, later told Reuters he was determined to see her killed. 
More on link

 Taliban leaders being replaced by 'violent fanatics'
  Article Link
New, radical commanders lessen the chance for peace, negotiator warns
 By Ben Farmer, The Daily Telegraph December 3, 2010

The NATO campaign to assassinate militant leaders in Afghanistan has bred a new generation of radical commanders more violent than those they have replaced, a Taliban envoy-turned-negotiator has warned.

The special forces onslaught hailed by NATO as helping to turn the momentum against the Taliban was, in fact, making the chance of peace more remote, he claimed. Mullah Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a deputy leader of Hamid Karzai's peace council given the task of finding a political settlement, said the attempt to wipe out the Taliban hierarchy was "in vain."

The comments by the former Taliban ambassador to the United Nations contradict buoyant NATO commanders who have said that the raids by troops including the SAS have rattled the insurgency. By driving Taliban fighters from their heartlands with U.S. President Barack Obama's surge reinforcements, while targeting the command, NATO believes it can push insurgents to the negotiating table.

But Mullah Mujahid said that an older, more pragmatic, generation of Taliban leaders was being replaced by zealots opposed to any reconciliation.

"Any older commanders that have been killed, the fanatical ones have come in their place," he said. "In that way we are losing a lot of politically minded Taliban. The new ones have a more religious mentality. They are only fighters."

Mullah Abdul Qayum Zakir, a hardliner and former Guantanamo Bay prisoner who rose to become deputy leader this year, typified the new breed, he said.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (6 Dec 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND DEC. 6

Canadian units back Afghan-led mission
Operation Baawar is targeting Taliban stronghold in the strategic Horn of Panjwaii
Postmedia News, Dec. 6
http://www.globalnews.ca/world/story.html?id=3932822



> A major Afghan-led military operation, with backing from Canadian and U.S. units in the field, is underway to target a Taliban stronghold in lawless territory once held briefly by the Canadian Forces battle group.
> 
> The area, west of Kandahar City, is where "all the bad people are," Lt.-Col. Maurice Poitras, senior operations officer with Canada's Task Force Kandahar, said of the strategic Horn of Panjwaii.
> 
> ...



Afghan poll shows falling confidence in U.S. efforts to secure country
_Washington Post_, Dec. 6
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/06/AR2010120601788.html



> Afghans are more pessimistic about the direction of their country, less confident in the ability of the United States and its allies to provide security and more willing to negotiate with the Taliban than they were a year ago, according to a new poll conducted in all of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.
> 
> But residents of two key southern provinces that have been the focus of U.S. military operations over the past year say aspects of their security and living conditions have improved significantly since last December.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (6 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 6, 2010*

 Army eyes use of tanks in Afghanistan
Article Link
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Dec 5, 2010 18:29:49 EST

Army officials will keep a close eye on the arrival of U.S. tanks in Afghanistan as the Marine Corps begins to deploy its tracked vehicles there this winter.

The Army has witnessed the success Canada’s tank units have had against Taliban forces, Army officials said. They said in mid-November the Army has no plans so far to follow the Marine Corps’ lead and send tanks to Afghanistan, but one official said he hasn’t ruled it out.

Pentagon leaders have kept U.S. tanks out of Afghanistan since fighting started in 2001. Successfully employed in Iraq, Army tank companies have remained on the sidelines in Afghanistan while NATO forces have relied on Canadian and Danish tanks to protect convoys and troops.

Marine Corps officials first requested permission to deploy tanks last December but were turned down. Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, in October approved the Marines’ more recent request. The tanks are scheduled to be deployed in mid-December and start operating in Helmand province by early spring, said Maj. Gabrielle Chapin, a Marine Corps spokeswoman in Afghanistan.
More on link

 Hébert: The 24/7 information beast favours bite-size news
Article Link
By Chantal Hébert National Columnist

The only parliamentary debate on the latest extension of Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan was held during regular office hours on a November Thursday, a time in the week and in the parliamentary season when the Hill is a hive of media activity.

None of the party leaders spoke. But, for the first time since the government announced it would devote hundreds of soldiers to the training of the Afghan army, diverging visions of Canada’s post-2011 role were extensively laid out by proponents of the deployment and the development options.

Arguing from different corners, the Liberals’ Bob Rae and the NDP’s Jack Harris each gave a comprehensive rendition of the reasons why their respective parties sit on opposite sides of the fence on this issue.

With the notable exception of the news junkies who spend their days riveted to CPAC’s live parliamentary feed, most Canadians are unlikely to have been aware that a House debate took place, let alone to have been apprised of its highlights.

It might as well have been held in a remote cave in the dead of the night.

In the days leading up to the presentation by the Bloc Québécois of an Afghan-related motion, the politics of the government decision were dissected in various media quarters, including this one.

The subsequent vote on motion was also covered — mostly from the angle that it was a test of Liberal unity.
More on link

Pakistan suicide bomb attack kills dozens
Article Link
 6 December 2010 Last updated at 07:56 ET

Some of the injured people were taken to Peshawar

A suicide bomb attack in north-west Pakistan has left at least 40 people dead, local officials have said.

The attack took place at a government compound in the Mohmand Agency as officials met anti-Taliban allies.

Dozens of people have also been hurt in the attack, local media say.

The area borders Afghanistan and is a stronghold of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The military has launched offensives there but insurgent attacks continue on a regular basis.

A Taliban spokesman said the group was behind the latest attack.

It was carried out by two suicide bombers disguised in police uniforms and targeted a local administration compound in Ghalanai, the main town in Mohmand, about 175km (110 miles) north-west of the capital Islamabad.

More than 100 people were said to be in the compound, where talks were taking place between government officials, tribal elders and local anti-Taliban groups.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (6 Dec 2010)

Exclusive: Gen. Petraeus Not 'Sure' Victory in Afghanistan by 2014
ABC News blog "George's Bottom Line", Dec. 6,  George Stephanopoulos 
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2010/12/exclusive-gen-petraeus-not-sure-victory-in-afghanistan-by-2014.html



> In my exclusive interview with General David Petraeus he was encouraged by the progress made since President Obama's surge of forces into Afghanistan, but is he confident that the Afghan army can take the lead from U.S. forces by NATO's 2014 deadline?
> 
> “I think-no commander ever is going to come out and say, ‘I'm confident that we can do this.’  I think that you say that you assess that this is-- you believe this is, you know, a reasonable prospect and knowing how important it is-- that we have to do everything we can to increase the chances of that prospect,” the top commander in Afghanistan told me. “But again, I don't think there are any sure things in this kind of endeavor.  And I wouldn't be honest with you and with the viewers if I didn't convey that.”
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (7 Dec 2010)

Training Shortfall Persists
Defense Officials See a Shortage of NATO Specialists to Teach Afghan Forces
_Wall St. Journal_, Dec. 6
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703471904576003670314611998.html



> The White House said at the end of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit last month that allied states had filled all of the specialized-trainer positions needed for Afghanistan's security forces, an administration priority in the allied war effort.
> 
> Military officials say the U.S., however, remains 800 specialized trainers short of the 1,500 the U.S. says are needed from NATO allies to prepare the Afghan army and police to assume control of their nation's security.
> 
> ...



ARTICLES FOUND DEC. 7

U.S. General Sets Afghan War Goal 
_Wall St. Journal_, Dec. 6
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703471904576003200670926540.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond



> KABUL—The measure of success in the Afghan war, the U.S.-led coalition's day-to-day commander said, will be whether Afghan civilians decide to join public service despite Taliban intimidation.
> 
> Coalition forces have been able to seize several Taliban strongholds in south Afghanistan over the recent months, but an insurgent campaign to kill off government workers has hampered efforts to solidify these battlefield gains.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (7 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 7, 2010*


Silent killers: Secrecy, security and JTF 2
COLIN FREEZE  Globe and Mail  Tuesday, Dec. 07, 2010 
  Article Link

They are Canada's most elite troops – the faceless soldiers who go to places they won't name, to complete missions they won’t talk about.

Hailed as a world-class special-operations unit for missions abroad, while facing mounting criticism at home, Joint Task Force Two remains a shadowy counterterrorism force about which little concrete can be said. Save for the fact that observers are clamouring more than ever to lift the veil on the ultra-secretive unit's operations.

JTF 2 bills itself as “a scalpel, not a hammer” – a fighting force that adds a sharp, surgical edge to Ottawa’s foreign policies. It is also the centrepiece of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) a $200-million-a-year grouping of special forces soldiers, sailors and airmen with diverse skill sets, including specialized infantry, rapid-response pilots and cleanup crews trained to deal with chemical warfare, including nuclear attacks.
More on link

2 ISAF Troops Killed In Afghanistan
12/6/2010
  Article Link

Two members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in separate insurgent attacks in southern Afghanistan
.

The ISAF statement did not disclose the nationality of the troops, pending communication to the soldier's family.

American, British, and Canadian troops mostly serve in the volatile southern region.

With this, ISAF casualties in Afghanistan this year rose to 678.
More on link

 Wikileaks cables 'will not damage UK-Afghan relations'
Article Link

David Cameron: "President Karzai gives me confidence that our plans for transition are achievable"
Continue reading the main story

David Cameron and Afghan President Hamid Karzai have played down the impact of Wikileaks cables which revealed strong criticism of UK military operations in the country.

