# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread January 2010



## GAP (31 Dec 2009)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread January 2010 *               

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


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## GAP (1 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 1, 2010*

 Deadly strike in Pakistan targets car
January 1, 2010 
Article Link

A missile strike killed two people Friday in northwest Pakistan, the latest in a string of suspected U.S. drone attacks on the region, a Pakistani intelligence official said.

A guided missile was fired at a car carrying militants at 8:50 a.m. local time in the village of Naurak, about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) east of Miran Shah in North Waziristan, according to an official from the political administration and an intelligence official.

Three other people were injured in the attack. It was not immediately clear whether those killed and injured were militants.

The attack comes after another missile strike late Thursday in North Waziristan on a house believed to be housing Islamic militants, killing three and wounding two, a Pakistani intelligence official told CNN.

The largely autonomous tribal region is near the rugged border with Afghanistan. The border area has been the scene of heavy fighting between Pakistani forces and the Taliban, the Islamic militia that also is battling U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
More on link

 French Journalists Held Hostage in Afghanistan 
Article Link

A television executive says authorities looking for two journalists in Afghanistan have made contact with the hostage takers, and the reporters are alive.

France Televisions executive Paul Nahon says the information came from a colleague in Afghanistan of the journalists, who went missing with two or three Afghan employees on Wednesday.

Nahon told France-Info radio Friday that the news that the journalists are alive is ''a great relief.''

French authorities have refused to confirm any hostage-taking and urged discretion in such cases. They only said the journalists for France-3 television disappeared while traveling in Kapisa province east of Kabul.
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 Christmas in Afghanistan: hip-hop, iced tea and an antenna tree
Article Link

 KABUL, Afghanistan --  Soldiers deployed to Afghanistan, thousands of miles away from their loved ones, did things this Christmas Day that they wouldn't at home. They improvised - building an ersatz Christmas tree out of stacked communications equipment. And they partied.

At Camp Phoenix, outside Kabul, dinner included prime rib, shrimp cocktail and a cake the shape - and nearly the size - of a Christmas tree.

After the sun went down, and the mammoth spread of food was removed, the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation club at Camp Phoenix cleared the dance floor and blasted hip-hop music until midnight.

NATO units from Romania, who maintain a detachment at Phoenix, invited Georgia National Guardsmen to an evening outdoor barbecue, but only a few were up to the challenge of yet another meal.

"You've got to do something to break up the monotony," said Capt. Delando Langley of Woodbridge, Va. "If you get one down day, it's Christmas."
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (2 Jan 2010)

Afghans Answering the Call to Fight 
_NY Times_, Jan.2
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/world/asia/03kunduz.html



> KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — Bakhtiar Ludin looks like a rogue, with a roughly tied checkered scarf for a turban, a Kalashnikov and a band of similarly tough, armed men for company.
> 
> But much of the hopes of Afghan and American officials to turn around the eight-year war here rests with him and those like him.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (6 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 6, 2010*

 Suspected US Drone Strikes in Pakistan Kill 12 
Article Link

Pakistani intelligence officials say at least 12 people have been killed in two suspected U.S. drone strikes near the country's border with Afghanistan.

Officials say two missiles hit a suspected militant compound in the tribal region of North Waziristan Wednesday, killing seven people.

A short time later, officials say five people were killed in a second strike on the compound as people tried to retrieve bodies and survivors from under rubble caused by the initial attack.  Militants in the tribal areas frequently cordon-off missile strike targets to search for survivors.

North Waziristan is considered a stronghold of the Taliban-allied Haqqani network in Afghanistan and a haven for al-Qaida fighters.
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 Afghanistan Roadside Blast Hits Civilians, Foreign Troops
Article Link
VOA News 06 January 2010 

Afghan officials say a roadside bomb has killed at least two Afghan civilians and wounded foreign troops in the eastern part of the country.

A spokesman for the provincial governor in Nangarhar says Wednesday's explosion killed two children. Other officials say at least 30 people were wounded.