Mr Cameron said the leaks - one of which quoted Mr Karzai saying Britain was "not up to the task" - should not "come between a strong relationship"
More on link


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## GAP (8 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 8, 2010*

 Afghan villagers vent frustrations at Canadian soldiers
Article Link

he Canadian Press

Date: Tuesday Dec. 7, 2010 5:29 PM ET

ZANGABAD, Afghanistan — Canadian tanks and engineering vehicles endured a barrage of a different sort from local Afghan villagers Tuesday as they pushed to the edge of a long-time Taliban redoubt southwest of Kandahar city.

Farmers in this otherwise bucolic hamlet, long known for its support of the insurgency, vented their frustrations at the convoy of vehicles as it cut a swath across their land, making way for the area's first major roadway.

"I was never told about this," Abdul Rahman, a local land owner whose grape field is being cut in half by the new gravel road, said through a translator.

The road is to be eight metres wide, but the disruption is far wider: to discourage the Taliban from planting bombs, engineers have cleared 25 metres of land on either side of the project.

Rahman threw up his hands as mine-sweeping tanks churned up the field in front of him. "What am I going to do with that?" he railed. "They might as well take the whole field."

It was up to the district governor to consult with residents, but Rahman and several other landowners who turned up at a meeting with coalition officers said they weren't told the exact route.

Rahman said he tried in vain to convince engineers not to bisect his land, and even offered to allow his personal mosque to be demolished if it meant a different route.

The officer commanding the route clearing was mortified at the request and the optics it would have presented for the locals, to say nothing of the propaganda bonanza for the Taliban.

"It's weird, but quite frankly I don't want to have Canadian soldiers being seen levelling a mosque when there's a clear option to go somewhere else," said Maj. Eric Landry, the commander of the tank squadron. 
More on link

 Canadian battle group in Afghanistan transfers command authority
Published On Thu Dec 02 2010 By Lieutenant Travis Smyth
Article Link

Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan; 27 November 2010 — Soldiers formed up on parade on this cool, sunny morning marked the transfer of command authority from Lieutenant-Colonel Conrad Mialkowski and the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group out of Land Force Central Area to LCol Michel-Henri St-Louis and the 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment Battle Group from Land Force Quebec Area.

Among the dignitaries in attendance were Lieutenant-General Marc Lessard, commander of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command, and Brigadier-General Habibi, commander of the 1st Brigade, 205 Corps, Afghan National Army. The presiding officer was Brigadier-General Dean Milner, Commander of Joint Task Force Afghanistan.

“To the 1 RCR Battle Group: I thank you for your tremendous work in Afghanistan,” said BGen Milner to the formed parade. “You have created the momentum that has brought us to where we are today.”

In his address to the troops after signing the certificates, LCol St-Louis said, “The 1 RCR Battle Group has exemplified what a fighting force should be, and they have been outstanding in their transfer of knowledge and experience to our battle group.”
More on link


 Military big guns see possible new role for chaplains
  Article Link
Recent conference at Saint Paul University looks at connecting padres, religious leaders
 By Jennifer Green, Ottawa Citizen December 8, 2010 8:04 AM

Could clergy walk into a field of war and make at least a little bit of peace? It's a possibility that some of the biggest guns in the Canadian and U.S. military are taking seriously.

A recent conference at Ottawa's Saint Paul University attracted former chiefs of defence staff Maurice Baril and John de Chastelaine; Canada's political director in Afghanistan, Gavin Buchan, as well as other military, foreign affairs officials, and academics from across North America.

As head of the International Commission on Decommissioning in Northern Ireland, de Chastelaine has had long experience with the slow process of reconciliation.

Maj. Steve Moore, a United Church padre, organized the low-key meeting to probe the possibility of making connections between military chaplains and religious leaders in communities in the midst of the conflict.

"I'm getting some traction," he said from his office at Saint Paul University. "It's incremental."

Moore began thinking about this project in Bosnia in 1993 with the Second Royal Canadian Regiment battle group, living in a compound amid the communities of Roman Catholic Croats, Muslim Bosniaks and Orthodox Serbs.
More on link

Afghanistan's Sarpoza Prison prepares for possible problems from outside its walls
  Article Link 
By Doug Schmidt, Postmedia News December 7, 2010

KANDAHAR CITY, Afghanistan — It may house hundreds of captured insurgents, as well as some of Afghanistan's most hardened and desperate common criminals, but the real threat for the guards working at notorious Sarpoza Prison lies outside its high stone walls, razor wire and armed guard towers.

Baqi Jan was recently shot by a masked gunman as he walked out the door of his city home on his way to work. Whether it was by the way he collapsed after being hit, or just the nervousness of his would-be killer, Jan survived the assassination attempt.

"He ran away, he thought I was dead," said Jan, who returned to work as soon as the bullet hole through his thigh sufficiently healed.

Jan's attack came after the Taliban had posted several so-called night letters on his door, warning him to either quit his job or die.

"I don't have any other option — what else should I do?" said Jan, who has six children but 12 family members who depend on him for support.
More on link


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## GAP (9 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 9, 2010*

 Canadian cash keeps Afghan prison guards on the job
  Article Link
An extra $50 a month means a lot to guards. As one father of six told Doug Schmidt, 'I don't have any other option.'
 By Doug Schmidt, Postmedia News December 8, 2010

KANDAHAR city, Afghanistan — It may house hundreds of captured insurgents, as well as some of Afghanistan's most hardened common criminals, but the real threat for guards at notorious Sarpoza Prison lies outside its high stone walls, razor wire and armed guard towers.

Baqi Jan was recently shot by a masked gunman as he walked out the door of his home. Whether it was by the way he collapsed or just the nervousness of his would-be killer, Jan survived.

"He ran away. He thought I was dead," said Jan who returned to work as soon as the bullet hole in his thigh sufficiently healed.

The attack came after the Taliban had posted several night letters on his door, warning him to either quit his job or die.

"I don't have any other option -- what else should I do?" said Jan, who has six children but 12 family members who depend on him for support.

A Sarpoza prison guard's life away from the job is exceedingly dangerous. One of the warden's lieutenants was killed in November, two guards have been targeted and killed in recent months, and night letters and threats are common.

It's why the warden is praising a Canadian initiative giving his staff better pay in recognition of the risks. The threats and the fear were having a debilitating effect on Sarpoza's staffing levels at a time when Correctional Services Canada mentors are preparing to exit Kandahar in the new year.
More on link

 Muslim youth in Canada targets for radicalization: Study
Article Link
By TOM GODFREY, Toronto Sun Last Updated: December 8, 2010 

Al-Qaida-inspired domestic terrorism by young Muslims poses the largest single threat to Canadian security agencies, a sweeping new study says.

“Canada has been identified repeatedly in al-Qaida propaganda as a legitimate target because of its involvement in Afghanistan,” according to a 250-page report, The Edge of Violence by a group of researchers in the United Kingdom. “The idea of being part of an international jihadi movement can be exhilarating.”

The report, released Wednesday, took researchers Jamie Bartlett, Jonathan Birdwell and Michael King two years to complete and involved interviews with hundreds of Muslims and others in Canada and Europe.

They studied the differences between violent and non-violent Islamic radicals, including the so-called Toronto 18 terror cell, and conducted focus groups in Toronto and Montreal with 70 Muslim youth last year.

One group made up of young men between the ages of 18 and 30 “was unanimous that brainwashing was taking place.”

Young Muslims “had a distrust of government, a hatred for foreign policy and many felt a disconnection from their local community,” the report found.

There “was a high level of distrust towards policing and intelligence agencies.”

Canadian Muslims fare better than their western European counterparts on a number of socio-economic indicators, the report said.

Signs that young Muslims are becoming more radical, the report indicates, include the distribution of jihad videos, clashes with existing mosque authorities and debates between “doers and talkers.”

“The unemployment rate of Canadian Muslims is double the national average,” the study said. “Discrimination, and the perception of discrimination, has been a problem in both Canada and Europe.”

Taha Ghayyur, of DawaNet, a Muslim help group in Mississauga, said Muslims face a hard time getting jobs and moving up in Canadian society.

“There are always members of the community who feel isolated or alienated,” Ghayyur said. “Any level of radicalization being placed on anyone in the community is a big concern for us.”
More on link

 Mint will produce Highway of Heroes coin
Article Link
By Northumberland Today staff Posted 14 hours ago

The Royal Canadian Mint will produce a commemorative Highway of Heroes coin after all.

"In keeping with its proud tradition of issuing coins honouring Canada's veterans and Remembrance, the Royal Canadian Mint today advised members of the Northumberland County Council that a collector coin commemorating the celebrated 'Highway of Heroes' and Canada's fallen in Afghanistan will once again illustrate these themes in 2011," states a press release from the Mint on Wednesday.

Northumberland Today photographer-reporter Pete Fisher took a tour of the Mint in August 2009.

Seeing the coins that were struck in honour of persons, groups and causes, he began enquiring if one could be made to honour the people who gather at the Highway 401 overpasses to pay tribute to fallen soldiers on the Highway of Heroes.

Though his idea was initially met with an enthusiastic reaction by the Mint earlier this year, it was ultimately turned down Nov. 4.

Since that time, 1,750 people signed an online petition started by Fisher's friend Caroline McIntosh of Mississauga. The idea for the coin was also endorsed by several municipal councils, including first by Trent Hills and also Cobourg and Port Hope. 
More on link

 Dress rules established for transsexuals in military
Article Link
Tom Blackwell, National Post · Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010

As U.S. politicians continue to debate whether to let gays serve openly in the American military, the Canadian Forces have issued a new policy detailing how the organization should accommodate transsexual and transvestite troops specifically. Soldiers, sailors and air force personnel who change their sex or sexual identity have a right to privacy and respect around that decision, but must conform to the dress code of their “target” gender, says the supplementary chapter of a military administration manual.

A gay-rights advocate hailed development of the guidelines as a progressive approach to people whose gender issues can trigger life-threatening psychological troubles.

Cherie MacLeod, executive director of PFLAG Canada, a sexual orientation-related support group, said she has helped a number of Forces members undergoing sex changes, surgery the military now funds.

“This is an important step towards recognizing a community that has always struggled for equal rights and basic human protection,” said Ms. MacLeod. “When government becomes more inclusive, over time, society will follow.”

Some within the Forces, though, were irked by the document’s appearance in e-mail boxes last week, just after a report by the military ombudsman that lambasted the National Defence Department for giving short shrift to the grieving families of fallen soldiers.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (9 Dec 2010)

Gates says troop infusion is making a difference in Afghanistan
Despite receiving sobering updates on Taliban resistance in the south and a potent insurgency in the east, the Defense secretary says progress 'has exceeded my expectations.'
_LA Times_, Dec. 9
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gates-afghanistan-20101209,0,607203.story



> Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan —
> 
> After two days in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he was convinced the massive infusion of American troops over the last year is turning around the 9-year-old war, even as U.S. soldiers remain locked in a grinding fight to control many parts of the country.
> 
> ...



New Push to Lift Kabul's Firepower
_Wall St. Journal_, Dec. 9
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704447604576007504084223150.html



> KABUL—U.S. officials are considering Afghan requests to supply heavy weapons to Afghanistan's armed forces for the first time, as a new target date for handing over security responsibilities prompts a reassessment of the country's military's needs.
> 
> The Afghan army is likely to be supplied with light armored personnel carriers next year, a major upgrade of its capabilities, a senior coalition official said. There are also plans to provide the Afghans with more artillery firepower, and with limited air surveillance and reconnaissance capacity.
> 
> ...



New rifles give Army snipers in Afghanistan needed range
_USA Today_, Dec. 9
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-12-09-sniper09_ST_N.htm



> The Army is shipping powerful new rifles to its snipers in Afghanistan to kill insurgents who are firing from greater distances and shooting at troops more frequently than in the early years of the war.
> 
> The XM2010 sniper rifle can hit a target 3,937 feet away, which is a quarter-mile farther than the current Army sniper rifle shoots.
> 
> ...



More:
http://defense-update.com/wp/20101004_xm2010_m24.html



>



Mark
Ottawa


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## George Wallace (10 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 9, 2010*

 Pakistan hospital hit by deadly bomb blast in Hangu

10 December 2010 Last updated at 08:03 ET 
BBC News  South Asia

  Article Link

*At least 10 people have been killed by a car bomb near a hospital in north-west Pakistan, say local officials.*

Eighteen people were injured by the blast in the Shia Muslim-dominated Hangu district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to police.

Investigators said the blast, which damaged the hospital building, was a sectarian attack.

It comes after the start of the Islamic holy month of Muharram, which is especially important for Shias. 

English-language TV channel Express 24/7 reported that a suicide attacker had rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the hospital.

"The bomber blew up his car at the hospital gate," local police chief Abdul Rashid told news agency AFP.

It would be the fourth major suicide attack this week in Pakistan.

On Monday, two bombers killed more than 40 people as they attacked anti-Taliban militia talks in Mohmand, in the north-western tribal belt.

On Tuesday, a suicide attacker failed in an attempt to assassinate the chief minister of Pakistan's south-western province of Balochistan.

On Wednesday, a bomber blew himself up near a minibus in the town of Kohat, not far from Hangu, killing at least 16 people.

More on LINK


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## GAP (10 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 10, 2010*

 Taliban appears caught off guard by NATO offensive in western Kandahar province
Article Link
By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press Posted: 9/12/2010 

ZANGABAD, Afghanistan - NATO's offensive through restive western Kandahar this fall seems to have caught the Taliban off guard.

American and Canadian troops uncovered several large stockpiles of semi-prepared homemade bombs during their push into the area known as the horn of Panjwaii.

Many of the explosives were either very old or missing their power sources.

Maj. Pierre Leroux, the commander of Alpha Company from the 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment, says it appears insurgents in the notorious Zangabad area simply up and left their compounds — perhaps in a hurry — when the initial U.S. assault wave hit.

"This push was a surprise for them," Leroux said in an interview Thursday with The Canadian Press. "They were probably expecting something last summer."

The offensive to clear the Taliban has unfolded in stages since the early summer, with different regions of the war-racked province cleared at different times.

The final phase, which is currently underway in western Panjwaii, has seen a combined force of Canadian, American and Afghan troops replace U.S. paratroopers, who stormed into the region in October.

Leroux said everything went quiet over the last few weeks and not all of it can be attributed to the onset of winter. He said he believes the insurgents have retreated to regroup.

They have faced only sporadic roadside bomb attacks since deploying earlier in the week.

"Right now, it's too calm," Leroux said. "It can't last. I think, at this moment, they're reorganizing."

Alpha company, along with Afghan army units, have started digging in at a former Taliban compound that once housed a madrassa. The walls inside the white concrete building, which was pitted with gunfire, are still scratched with Islamic sayings and slogans.

On Thursday, Master Cpl. Kyle Getchell of the 1st Combat Engineering Regiment was filling sand bags to cover the blown-out windows of the school.
More on link

 Christmas cookies shipped to troops in Afghanistan
Article Link
Soldier 'jumped on' when cookie tin opened
Posted 1 day ago Petrolia Topic Staff

One hundred Canadian soldiers deployed in Afghanistan will get shortbread cookies made by Petrolia's Karen Wilson (aka the Cookie Lady) and her 'Baking Brigade,' in time for Christmas.

There are currently about 2,900 Canadian troops stationed abroad over the Christmas holiday season and many of them with the Joint Task Force in Kandahar have e-mailed Wilson to say thanks.

Among the most recent is one from Master-Cpl. Scott Atkinson, who said "...when the boys here in the Operations Centre saw I had your cookies, I was jumped on to get at them. They are well known to say the least. It's also a good bit of home to get things like this.

"This will be the second Christmas in three years I have spent here in Kandahar and it does feel good to get a little something."

Also sent from Kandahar, Capt. Lance Knox's e-mail to the Cookie Lady thanked her for "...both the wonderful treats and the warm support to the troops. Your cookies reminded me very much of my wife's treats and brought back some fond memories. Please thank all those who were involved in this process."
More on link

 U.S. 101st Airborne Division taking heavy casualties in Afghanistan
Posted on 2010/12/10 by markosun 
  Article Link

The U.S. 101st Airborne Division (airmobile) with the famous nickname “The Sreaming Eagles” has arrived in Afghanistan in full force. The division is the last component of President Obama’s surge strategy in the war-torn south Asian nation.  The 101st has seen intense action in the Afghan provinces of Kandahar, Kunar and Paktika. The last 2 mentioned provinces are in the northeast of the country straddling the Pakistani border.  The area used to be Taliban country, but the fight is on for the territory.

Throughout 2010 and 2011, more than 20,000 Soldiers from Fort Campbell’s 101st Airborne Division will deploy to Afghanistan, the first time an entire Army division has deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom within one year.  Just for the record, the total troop strength for the Canadian Land Force Command is 19,000.  In effect, one U.S. airborne division has more combat troops than the whole Canadian Army.

The 101st arrived in Afghanistan in 2001 and took part in the major combat operation code-named Operation Anaconda. Canadian soldiers — specifically sniper teams— played an important role in that battle. • 
More on link

 Kandahar kingpins at odds with Canada over democracy: Wikileaks
By The Canadian Press November 29, 2010 
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- U.S. diplomats think some of the most powerful figures in Kandahar are not interested in democracy or the rule of law, and may have worked against attempts to deliver both to the Afghan people, according to Wikileaks documents.

It's one of the many claims arising from the unprecedented leak of U.S. diplomatic cables by the whistle-blower website which is causing shock waves around the world.

Canadian politicians, soldiers and aid workers agree that their mission to Afghanistan is to bring representative government and justice to a people who have long been crushed under the boots of the Soviets, local warlords or the Taliban. Yet, the classified cables released by Wikileaks noted that the younger half-brother of President Hamid Karzai advocated a return to the old tribal system of governance and law — something a majority of Afghans see as corrupt and a relic of the past.

Canada has invested heavily in the training of police, lawyers and judges. It has contributed funding for elections and set up programs to encourage good governance. Ahmed Wali Karzai, who is the kingpin of Kandahar politics as head of the provincial council, questioned the need for all of that in meetings with U.S. and Canadian civilian representatives.