A NATO spokesman says nine alliance troops were among those hurt in the blast.  Afghan officials say some of their security officers also suffered injuries.
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 3 Taliban militants including commander killed in N Afghanistan
www.chinaview.cn 2010-01-06 15:18:15
Article Link

    KABUL, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Three Taliban militants including their commander were killed as foreign troops raided a compound in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province Tuesday night, local police said Wednesday.

    "Troops with the U.S. special forces during a search operation raided a compound in Chardara district late last night and killed three militants including their commander Baz Mohammad," Abdul Rahman Haqtash, deputy provincial police chief, told Xinhua.

    Three other militants were arrested during the operation, he added.

    Baz Mohammad, according to locals, was behind the abduction of two journalists last September. 
More on link

 Former bin Laden bodyguard is among ex-guerrillas in Yemen
Article Link

When he served in the Afghan mountains as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard, Nasser al-Bahri said, he was known as "The Killer." Today, Bahri is a business consultant in Yemen who favors Western-style pinstriped shirts, crisp slacks and black loafers. But his ideas are still radical: Ask him whether jihadists should kill Americans on U.S. soil and he replies without hesitation, "America is a legitimate target." 
More on link


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## GAP (7 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 7, 2010*

 Afghans opt for suicide

Women escaping brutal lives
Article Link
By THE CANADIAN PRESS  7th January 2010

More Afghan women are choosing suicide to escape the violence and brutality of their daily lives, says a new human-rights report prepared by Canada's foreign affairs department.

The 2008 annual assessment paints a grim picture of a country where violence against women and girls is common, despite rising public awareness among Afghans and international condemnation.

"Self-immolation is being used by increasing numbers of Afghan women to escape their dire circumstances and women constitute the majority of Afghan suicides," said the report, completed in November 2009.

The director of a burn unit at a hospital in the relatively peaceful province of Herat reported that in 2008 more than 80 women tried to kill themselves by setting themselves on fire, many of them in their early 20s.

Many of those women died, the report said.

A British study, cited in the Foreign Affairs report, said 87% of Afghan women complained that they were the victims of violence, half of it sexual. 
More on link

 Blast injures governor of Afghanistan's Khost
1.07.10, 09:58 / Israel News
Article Link

An Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman says the governor of a restive eastern province is slightly injured after a bomb exploded in a garbage container outside the governor's compound.


The midday Thursday blast broke windows in the building and Gov. Tahr Khan Sabari was cut by the glass but not seriously injured, ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary told The Associated Press. He said no one else was injured
end


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## GAP (9 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 9, 2010*

 Jordan releases suicide bomber's brother
By Nic Robertson, CNN January 8, 2010
Article Link

Amman, Jordan (CNN) -- The brother of the man named as the suicide bomber who killed eight at a U.S. base in Afghanistan last week was released by Jordanian authorities Friday after having been held since shortly after the attack, his family said.

A senior Jordanian source said the detention was not in connection with the Afghanistan attack, but for "suspicion of links to a terrorist organization."

Asad Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi was picked up hours after his brother, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, allegedly set off a blast at a U.S. base in Khost, in southeastern Afghanistan, on December 30, killing seven CIA officers and contractors and a Jordanian army captain who was a cousin of Jordan's King Abdullah II.
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 Former Blackwater guards indicted in shooting deaths of 2 Afghans
Article Link

Two former employees of the firm formerly known as Blackwater were charged Thursday with killing two Afghan civilians after a traffic incident in Kabul.

Justin Cannon, 27, and Christopher Drotleff, 29, were taken into custody after a federal grand jury in Virginia indicted them on second-degree murder charges.

"There are no grounds for these charges," said the men's lawyer, Daniel Callahan. "These men shot to save their own lives."

The indictment alleges that Cannon and Drotleff, who were in Afghanistan to provide weapons training to members of the Afghan army, shot and killed two Afghan civilians in Kabul on the night of May 5.
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 Canada report highlights Afghan rape, immolation
OTTAWA Fri Jan 8, 2010 5:18pm EST
Article Link

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Rape occurs all too often in Afghanistan and is under-reported, but more victims are agreeing to report the incidents, a Canadian government report on Afghan human rights has concluded.

"Rape is widely believed to be a frequent occurrence, though its true extent is concealed by under-reporting owing to the social stigma attached to it," stated the 2008 report, publicized on Thursday.