"Democracy was new for Afghanistan, and that people in the region did not understand the point of having one election, let alone two," Ahmed Wali Karzai was quoted as saying in a cable dated Sept. 23, 2009. The diplomats quoted him as saying: "The people do not like change. They think, the president is alive, and everything is fine. Why have an election?" Karzai turned down a request for an interview Monday, as did Canada's civilian representative in Kandahar, Tim Martin.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (11 Dec 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND DEC. 11

Afghanistan: Progress -more needs to be done
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Dec. 10
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1292005799/0#0

Afghanistan, Pakistan Get Bleak Intelligence Brief
AP, Dec. 11
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/11/afghanistan-pakistan-bleak-intelligence-brief/



> WASHINGTON -- New U.S. intelligence reports paint a bleak picture of the security conditions in Afghanistan and say the war cannot be won unless Pakistan roots out militants on its side of the border, according to several U.S. officials who have been briefed on the findings.
> 
> The reports, one on Afghanistan, the other on Pakistan, could complicate the Obama administration's plans to report next week that the war is turning a corner. U.S. military commanders have challenged the new conclusions, however, saying they are based on outdated information that does not take into account progress made in recent months, says a senior U.S. official who is part of the review process.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (11 Dec 2010)

For U.S. Troops in Afghanistan, Coalition Forces Are Mixed Blessing
_Time_, Dec. 8
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2035859,00.html



> U.S. forces have long expected to do the heavy lifting on the NATO mission in Afghanistan, but even then, the Army battalion that arrived in Ghazni province last summer were troubled by what they found. The Taliban were resurgent in areas that U.S. forces had pacified before handing control to Polish forces a year earlier. “It was as if the [Polish] were waiting for us to come back and release them from their base” and then take the credit, says one U.S. officer, describing how failure to patrol the roads has allowed a route between coalition bases to become choked with roadside bombs. Americans had to return to take charge, he said, because the Poles are “just kind of hanging around.”
> 
> Such criticism is common among U.S. officers who have served in Afghanistan, and it is directed not only at Polish forces but also at other NATO forces, some of which are hamstrung by so-called caveats that range from prohibitions against fighting at night to traveling without an ambulance, thereby precluding foot patrols. The Polish force is not bound by any of these constraints, but U.S. officers say the Poles’ top-down approach to war-fighting is ill-suited to a counter-insurgency campaign that requires real-time decision-making by mid- and lower-level officers on the ground. They add that the Poles’ six-month deployments strain continuity, and that logistics snafus make them dependent on U.S. support…



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (12 Dec 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND DEC. 12

Nawa turns into proving ground for U.S. strategy in Afghan war
_Washington Post_, Dec. 12 (long piece)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/11/AR2010121103041.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzhead&sid=ST2010121103059



> IN NAWA, AFGHANISTAN When Gen. David H. Petraeus makes his case that the military's strategy in Afghanistan is succeeding, he cites the evolution of this community of mud-walled homes and wheat fields:
> 
> June 2009: In the throes of the Taliban. A few dozen British soldiers holed up inside a small base in the center of Nawa. Nightly gun and grenade fights. Schools and markets closed. Residents terrorized.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (13 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 13, 2010*

 Afghan women’s teaching centre aims to offer safe haven
  Article Link 
By Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star December 12, 2010

KANDAHAR CITY, Afghanistan — As skilled craftsmen spread wet plaster over walls of fresh bricks and lay baked stone tiles on new bedroom floors, a Canadian-funded women’s dormitory at the Kandahar Teachers Training Centre is getting closer to being opened by March, in time for the start of the next Afghan school year.

In a place and at a time when just being a schoolgirl carries a risk of a beating or worse — girls have had acid splashed on their faces as they leave school in this country — the aim here is to attract more female student teachers by offering the city’s first opportunity to study without having to negotiate Kandahar’s often dangerous streets to get to classes.

Bibi-Sadia, 22, says she can’t wait to resume her teacher studies.

Hungry for further education after completing high school in neighbouring Helmand province, Bibi-Sadia first went to Kandahar University, the only such institution in the country’s south, to study to become a doctor. With no dorms for female students, and the main campus located in the remote outskirts of this sprawling city, she didn’t stay long.

“I realized then, why not become a good teacher?” she told Postmedia News through an interpreter.

But not one of Kandahar’s nearly 40 teacher colleges offers campus accommodation for women. Undeterred, Bibi-Sadia found a place with relatives in the city and began studies a year ago. The situation, however, with the daily skulking through city streets to get to school, soon became “hopeless,” she said, and she returned home again.
More on link

 We're humble -- not inferior
  Article Link 
Ottawa Citizen December 13, 2010

Re: U.S. cables dwell on 'inferiority complex,' Dec. 2.

In my experience, the only Canadians who seem to have an inferiority complex are those media personalities who apparently compare their relative obscurity to their American cousins. Americans seem to love hero worship and tend to make heroes out of anyone. Their television news readers earn millions of dollars and become famous for being famous. That is certainly not the case in Canada.

The word I would use to describe most Canadians I know is "humble."

Humility, when contrasted with the sort of bombastic pretentiousness that goes along with cults based on fame alone, is not very sexy. Canadian arts and sciences have had a disproportionate influence on the United States. It has, by no means, been a one-way street. Indeed, the silly attempts to toot our own horn with media-stoked flag-waving come across as disingenuous precisely because the American way of being boastful is not in keeping with the simple security of a mature humility. What gives us confidence is our balanced humility, not a myth-based pride based on smoke and mirrors.

Canadians, by and large, do not jump on bandwagons but tend to think for themselves. Canadians do expect their governments to behave reasonably and for the common wealth of all. When any arm of our government acts outside the law, we are shocked and outraged precisely because we do not believe the sovereign is above the law, or free to make laws that do not represent the will of the majority. Our prime minister of the time stood against the invasion of Iraq, not to annoy the Americans who were being led off a cliff by their military-industrial complex, but simply because there were no reasonable grounds to invade Iraq. We did send troops to Afghanistan because that is where Bin Laden and al-Qaeda were known to be.
More on link

Canadian Taxpayers Now Buying Mafia Style Protection in Afghanistan 
Article Link
 Sunday, December 12, 2010

If propping up a corrupt government in Afghanistan wasn't enough shame for Canadians, we now learn that what we have helped to create in that country, is something resembling the Mafia underworld, far worse than anything we could have imagined.

The Borgata

The Borgata is a Mafia "family", with an established hierarchy, a body of foot soldiers and associates, all ensuring the smooth running of their operations.

The Godfather of the Afghan Borgata, is Hamid Karzai, the questionably elected President of Afghanistan. His underboss is his own brother, Ahmed Wali, who is engaged in a variety of criminal activities from drug running to featherbedding, and is thought to be one of the most powerful men in the country.

He is also the man given a 50 million dollar contract to provide security for Canada's signature project, the Dahla Dam, through his "business", the Watan Group.
More on link

 NATO targets Kandahar assassin squads
Article Link
Murray Brewster The Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN—NATO has given itself a licence to kill those who are murdering government workers in Kandahar, but the mayor of this embattled city says those lurking under the assassin’s masks are not all Taliban.

The general commanding Canadian troops in the war-wasted region calls hunting down insurgent assassination squads “an absolute focus.”

“I have some very capable intelligence resources linked in with the Americans, linked in with the international community; (and) we have these guys on the run,” said Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. “We are targeting these guys nightly. We’re going after them.”

American and other NATO commanders have long been frustrated by the wave of assassinations that’s gripped Kandahar over the past few years.

Two deputy mayors — or emirs — were murdered this year, crimes that brought about a spate of mass resignations by municipal employees.

Since 2004, at least 300 tribal elders, moderate mullahs, advisers and government employees have been shot or blown up by roadside bombs.
More on link


 Obama’s gamble in Afghanistan ‘paying off’
PAUL KORING WASHINGTON— From Monday's Globe and Mail Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010 
Article Link

Barack Obama’s high-risk war wager that sent tens of thousands of U.S. troops surging into Afghanistan is showing signs of success, U.S. officials say. The raging Taliban insurgency is being defeated, but foreign troops are still years away from heading for the exit.

“Our joint efforts are paying off,” said Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defence and the only cabinet secretary kept on by Mr. Obama from the former Bush administration. “[I’m] convinced that our strategy is working and that we will be able to achieve key goals set out by President Barack Obama last year.”
More on link

$52bn of American aid and still Afghans are dying of starvation
Article Link
Patrick Cockburn reports from Kabul on the rampant corruption that has left the country on its knees
Monday, 13 December 2010

The most extraordinary failure of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan is that the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars has had so little impact on the misery in which 30 million Afghans live. As President Barack Obama prepares this week to present a review of America's strategy in Afghanistan which is likely to focus on military progress, US officials, Afghan administrators, businessmen and aid workers insist that corruption is the greatest threat to the country's future.

In a series of interviews, they paint a picture of a country where $52bn (£33bn) in US aid since 2001 has made almost no impression on devastating poverty made worse by spreading violence and an economy dislocated by war. That enormous aid budget, two-thirds for security and one-third for economic, social and political development, has made little impact on 9 million living in absolute poverty, and another 5 million trying to survive on $43 (£27) a month. The remainder of the population often barely scrapes a living, having to choose between buying wood to keep warm and buying food.