"There does, however, appear to be signs of increasing willingness on the part of victims to report rape, and on the part of the authorities to investigate and prosecute some cases."

It cited President Hamid Karzai's call in 2008 for rapists "to face the country's most severe punishment," following a public outcry after a 12-year-old girl was raped in Sari Pul province.

The report, released after an Access to Information request by the Canadian Press, said self-immolation by women is increasingly being used "to escape their dire circumstances".

In Herat, it cited the head of the provincial hospital's burn unit as saying 80 women tried to burn themselves in 2008, many of whom died.

It said the British-based group Womankind had determined that 87 percent of Afghan women complained of being victims of violence, half of it sexual. It said more than half of marriages involve girls under 16.
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 Rocket Hits US Consulate in Afghanistan
VOA News 08 January 2010 
Article Link

Afghan police say a rocket has hit a building housing the new U.S. consulate office in western Afghanistan.

They say three rockets were fired at the building in the city of Herat Friday, but that only one struck it. 

There were no immediate reports of any casualties, and the Associated Press says no U.S. staff were in the building at the time of the attack.

The building is a former hotel that the U.S. government acquired last year to use as a new consulate.

Also Friday, the Danish military says one of its soldiers was killed in a roadside bombing in the southern province of Helmand on Friday.  At least five other Danish soldiers were wounded when the blast hit their convoy.

NATO says an American soldier was killed Thursday when a bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan.  No further details were released.
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 British FM says aid to Afghanistan conditional
Article Link

By DAVID MAC DOUGALL
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 9, 2010; 10:40 AM

ISLAMABAD -- Britain's foreign secretary said Saturday that international financial support for Afghanistan was conditional on a better performance by Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government, which has been tainted by accusations of corruption.

"We won't pay, and others won't pay, if we're not sure where the money's going," David Miliband told Associated Press Television News in an interview in the Pakistani capital.

Miliband was in Pakistan for a two-day visit, his sixth since becoming foreign secretary. He was in the British-allied South Asian nation to promote an upcoming conference in London on Afghanistan.

The conference will be co-hosted by the British and Afghan governments at the end of January and bring together more than 60 countries and international institutions. 
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Xe Services Aiming for Afghan Police Training Deal
Reviled by Democrats, Xe (formerly Blackwater) aims to be part of Obama's Afghanistan strategy
By RICHARD LARDNER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON January 9, 2010 
Article Link

Blackwater Worldwide's legal woes haven't dimmed the company's prospects in Afghanistan, where it's a contender to be a key part of President Barack Obama's strategy for stabilizing the country.

Now called Xe Services, the company is in the running for a Pentagon contract potentially worth $1 billion to train Afghanistan's troubled national police force. Xe has been shifting to training, aviation and logistics work after its security guards were accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians more than two years ago.

Yet even with a new name and focus, the expanded role would seem an unlikely one for Xe because Democrats have held such a negative opinion of the company following the Iraqi deaths, which are still reverberating in Baghdad and Washington.
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 Big stash of illegal drugs seized in southern Afghanistan
January 8, 2010
Article Link

Troops with the NATO-led force in Afghanistan have seized more than 6,000 pounds of illegal drugs, the force said.

Troops found more than 5,300 pounds of processed opium, more than 1,000 pounds of wet opium paste, approximately 50 pounds of heroin, and multiple firearms with ammunition were found in the truck, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said.

Authorities arrested two people and destroyed most of the drugs, though they kept some narcotics to analyze.

The confiscation took place Wednesday in southern Afghanistan -- in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province -- after troops stopped a "suspicious" truck.

Afghan opium kills 100,000 people a year worldwide -- more than any other drug -- and the opiate heroin kills five times as many people in NATO countries each year than the total number of NATO troops killed in combat in Afghanistan, a recent U.N. report said.

About 15 million people around the world use heroin, opium or morphine, fueling a $65 billion market for the drug and also fueling terrorism and insurgencies.
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## GAP (10 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 10, 2010*

 Afghanistan: After 2011, then what? 
Article Link

Party leaders, members of Parliament, columnists, advocacy groups, public intellectuals and many citizens have asked: “What, if anything, will we do in Afghanistan after 2011?” A common answer is that Canadians need to discuss the question – and there the matter is left, without much ordered discussion at all.