Afghans see a racketeering élite as the main beneficiaries of international support and few of them are optimistic about anything changing. "Things look all right to foreigners but in fact people are dying of starvation in Kabul," says Abdul Qudus, a man in his forties with a deeply lined face, who sells second-hand clothes and shoes on a street corner in the capital. They are little more than rags, lying on display on the half-frozen mud. 
More on link

 Afghan Lawmakers Demand Karzai Inaugurate New Parliament
December 13, 2010
Article Link

Around 100 Afghan lawmakers today demanded that President Hamid Karzai inaugurate a new parliament by December 19, despite continuing disputes over the results of a fraud-marred election.

Afghanistan has effectively been without a parliament since the disputed September 18 vote.

There have been reports over the weekend of the attorney general's office asking the country's top court to annul the results, but the group of lawmakers today said neither body has the authority to "interfere in the election process."

The top prosecutor, a close ally of the president, says he wants to investigate the Independent Election Commission, alleging that its members were bribed.

The IEC threw out some 1.3 of 5.6 million votes cast and disqualified 24 early winners who between them took around 10 percent of seats in the 249-member parliament.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (13 Dec 2010)

AWACS for Afghanistan
Germany May Refuse NATO Request for Help 
_Spiegel Online_, Dec. 13
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,734279,00.html#ref=nlint



> NATO has called on Berlin to contribute up to 100 personnel to a planned international deployment of AWACS reconnaissance aircraft over Afghanistan. Berlin looks set to refuse the request because the mission would probably require a parliamentary mandate, for which it would be hard to muster support.
> 
> US General David Petraeus, the top military commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, has requested German assistance in the aerial surveillance of Afghanistan's airspace with AWACS reconnaissance aircraft.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (15 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 15, 2010*

Afghanistan: A gruelling campaign, a tender tribute and moments of humour
Article Link
 Dec 14 2010 by Lisa Jones, Western Mail

A new book depicts life at the front line for hundreds of Welsh troops fighting in Afghanistan. Lisa Jones reports

IT WAS the largest aviation assault since the first Gulf War, followed by the fiercest fighting a battalion of Welsh soldiers has seen in recent memory.

From high-tempo, kinetic shaping operations, to rebuilding villages, members of the Royal Welsh Battle Group spearheaded a mission to flush out insurgents and establish security in a region known as Area 31.

Incorporating Afghan, French, Estonian, Canadian and American troops, this 1,600-strong international force – known as Combined Force 31 – sought to dominate the ground in the Nad-e-Ali and Babaji districts, which made up Area 31 and was bisected by the vital supply road, Route 603/Dorset.

Area 31 is also known as the Char-e-Anjir Triangle (CAT) and the Babaji “Pear”.
More on link


 Former U.S. envoy in Afghanistan worried about insurgent havens in Pakistan
 Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Staff Writer December 13, 2010; 10:59 PM
Article Link

After serving as the senior U.S. diplomat responsible for Kandahar, Bill Harris is convinced that American forces have made "staggering progress" against insurgents this fall in areas around Afghanistan's second-largest city. 
More on link

 Canadians taught Aussies to fly drones in Afghanistan, but faced turbulence
Article Link
By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press Posted: 13/12/2010

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canadian aircrew played a significant, largely unheralded role in helping Australia get its unmanned aerial vehicle program off the ground in Afghanistan, federal documents show.

The assistance, which continued for more than a year, involved teaching Australian pilots how to fly the Israeli-built Heron drones.

The fact it went unheralded may not be a bad thing, considering the number of accidents the Aussies have had with their remote-controlled aircraft: two of them have crashed, while a third was damaged when its landing gear failed.

Reports from the Australian defence ministry suggest one of the incidents forced the private Canadian company that leases the unmanned aircraft to both countries to temporarily suspend flights for two days early last month.

Operations resumed once MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), the B.C.-based defence contractor, checked the gear problem with the manufacturer.

The Australians said the suspension had minimal impact on their operations.

The Royal Australian Air Force was put under a tight timeline in the spring of 2009 by the government of the day and told to field a drone capability by the end of July of last year. The country has about 1,500 troops in Afghanistan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF.

The urgency called for help from someone already in Afghanistan with extensive experience flying UAVs, which meant Canada.

"Australian mission success for UAV operations in Afghanistan is dependent upon support from Canada," said a May 21, 2009 briefing note prepared for Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (16 Dec 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND DEC. 16

NATO Push Deals Taliban a Setback in Kandahar
_NY Times_, Dec. 15
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/asia/16south.html?ref=todayspaper



> KABUL, Afghanistan — As the Obama administration reviews its strategy in Afghanistan, residents and even a Taliban commander say the surge of American troops this year has begun to set back the Taliban in parts of their southern heartland and to turn people against the insurgency — at least for now.
> 
> The stepped-up operations in Kandahar Province have left many in the Taliban demoralized, reluctant to fight and struggling to recruit, a Taliban commander said in an interview this week. Afghans with contacts in the Taliban confirmed his description. They pointed out that this was the first time in four years that the Taliban had given up their hold of all the districts around the city of Kandahar, an important staging ground for the insurgency and the focus of the 30,000 American troops whom President Obama ordered to be sent to Afghanistan last December.
> 
> ...



Taliban Extend Reach to North, Where Armed Groups Reign
_NY Times_, Dec. 15
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/asia/16kunduz.html?ref=asia



> KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — This city, once a crossroads in the country’s northeast, is increasingly besieged. The airport closed months ago to commercial flights. The roads heading south to Kabul and east to Tajikistan as well as north and west are no longer safe for Afghans, let alone Westerners.
> 
> Although the numbers of American and German troops in the north have more than doubled since last year, insecurity has spread, the Taliban are expanding their reach, and armed groups that purportedly support the government are terrorizing local people and hampering aid organizations, according to international aid workers, Afghan government officials, local residents and diplomats.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (16 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 16, 2010*

 Stephen Harper’s religion clouds aid in Afghanistan
Article Link

By Travis Lupick, December 16, 2010

The former head of Canada’s aid program in Afghanistan has expressed concern that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s religious beliefs are hampering humanitarian efforts.

Speaking to the Straight from Kabul, Nipa Banerjee noted that Harper is a born-again Christian, and she argued that his religious beliefs could be adversely affecting the Canadian International Development Agency’s efforts to help Afghan women.

“It has been said that reproductive health would not be a part of the government and CIDA’s aid programs,” said Banerjee, who led CIDA’s mission in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2006. “And the reproductive-health issue is a major problem in the context of Afghanistan because the maternal mortality rate is very high.”

A 2009 United Nations release stated that if you were a woman giving birth in Afghanistan that year, you had a one in eight chance of dying. The following year, a Lancet report on maternal health found that a primary factor in the global decline in maternal deaths in recent decades is decreasing fertility rates.

“It is important to make contraception available, whereas our government’s policy is not to include reproductive health in any kind of maternal-health program,” Banerjee said. “That I consider to be a major drawback.”

Banerjee, who worked for CIDA for more than three decades, isn’t the first to suggest that the religious beliefs of senior Conservative politicians could be affecting Canadian foreign policy. In her book The Armageddon Factor: The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada, veteran journalist Marci McDonald argued that the Harper government’s unwavering support for Israel is a manifestation of evangelical “dispensationalist” theology.

McDonald also wrote that upon moving to Ottawa in 2003, Harper began attending the East Gate Alliance Church, successfully muting his evangelical ties until outed almost three years later by a correspondent for a Christian news service.
More on link

Afghan Prison Guards Targeted On and Off the Job
Article Link
 15 December 2010

Afghanistan Afghanistan's Sarpoza Prison Prepares for Possible Problems from Outside Its Walls, Montreal Gazette, 7 December 2010

EXCERPT: "A Sarpoza prison guard's life away from the job is exceedingly dangerous. One of the warden's top lieutenants was assassinated in November, two other guards have been targeted and killed in recent months, and night letters and other threats are common. It's why the warden is praising a Canadian initiative that has now led to his staff getting better pay in recognition of the risks members take just showing up for work. The threats and the fear were having a debilitating effect on Sarpoza's staffing levels at a time when Correctional Services Canada mentors are preparing to exit Kandahar in the new year with Canada's departing soldiers. [...] After a roadside bomb attack last spring on a vehicle filled with guards returning from a training session with their Canadian mentors left one dead and the 11 others injured, Sarpoza saw close to 80 per cent of its guards resign in fear. [...] That's when the Canadians began bringing boxes of Afghan cash into Sarpoza to top up the guards' wages."
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## MarkOttawa (17 Dec 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND DEC. 17

_The Year Ahead..._
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Dec. 17
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1292606449/0#0

Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (21 Dec 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND DEC. 21

NATO fails to deliver half of trainers promised for Afghanistan 
_Globe and Mail_, Dec. 21
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/nato-fails-to-deliver-half-of-trainers-promised-for-afghanistan/article1845370/



> NATO is not meeting its target for assembling specialized trainers to build up Afghanistan’s army and police forces, the key that would open the way to a withdrawal of coalition troops beginning next year.
> 
> An internal progress report from the training mission headquarters here warned that it “does not have the required number of trainers, which threatens our ability to sustain momentum through the summer of 2011 to develop and professionalize the Afghan national security force.”
> 
> ...



Foreign troop deaths in Afghanistan top 700 in 2010: site
AFP, Dec. 21
http://www.france24.com/en/20101221-foreign-troop-deaths-afghanistan-top-700-2010-site-1



> The number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this year, already by far the deadliest in the nine-year campaign against the Taliban, has passed 700, an independent website said Tuesday.
> 
> The number of coalition forces killed fighting the Taliban in 2010 stood at 701, around a third higher than last year, iCasualties.org said, days after US President Barack Obama said the war strategy was "on track"...
> 
> ...



U.S. Military Seeks to Expand Raids in Pakistan
_NY Times_, Dec. 20
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/world/asia/21intel.html



> WASHINGTON — Senior American military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground raids across the border into Pakistan’s tribal areas, a risky strategy reflecting the growing frustration with Pakistan’s efforts to root out militants there.
> 
> The proposal, described by American officials in Washington and Afghanistan, would escalate military activities inside Pakistan, where the movement of American forces has been largely prohibited because of fears of provoking a backlash.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (21 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 21, 2010*

NATO fails to deliver half of trainers promised for Afghanistan
SUSAN SACHS KABUL— From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010
Article Link

NATO is not meeting its target for assembling specialized trainers to build up Afghanistan’s army and police forces, the key that would open the way to a withdrawal of coalition troops beginning next year.

An internal progress report from the training mission headquarters here warned that it “does not have the required number of trainers, which threatens our ability to sustain momentum through the summer of 2011 to develop and professionalize the Afghan national security force.”

he Dec. 12 report, obtained by The Globe and Mail, said NATO member countries have so far pledged to fill just half of the 819 “critical” trainer slots that need to be filled if Afghanistan is to begin to assume responsibility next year for its own security.
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 From Kandahar to Kabul
Article Link
Transition marks Canada's biggest military wind-down since the Korean War
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, QMI Agency December 21, 2010

OTTAWA — 2011 will be a year of massive transition for Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, as troops close out the mission as combat warriors in Kandahar to open a new chapter as trainers in Kabul.

After years of gruelling, costly and deadly warfare, the military will pull combat soldiers from the field. But the mission will continue — with up to 950 soldiers based around the Afghan capital - in a training and development capacity.

Conservative Sen. Pamela Wallin, chair of the Senate defence committee that urged the government to maintain a role in Afghanistan post-2011, said the impact would have been "quite profound" had Canada completely withdrawn.

"It would have been a loss for the world," she told QMI Agency. "It would have been a loss for NATO, it would have been a loss for the Afghans and I think it would have been a loss for Canadians if we hadn't agreed to stay to finish what we set out to do."

While not huge in numbers, Canadians have punched above their weight in Afghanistan because they are extremely well-trained in everything from combat to humanitarian work, Wallin said, adding Canada's military role has enhanced our country's reputation and place on the world stage.

But despite the move from Kandahar to the relatively safer region of Kabul, Wallin warned the entire country remains a war zone and Canada could still suffer casualties.

"They're certainly not in the horrifically dangerous places they've been before, but the whole point about counter-insurgency and asymmetric warfare is that there are not good guys on one side and bad guys on the other and a line over which neither crosses," she said. "It is ever present and it is everywhere."

National defence department spokeswoman Katie Williams said the overarching objective in the move from Kandahar to Kabul is to ensure a "smooth and seamless transfer" to allies while shutting down the massive field operation.
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 Canada's gender role in Afghanistan
  Article Link
Senate standing committee calls for training on legal issues with respect to women's rights and Islamic law

By Mobina Jaffer, Special to the Sun December 21, 2010

On Dec. 15, the Senate standing committee on human rights tabled a report entitled Training in Afghanistan: Include Women. This report acknowledges the urgency for Afghan women to be present during political negotiations and peace-building initiatives. In addition, the report also discusses Canada's commitment to establishing a secure and stable Afghanistan over the long term. Since our government has identified the training of Afghan National Security Forces as one if its main priorities, the committee's report focuses on the content of this training. More specifically, it calls for training that is gender sensitive and that is mindful of the issues Afghan women are confronted with.

This report sheds light on the fact that women living in Afghanistan are routinely robbed of the most basic and fundamental human rights. These include access to education, access to health care and skills development. As a result of being denied access to these services, women and girls are not able to walk to school safely, they are not able to access justice when they are raped nor are they able to live out their dreams of being doctors, lawyers and engineers. We must remain mindful of the fact that these are not Western values but rather universal values. As Canadians we have not only a right but an obligation to ensure that Afghan women are provided with the same rights that we so often take for granted.

Ensuring that women are at the table in peace negotiations, are well represented in the police force and are politically engaged is of the utmost importance. However, what is equally important is the need to make sure that police forces receive training that is gender sensitive. Afghan police forces receive half an hour of training on women's rights. This is inadequate. Gender priorities and gender perspectives must be integrated in courses given to Canadian military and police so that they are better equipped to train foreign military and police forces. To reach these objectives, the report emphasizes four main points.

- First, it calls for training on legal rights and obligations with respect to women's rights including constitutional, Islamic law and civil and international law. 
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 Canada is training an Afghan army that will likely explode
  Article Link 
By Ethan Baron, Postmedia News December 19, 2010

For the first time, a Canadian politician has come close to publicly identifying the elephant in the room of Canada’s planned training mission in Afghanistan.

Not surprisingly, it was federal NDP leader Jack Layton, a steadfast opponent of Canada’s combat role and also of a training mission. But he didn’t quite manage to nail the issue.

“I think a lot of people, as they see the level of corruption in Kabul and Kandahar, are asking themselves more and more, what are we doing there with our troops?” Layton told Postmedia News last week.

Layton failed to take the next step along that path of reasoning, a step that leads to a question that’s been absent from the public debate about the post-2011 mission: Why are we training an army that will probably explode?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff sealed a deal last month to extend Canada’s military operations in Afghanistan. Our combat operations will end, but Canada will provide about 1,000 soldiers to train the Afghan National Army until 2014.

The training mission — conceived under significant pressure from the U.S. — has been presented by the government as a way for Canada to help get Afghanistan on its feet while putting Canadian soldiers at minimal risk. 
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## GAP (22 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 22, 2010*

Taliban show reach, kill 13 Afghan troops
By Associated Press ,December 22, 2010
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Insurgents struck Afghan security forces in Kabul and the north Sunday, killing 13 soldiers and policemen in attacks that show the Taliban's capability to strike far from their southern strongholds.

The attacks, both claimed by the Taliban, began at daybreak in the northern city of Kunduz, when four militants stormed an army recruitment center. At least two of the insurgents detonated suicide vests, and the remaining fighters battled security forces in a daylong firefight that left four Afghan army soldiers and four police dead, Kunduz deputy police chief Abdul Rahman Aqtash said.

The city, a major agricultural and marketing center that controls one of the main highways into neighboring Tajikistan, virtually shut down, with shops, the bazaar and administrative offices closing as the gunbattle raged, said Moeen Marastial, a parliament member from Kunduz.

The city was the last major urban center held by the Taliban in 2001, and militants began stepping up attacks there after NATO began using supply routes through former Soviet states bordering northern Afghanistan as alternatives to routes through Pakistan, where NATO convoys have come under frequent attack.
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## GAP (26 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December , 2010*

The 3rd Bn of the 5th Marines spend Christmas on the Battlefield
Article Link

The 3rd Battalion of the 5th Marines are presently serving in Helman Province in Afghanistan. Those are the troops doing the heavey slugging and taking the fight to the Taliban. While most of us in North America are celebrating Christmas, these Marines are spending their Christmas on the battlefield.

FOX News took the opportunity to accompany the Marine Corps Commandant into the forward area and interviewed some of these Marines. During the interview it became abundantly clear that these Marine believe in their mission and are convinced that they are making a difference. A company commander remarked that they are making a difference. Marjah is behind them and they are now pressing forward to clear out the remaining Taliban in an area, where British troops had done the heavy slugging prior to the Marines arrival.

The Captain remarked that they see what the enemy Taliban fighters do on a daily basis. The abuse of the population, denying basic human rights, primarily to women and children, and the use of Afghans as human shields.

This is often the untold story of Afghanistan. Despite widespread corruption and lack of good governance, NATO has improved the lives of Afghans throughout the country and are now bringing the improvement to to Kandahar and Helmand province. Whether or not the surge and the Afghan Strategy is working, remains to be seen.
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Article Link
 It's Christmas - Afghan style
Heroes take fire for the holiday
By ANNIE KARNI December 26, 2010

While many New Yorkers celebrated Christmas morning by tearing open presents, American soldiers stationed in one of the most dangerous combat zones in Afghanistan awoke to a hail of gunfire from a Taliban attack.

As these dramatic photographs show, one US platoon stationed on the front line in Badel -- a treacherous enclave near the Pakistan border -- spent the day exchanging heavy gunfire with terrorist forces.