A decision to walk away from an unfinished war, with all its attendant risks to national interests and dispiriting connotations of retreat and forsaken sacrifices, is only slightly less important than was the decision to enter it in the first place. A decision to go to war or to withdraw ought to be the finale, not the beginning, of a detailed analysis of the consequences in either case.

The House of Commons agreement to set 2011 as the deadline to cease combat operations in Afghanistan was merely a political expedient. There is no record of an analysis by any party of the consequences of leaving. Without a comprehensive consequential analysis, 2011 is simply a date pencilled on a calendar, a point in time floating aimlessly in a policy vacuum. Policy is now commanded by this arbitrary date, not the consequences for both Canada and Afghanistan – a state of affairs beyond reason and honour. 
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 Afghan blast kills Sunday Mirror correspondent
Article Link

A British journalist has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the UK's Ministry of Defence has said.

Sunday Mirror defence correspondent Rupert Hamer, 39, was embedded with the US Marine Corps when his vehicle was hit by a bomb near Nawa in Helmand.

The father-of-three's Mirror colleague, photographer Philip Coburn, 43, is in a serious but stable condition.

A US Marine and an Afghan soldier were also killed in the blast on Saturday. Four US Marines were seriously injured.

The journalists had flown to the region on New Year's Eve for a month-long assignment. 
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 U.S. sees agriculture key to stabilising Afghanistan
Sun Jan 10, 2010
Article Link

 KABUL (Reuters) - Rebuilding agriculture can boost confidence in Afghanistan's fragile government and pull farmers away from the drug money that fuels the Taliban insurgency, the U.S. agriculture chief said on Sunday.

The Obama administration sees agriculture as the biggest non-security priority in Afghanistan, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who arrived in Kabul on Sunday for a three-day trip aimed at showing U.S. commitment to the sector.

"Agriculture is at a critical intersection in our efforts to try to stabilise Afghanistan. If we are able to assist them in doing that, it also builds confidence in their government," Vilsack told reporters.

With 80 percent of income generated from agriculture and only half of the country's arable land currently used, Vilsack said there was "tremendous upside" although he conceded the challenges were huge.
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 CIA Bomber in Video With Taliban Leader
Tape Surfaces Showing Jordanian Who Killed CIA Operatives in Afghanistan Vowing Revenge for Killing of Taliban Figure
Article Link

A Jordanian doctor-turned-suicide bomber and triple agent who killed 7 CIA agents and a Jordanian intelligence agent in Afghanistan on December 30, appeared in a video broadcast by a Pakistani TV station on Saturday, meeting with Pakistan's main Taliban leader, and provoking widespread reaction over his ties with militants on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border.

The video showed Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the 32-year-old Jordanian doctor - reportedly a spy recruited by the CIA Jordan's intelligence services and Taliban militants - sitting besides Hakimullah Mehsud, leader of Pakistan's Taliban militants, reports CBS News' Farhan Bokhari. 
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 Afghanistan to Take Over Bagram Prison
VOA News 09 January 2010 
Article Link

fghan officials are set to take over responsibility for the U.S.-run detention facility at Bagram Air Base.

Afghanistan's Defense Ministry announced that a transfer agreement was signed Saturday.

The site, near Kabul, has been used to hold detainees captured during the U.S. and NATO-led offensive against the Taliban beginning in 2001.

A new facility was opened in November of last year, and was designed to provide better living conditions for the inmates than the previous jail.

Prisoner abuse was reported taking place at Bagram, including beatings and lengthy detentions without charge.

Human rights groups have long criticized the facility, complaining that detainees are not given access to lawyers.

The U.S. Defense Department set up a system last year to allow prisoners to challenge their detention through special representatives, not lawyers.

About 700 detainees are being held at Bagram.
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## MarkOttawa (12 Jan 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND JAN. 12

Afghanistan: surging into 2010
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Jan. 12
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1263313928

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (15 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 15, 2010*

Japan Ends Refueling Ships in Support of War in Afghanistan
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By Sachiko Sakamaki and Takashi Hirokawa
Article Link

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Japan today will end its refueling of ships in the Indian Ocean to aid U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.

Hatoyama thanks navy personnel who provided fuel and water to ships from Pakistan, the U.S. and other countries, and said Japan will continue to participate in the international efforts against terrorism, according to a statement. Japan in November said it will provide as much as $5 billion over five years to help in the reconstruction of war-torn Afghanistan.

“I think more direct, civilian assistance is important for Afghanistan to secure economic stability and peace,” Hatoyama told reporters today in Tokyo. 
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 Bin Laden's photo digitally updated for age, beard
Article Link

The U.S. State Department has updated its 1998 file photo of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, digitally altering it to account for a decade of age and possible changes in his facial hair.

There is a $25 million bounty on bin Laden's head for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. Bin Laden is now 52. And he is believed to be hiding in the lawless Pakistan frontier bordering Afghanistan, though his exact whereabouts have been unknown since late 2001, when he and a small contingent of body guards walked out of the Tora Bora mountains, evading air strikes and U.S. special forces and Afghan militias,

The photos and bounty on bin Laden and 41 others wanted for terrorism is on the State Department's web site rewardsforjustice.net.
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 Canadian soldier suffers non life-threatening injury at U.S. military base
Article Link
(CP) – 1 day ago

OTTAWA — A Canadian soldier training for a mission to Afghanistan has been wounded at a live-fire range at a U.S. military base.

The Canadian military says the soldier suffered a non-life threatening wound at Fort Irwin, Calif., on Tuesday.

Public Affairs Officer Capt. Ron Kronstein says the soldier is doing well and will recover.

He says the soldier was airlifted to a military hospital within Fort Irwin, about 200 kilometres northeast of Los Angeles, then transferred to a local medical facility for further treatment.

The soldier's unit or base of origin will not be released.
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 Rocket strikes diplomatic area in Afghan capital
Article Link

A rocket slammed Friday into a Kabul district housing several embassies, the latest in a series of attacks in the Afghan capital despite heavy security measures.

No casualties were reported in the nighttime blast, which occurred in the Wazir Akbar Khan district that includes the German, Japanese and British embassies. Police said the rocket landed on a sidestreet and broke a few windows.

Such attacks are far rarer in Kabul than in Baghdad during the height of the Iraq war, when the Iraqi capital was shaken daily by numerous explosions. 
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Army files charges against Spc. Alexis Hutchinson - single-mom who refused to deploy to Afghanistan

By Joe Ellingham Daily News Staff Writer Thursday, January 14th 2010, 4:05 PM
Article Link

Grandma needs to step up - that's the message the Army gave in filing criminal charges against a 21-year-old single-mom soldier who refused to deploy to Afghanistan last year, arguing she had no family able to care for her infant son.

Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, an Army cook, could face prison and a dishonorable discharge if she's convicted by a court-martial, ABC News reported. But first, an officer will be appointed to decide if there's enough evidence to try a case against her.

Hutchinson, of Oakland, Calif., was set to deploy to Afghanistan Nov. 5, but skipped her unit's flight, saying the only relative who could take care of her 10-month-old son — her mother — backed out on her.

The Army requires all single-parent soldiers to submit a care plan for dependent children before they can deploy to a combat zone, ABC News said.
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## GAP (18 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 18, 2010*

 Frontline troops in Afghanistan to receive ‘Sharpshooter’ rifles
Article Link

Soldiers in Afghanistan will be issued with a new rifle this year. More than 400 Sharpshooter rifles which fire a 7.62mm round, are being bought as part of a £1.5 million “urgent operational requirement”, the Ministry of Defence said. Quentin Davies, the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, said: “Troops in Afghanistan are already bristling with a variety of weapons. The Sharpshooter adds to this arsenal, and provides an additional, highly precise, long-range capability.”

The MoD said the weapons were the first new, infantry rifle in more than two decades. Colonel Peter Warden, a team leader at Defence, Equipment and Support said: “[This] has been bought to fulfil a specific role.” 
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 2 Chinese, 4 Afghans kidnapped in Afghanistan
Article Link

wo Chinese engineers and four Afghans have been kidnapped by gunmen in northwestern Afghanistan, an official said Monday.