The Christmas Day confrontation resulted in no casualties -- but it dampened the holiday spirit for families of the brave troops deployed to a post that has come under attack on a daily basis.
AROSE SUCH A CLATTER: Pfc. Nikolai Starr returns fire on Taliban thugs yesterday and is flanked by Spcs.
Photos: Rafiq Maqbool/AP

"I'm feeling kind of numb today," Heidi Hilgers-Heymann, whose son, Spc. Andrew Vanderhaeghen, 21, was part of the firefight, told The Post.

The Taliban opened fire twice yesterday, shooting at the Platoon Bravo Company 2-327 from the surrounding hills.

"I'm afraid to think about it too much," Hilgers-Heymann said.

"We'll talk about him and laugh about him, and I just think when I touch him again, I'll probably have a heart attack. I just want to touch him and know he's OK."

Hilgers-Heymann, 44, said she'd last heard from her son a week ago, when he opened up to her about the high-stress post.

"The way he put it, a bullet missed his dome by about an inch," she said of an attack earlier this week.

"He said the gunner was new and he froze and Andrew had to pull him off the post and start shooting.

"Normally, he doesn't tell me stuff like that. He's a soldier to the nines. It's what he was meant to do. But he's always in the back of my head, 24 hours a day, seven days a week." 
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## a_majoor (27 Dec 2010)

Iranian influence in Afg:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8223431/Iranian-soldier-captured-in-Afghanistan.html



> *Iranian soldier captured in Afghanistan*
> A member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has been captured supplying weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan for attacks on British and American troops.
> 
> The capture of the officer confirms that Iran is directly supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
> ...


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## GAP (27 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 27, 2010*

 Suicide blast kills three Afghan police
By Reuters 
Article Link

KANDAHAR -- A suicide car bomber killed at least three Afghan police officers on Monday as they lined up outside a bank to collect their salaries in the southern city of Kandahar, authorities said.

Fourteen police were wounded and eight were missing after the bomber detonated the explosives in the vehicle parked near the bank, authorities said.

"We have three police dead and 14 wounded," said Shafiqullah, a doctor at the main hospital in Kandahar. 
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 NATO disputes Afghan authorities over deadly raid
By Hamid Shalizi, Reuters
Article Link

KABUL - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan disputed on Monday an accusation by the Afghan government that foreign forces had violated a security deal by conducting a night raid in Kabul that killed two guards last week.

Under the 2008 deal, Afghan authorities have to approve and lead all security operations in the Afghan capital. The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said the rules had been ignored by foreign forces and that two senior Afghan policemen have been suspended over Friday's raid.

But Brigadier General Josef Blotz, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said ISAF troops had coordinated with Afghan security forces.

"ISAF coordinated with Afghan security forces to move on an area of interest, so we followed the usual procedures and the operation was partnered," Blotz said.

"The cooperation with MOD (Ministry of Defence) and MOI is actually magnificent, the cooperation has improved over time," he told a news conference on Monday.

ISAF said on Friday the raid in downtown Kabul followed a "credible threat" to attack the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. The coalition said it had coordinated with Afghan security forces.
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Six months after Pakistan floods, seven million remain without shelter
Graeme Smith BAHRAIN, PAKISTAN— From Monday's Globe and Mail Sunday, Dec. 26, 2010
Article Link

Several hours north into the flood zone of the Swat Valley, past the ruined buildings that stand like crippled giants, past the doorways that lead nowhere, men heave rocks out of the riverbed and stack them in orderly rows.

It looks impossible for a small group of thin-limbed workers to undo so much destruction with their bare hands. The biggest disaster in Pakistan’s history inflicted its deadliest wrath in these northern reaches, as summer monsoons ripped down the valleys, devouring land, people and entire villages. The brown torrent killed almost 2,000 people, but that number hardly begins to encompass the months of misery that followed, those who died of malnutrition or disease as they fled the rising water.
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 Canadians, Afghans confront Taliban legacy of fear in small village
  Article Link 
By Doug Schmidt, Postmedia News December 26, 2010

KHENJAKAK VILLAGE, Afghanistan — "Taliban! Taliban!" the boy cried out as a Canadian/Afghan patrol was about to exit Khenjakak, a small village of mud-walled compounds that had been firmly in the hands of the insurgents for years.

Under a heavy load of weapons and other gear, Master Cpl. Alex Ahier of B Company 1R22R battle group reeled around as a couple of "fighting-aged males" bowed their heads and quickly scurried off from the rear of a crowd gathered to gawk at the passing soldiers.

It was Dec. 22, the sun was low and dusk was setting in as the small, thinly spread military patrol cautiously picked its way through a labyrinth of narrow, dusty pathways winding between tall mud walls. The soldiers had to retreat back to the safety of their hilltop command post overlooking Khenjakak before dark.

Chasing down a fleeing insurgent under similar circumstances got a Canadian officer killed a year ago when he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED). These types of patrols move forward cautiously.

This time the Taliban escaped, but the child's shouted alert is just one of several positive developments on the second day of a recent clearing operation designed to end Khenjakak's role as a safe haven for the bombmakers of the insurgency. For their first 30 hours on the ground, the soldiers saw none of the usual curious kids in the streets nor farmers out on their plots preparing the wheat fields. The military — which knows the local malik, or leader, is an ex-Taliban fighter and pro-insurgency — looks for such "pattern of life" behaviour to gauge how welcoming the locals might be.
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## GAP (28 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 28, 2010*


 Military sets out to trim all but essential civilian staff
COLIN FREEZE  Tuesday's Globe and Mail  Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010 
Article Link

Canada’s military has 3,500 more civilian employees – 14 per cent – than it is supposed to, according to documents that say the critical overstaffing needs to be fixed through “zero growth” and attrition.

“The civilian work force at DND is currently approximately 28,500 [full-time-equivalents], which exceeds the mandated target [of 25,000] and must be rigorously managed,” say Defence Department memos obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The memos contemplate slowly rolling back some of the staffing levels added during the decade-long Afghanistan deployment, during which civilians were hired to support troops in Canada and in-theatre. The Canadian combat mission is to be scaled down in coming months, with a rump of troops staying behind to take on a new mission training Afghan security forces.

With a budget of nearly $20-billion, the Department of National Defence is the Canadian government’s largest bureaucracy by far. Its civilian ranks include everyone from cooks to cryptographers, psychologists to procurement officials.
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NATO bullish, Canadians wary of Afghan warlord Raziq
Article Link
The Associated Press

Date: Monday Dec. 27, 2010 12:22 PM ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — He reportedly makes no apologies for killing his "enemies" on sight and has been instrumental in NATO's attempt this fall to pacify Kandahar one brutal step at a time.

There are those in Afghanistan who have labelled Col. Abdul Raziq a "butcher" in the past, and some have accused him of profiting from the burgeoning illegal drug trade.

Yet others in the provincial government and western armies hail him as a hero who is helping to bring stability to a troubled land, with a series of lightning-style raids deep in Taliban enclaves.

There is no doubt the prominent Achakzai border police commander's influence has been significant in wrestling key pieces of the province away from insurgent influence.

It began with a raid in Mehlajat, on the outskirts of the provincial capital last summer, but Raziq's operations have taken on a life of their own.

He has been all over the war-wasted province this fall to the enthusiastic applause of American commanders who regard him as "tremendously respected among the Afghans" and "a great partner" for NATO.

Knowing his history, Canadian officers are more circumspect. 
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 Why there's no Canadian Holbrooke
  Article Link
We see little movement between the public sector and diplomatic corps, depriving Canada of the talent to wield our influence
 By Eugene Lang And Eric Morse, Citizen Special December 28, 2010

Richard Holbrooke, one of the most important and independent-minded U.S. diplomats of the past three decades, passed away this month at the age of 69. There are few diplomats who have had the respect and influence of Holbrooke. He was a "force of nature."

A big question for Canadian foreign policy-makers should be: Can we produce a Canadian version of a Richard Holbrooke today -- a diplomat who could command global respect in the pursuit of some of his country's defining international interests?

Holbrooke met his challenges as an American proconsul, a central reason for his achievements in Bosnia in the 1990s. But even by American standards -- a country known for producing mavericks -- Holbrooke was a power unto himself.

However, differences in the way the U.S. and Canada make use of their best men and women in the second tier of public life play a big role here as well.

Most of the top echelon of the U.S. public service is drawn from the senior ranks of corporations, universities and think tanks. American public servants are used to rotating in and out of government under different administrations. The promotion process in American society is still far more openly personal and "political" than would be tolerated here. 

In Canada, one normally makes a decision at a relatively young age to enter the civil service and become a career, non-partisan official. This is particularly the case in the Canadian foreign service. Conflict-of-interest requirements -- which have taken on a draconian character in recent years -- make transitions between public and private sectors, with the broadening of outlook that implies, very difficult and even suspect in the eyes of some. 
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## GAP (29 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 29, 2010*

Militia ties undercut security steps in Afghanistan
By Megan McCloskey Stars and Stripes  December 28, 2010
Article Link

DAND, Afghanistan -- Coalition forces have put the militias of two prominent warlords into Afghan police uniforms and on the official payroll, but the men still do the bidding of their militia bosses, creating a sanctioned power structure outside the legitimate government.

As a result, those warlords essentially have their own Afghan National Police fiefdoms in Dand, a district in Kandahar province, undercutting both the coalition’s stated goal of connecting the people to the government and the progress made by the local police chief.

The U.S. military says rolling the militiamen into the ANP was a baby step toward legitimizing forces that roamed a big swath of the district.

The largely symbolic move, though, is emblematic of just how much rightful leaders are undermined by behind-the-scenes operators in Kandahar.

The militiamen largely disregard the chief of police.

He can’t fire them, assign their leadership or even order them to move to a different checkpoint.

The men still fall in line behind their old militia bosses, who call the shots for two-thirds of the district.

The police chief “is getting pushed around by a lot of people more powerful than him,” said Maj. Ned Ash, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 71st Cavalry Regiment, which operates in Dand.
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 'Got a problem? Blow it up' 
By Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star December 29, 2010
Article Link

"Hey, journalist, do not go there," the Pashto interpreter says in a calm, almost bored voice as my boot is about to land in the centre of a square made of four nondescript clumps of dirt on a dusty road.

"The mine detector found something there," he adds.

Somebody thought those little lumps of dirt would suffice to warn others of potential deadly harm. (I) must spend less time soaking in the scenery and more time with eyes on the ground.

This village, long considered a safe haven for Taliban bomb makers and passing insurgents, is littered with hidden bombs, mines, rockets, grenades, mortar shells, jugs of high explosives and all the other stuff that goes into manufacturing the roadside bombs that kill so many Canadian soldiers (including Cpl. Steve Martin 10 days ago).

BCompanyof the1R22RCanadian battle group, partnered with a kandak company of the Afghan National Army, targeted Khenjakak for action last week to clear out one of the last remaining Taliban redoubts in the area.

The best place, strategically, to oversee the operation on the ground was the village's cemetery, atop a 30-metre steep bluff. So that's where we were based for four days and three very cold nights, sleeping among the mostly simple earthen mounds of the dead under the full-moon open sky. 
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 U.S. Officials Find Afghan Network Undermining Government, Aiding Taliban
Article Link
Published December 29, 2010 | The Wall Street Journal

KABUL—U.S. officials in Afghanistan have spent thousands of hours over the past few years charting what they call "Malign Actor Networks"—webs of connections between members of President Hamid Karzai's family, businessmen, corrupt officials, drug traffickers and Taliban commanders.

Using intelligence drawn in part from informants and a powerful wiretapping system, these officials say they have found an economic and political order—underwritten by billions of dollars in aid, reconstruction and logistics funds from the West—that is undermining the Afghan government from within and aiding a Taliban insurgency that is trying to topple it from without.

The officials and their Afghan allies have had less success, however, breaking these bonds.

The futile attempts so far at prosecuting one individual—a banker named Haji Muhammad Rafi Azimi—illustrate the depth the problem.

Mr. Azimi has bribed senior officials, moved money for drug traffickers and kept the Taliban flush with cash, say several current and former Afghan and U.S. officials who described what they say are hours of wiretaps, information provided by informers and financial documents connected with the bank where Mr. Azimi works.

In an interview, Mr. Azimi denied any wrongdoing.

Click here to read more on this story from The Wall Street Journal.
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 Our soldiers’ lives are price paid to prop up Karzai’s hated regime
Article Link
By SCOTT TAYLOR | ON TARGET Wed, Dec 29 

Just one week before Christmas, as shopping malls across North America were blaring carols exhorting us to enjoy peace on Earth and goodwill toward men, the news came that yet another Canadian soldier had been killed in Afghanistan.

Two days shy of his 25th birthday, Cpl. Steve Martin became the 154th Canadian Forces fatality since we first deployed troops into that war-torn country in February 2002. Added to that butcher’s bill are the approximately 1,500 Canadian soldiers who have suffered some form of physical wound or injury while deployed to Afghanistan, with an estimated 850 designated as Very Severely Injured who will never fully recover.

Among the pro-war pundits and their media cheerleaders, the current choice is to point to the slight reduction in the recent rate of Canadian casualties as some sort of proof that the NATO forces are close to an ultimate victory.

They correctly point out that Martin is the first death suffered by our contingent since August, making that the longest fatality-free stretch since our troops deployed south from Kabul to Kandahar in 2006. What they neglect to mention is that, due to the recent surge of U.S. troops into southern Afghanistan, our soldiers have been withdrawn from many of the most hotly contested regions. As a result, the Americans have experienced a tremendous spike in the number of casualties, particularly around Kandahar.

With the deployment level of international troops peaking last year at around 170,000, 2010 also saw a significant increase of about 17 per cent of NATO soldiers killed in action. Go figure.
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## GAP (30 Dec 2010)

*Articles found December 30, 2010*

 Canadians look on as power struggle brews in district
Article Link
The Associated Press Wednesday Dec. 29, 2010 

ZALAKHAN, Afghanistan — An influential tribal leader with close ties to the Afghan president has returned to a key area of operations for Canadian troops in Kandahar.

All eyes are now on the restive Panjwaii district, where a power struggle is already playing out.

The re-emregence of Hajji Fazluddin Agha threatens to upset the balance of power there.

Agha is one of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's most important political allies in Kandahar.

The fallout from the turf war between Agha and the current local leader, Hajji Baran, could have profound ramifications on NATO's push into the horn-shaped hotbed of the insurgency.

NATO troops are pushing deep into the area to root out Taliban fighters, and the Canadian military is heralding Agha's return as a sign that the insurgency's presence in the Panjwaii is waning. 
end

 Afghanistan Reconstruction: Billions Spent, But No One Knows Just How
Article Link

Waste, fraud, and corruption are endemic to government projects. At least projects that take place close to home, however, can be monitored and the corruption exposed. Imagine how much worse such projects must be when carried out in foreign countries, far from the watchful eye of the taxpayers funding them.

In Iraq, for example, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction found over $5 billion had been wasted on various projects, including hundreds of abandoned or incomplete projects such as a $40 million prison, a $5.7 million convention center, and a roughly $100 million wastewater treatment plant. In addition, the special inspector general discovered that the Pentagon could not account for over 95 percent of $9.1 billion in Iraqi funds set aside for reconstruction.

To no one’s great surprise, the situation in Afghanistan, site of another undeclared U.S. war, is no better. David Francis of the Fiscal Times reports:

In its bid to win the hearts and minds of Afghanistan’s teeming population, the United States has spent more than $55 billion to rebuild and bolster the war-ravaged country. That money was meant to cover everything from the construction of government buildings and economic development projects to the salaries of U.S. government employees working closely with Afghans.

Yet no one can say with any authority or precision how that money was spent and who profited from it. Most of the funds were funneled to a vast array of U.S. and foreign contractors. But according to a recent audit by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), there is no way of knowing whether the money went for the intended purposes.

“The audit shows that navigating the confusing labyrinth of government contracting is difficult, at best,” SIGAR said in releasing the audit. “USAID, the State Department and the Pentagon are unable to readily report on how much money they spend on contracting for reconstruction activities in Afghanistan.”

The reason for these agencies’ inability to say where taxpayers’ money is going is simply that the government hasn’t demanded any sort of accountability from its recipients. “The money,” Francis writes, “flows from Washington to Afghanistan, with little oversight and accountability, and at every step along the way someone else takes a cut.”

It doesn’t help that much of the work being performed in Afghanistan under the auspices of the U.S. government is actually being contracted out. Private contractors make up 57 percent of the workforce employed by the Department of Defense in that country, “the highest recorded percentage of contractors used by DOD in any conflict in the history of the United States,” according to a July Congressional Research Service report. With only 14 percent of those contractors being U.S. citizens, holding them accountable for their expenditures of American dollars is extremely difficult. The result, according to Francis:
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 Manitoban reservist, paramedic honoured for work overseas
Global News: Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Article Link

The Canadian Armed Forces said thank you to a young Manitoba reservist and her employer.

Corporal Tanya Woroniuk is a paramedic in the Interlake and a part time soldier. She was deployed in November 2009 and served as a medic in Afghanistan.

Her employer, the Interlake Regional Health Authority, granted her an 18-month leave of absence to allow her to help soldiers in need of emergency medical care overseas.

"We knew that when she came back she was going to bring back a lot of skills and experiences which are going to enhance her capabilities here as a paramedic," says Drew Christenson, Emergency Medical Services Manager with the West St. Paul EMS station.

Corporal Woroniuk, 24, spent seven months providing trauma care to soldiers, villagers, and far too often, children.
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 Glass Tiger isn't shy about waving the flag
  Article Link
 By Barbara Woolsey, Special to The Leader-Post December 30, 2010

They may not stitch Maple Leafs to their equipment cases, but there's no denying the members of Canadian pop band Glass Tiger are patriotic.

Earlier this year, keyboardist Sam Reid and vocalist Alan Frew of the iconic band -- thanks to well-known chart-topping singles like "Someday" and "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" -- travelled to Afghanistan to perform for the Canadian troops.

Frew and Reid found themselves holding an impromptu show under the same tarp where the soldiers would take their meals. With nowhere to plug in, they sang "bare bones" -- accompanied by only a small electric keyboard and the syncopation of the desert wind.

"We were given the chance to go up close and into combat zones," said Reid. "They took us off the main base and we spent the evening inside a tent with a small group of around 50 soldiers on the hillside." 
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