The six men were seized late Saturday while traveling back to their base after a day working on a road construction project, according to Abdul Sattar Barez, the deputy provincial governor of Faryab province.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. Afghan police and intelligence services were searching for the men.

Kidnappings - mostly of Afghans - for ransom or for political reasons are on common in Afghanistan, where violence has made efforts to rebuild the country costly and dangerous. 
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 Rare bird's breeding ground found in Afghanistan
Article Link

The first known breeding area of one of the world's rarest birds has been found in the remote and rugged Pamir Mountains in war-torn Afghanistan, a New York-based conservation group said Monday.

A researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society stumbled upon the small, olive-brown large-billed reed warbler in 2008 and taped its distinctive song - a recording experts now say is probably the first ever. He and colleagues later caught and released 20 of the birds, the largest number ever recorded, the group says. 
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 Suicide attackers, gunmen hit central Kabul 
Article Link

 Taliban gunmen launched a brazen and brutal attack in the heart of Kabul Monday morning, storming government buildings, a bank and a busy market close to the Presidential Palace.

At least 20 militants, including suicide bombers, struck at symbols of the Afghan government in an effort to undermine the authority of President Hamid Karzai, who is poised to launch a new reconciliation program with the Taliban and swear in a new cabinet.

Gunmen also attacked the Central Bank, the Serena Hotel and the Ariana cinema, all frequented by Westerners.
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 Gunmen Kill Afghan District Chief, 5 Others
  Article Link

Police say six people, including a district chief, have been killed in a militant ambush in western Afghanistan.

Regional police spokesman Raouf Ahmedi says gunmen opened fire from several directions at a convoy traveling near the Chishti Sharif district in Herat province.

He says the district chief was killed Sunday along with the local director of criminal investigation, another employee, a bodyguard and two policemen.
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 Afghan Soldiers Learn to Fire Artillery
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment RSS Story by Pfc. David Hauk
Article Link

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPERWAM GHAR, Afghanistan – For years, armies across the world have been using artillery to add considerable fire power for their forces. For the troops of the Combat Support Battalion, 2nd Kandak, the effective use of artillery is a relatively new concept.

To help the new Afghan national army recruits to understand the importance, Canadian troops have been giving the soldiers lessons with artillery.

"We are grateful that the Canadians are here to help," said ANA Pvt. Shirali Kamawall.

The training has taken place on a group of D-30 122 mm Howitzers the unit has stationed near Forward Operating Base Sperwam Ghar. It was difficult for the ANA at first, but they are now taking every lesson in stride, said Canadian Master Corporal Eric Levesque, a mentor from 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery stationed at Canadian Forces Base Shilo, in Manitoba.
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## MarkOttawa (19 Jan 2010)

*Afghanistan, Haiti: multiple deployments*
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Jan. 19
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1263932944

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (21 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 21, 2010*

 Bombs and baksheesh
As Afghan security forces contain an attack in Kabul, they still await a government worth fighting for
Jan 21st 2010 
Article Link

TERRORISM and guerrilla warfare are often intended as macabre theatre. And so it was on January 18th when teams of Afghan fighters and suicide-bombers slipped though concentric rings of checkpoints and brought mayhem to the centre of Kabul. They struck as President Hamid Karzai was swearing in members of his cabinet. Nearby, to the sound of explosions and gunfire in the streets, foreign guests were huddled in the Serena hotel, the target of two previous attacks. Smoke billowed out of a shopping centre. The Taliban kept up an online commentary on the progress of its “martyrdom-seekers”.

It was in some ways the most audacious attack on the capital since the American-led intervention in 2001—an act of armed propaganda to demonstrate that neither Mr Karzai nor his foreign supporters could protect the centre of Kabul. It was certainly not the launch that Mr Karzai wanted for his new government, just ten days ahead of a big conference on Afghanistan in London; plans to hold a second meeting in Kabul this spring may be in doubt. And it raises questions about the recent claim by General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander in Afghanistan, that “the tide is turning” against the Taliban, now that the first units of the 40,000-odd “surge” troops he has been promised are starting to deploy.

Yet on closer examination the attack offers some glimmers of hope. Afghan intelligence appears to have been tipped off about the impending attack, and security forces were on heightened alert. In contrast with past attacks, when insurgents were able to enter the Serena hotel, government buildings and a UN housing compound, this time the attackers were repulsed from ministries and other big targets.
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 U.S. ambassador puts brakes on plan to utilize Afghan militias against Taliban
Article Link

By Greg Jaffe and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 21, 2010; 10:52 AM

The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and senior Afghan officials have resisted moving forward with a bold and potentially risky initiative to support local militias in Afghanistan that are willing to defend their villages against insurgents, according to U.S. officials.

Their concerns have slowed the implementation of a key effort to provide security in places where there are relatively few NATO forces or Afghan police and Army units. U.S. military officials had wanted to get the initiative -- developed under the leadership of Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan -- off to a quick start this year.

The plan was to take advantage of the emergence of informal village security forces that were taking up arms against outside insurgents. The hope was that the new program could yield thousands of new security forces relatively fast, bridging the gap until more Army and police forces could be trained. But before the initiative can be implemented on a broader scale, Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry must approve the release of more money for it. 
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 NZ SAS Afghanistan presence questioned
Article Link

 An attack which killed a dozen people in Kabul on Monday shows the presence of the New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS) in Afghanistan is not the solution to the country's problems, Opposition MPs say.

Prime Minister John Key yesterday confirmed a small group of SAS soldiers were at the scene of the attack, where Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers struck the heart of Kabul.

It triggered a battle that left three members of the Afghan security forces and two civilians dead, and 71 people wounded. Seven militants were also killed, either by blowing themselves up or by being shot dead by the security forces.

Several children were also briefly taken hostage, a security official said, in the most dramatic strike on Kabul since the Taliban laid siege to government buildings in February 2009, killing at least 26 people.

No members of the SAS were injured during their limited involvement while responding to the assault in the Pashtunistan Square at about 9.30am local time, Mr Key said. 
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  Queens Man Plotted Against U.S. Troops in Afghanistan: Prosecutors
By ALICE MCQUILLAN Tue, Jan 19, 2010
Article Link

Federal prosecutors Tuesday said the Queens man accused of training in an al Qaeda camp had planned to kill American servicemen in Afghanistan.

     Adis Medunjanin went to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan in August 2008 "with the intent to kill U.S. service members in Afghanistan," said James Loonam, an assistant United States Attorney.  He added that prosecutors "anticipate additional charges" against Medunjanin.
   
Medunjanin, 25, a Bosnian born U.S. citizen, has pleaded not guilty and his defense attorney Tuesday again claimed after the brief hearing that authorities had improperly questioned his client after he had crashed his car on the Whitestone Expressway January 7th. Medunjanin had apparently been trying to shake an FBI surveillance, sources have said.
    
His associate, cab driver Zarein Ahmedzay, may face additional charges, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday in another proceeding at Brooklyn Federal Court. For now, Admedzay, a 24-year old Afghani immigrant, is accused of lying to FBI agents investigating a terrorism case.  His defense attorney did not make a bail application Tuesday and both suspects remain behind bars.
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## GAP (25 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 25, 2010*

 Taliban kill seven US 'spies' in Pakistan: police
Article Link
(AFP) – 1 day ago

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan — Taliban militants shot dead seven men in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal belt after accusing them of spying for the United States, officials said Sunday.

The bullet-ridden bodies of five men were found on Sunday dumped by the side of a road in Kamsarobi village, 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Miranshah, the main town in the semi-autonomous North Waziristan tribal region.

"Taliban killed five men overnight, accusing them of spying for Americans to help them launch drone attacks," local police official Mehboob Shah told AFP.

"A note found on the body said that the victims were spying on Taliban and anyone doing the same would be killed in this manner," he added.

The body of a sixth man was found in Qutabkhel village, five kilometres (three miles) south of Miranshah, with a similar note from the Taliban, Shah said, adding that he too appeared to have been shot dead overnight.
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Britain halts exports of anti-bomb device
Article Link
Britain has banned the export of a handheld bomb-detection device to Iraq and Afghanistan, months after the U.S. military warned that the product is ineffective and fraudulent.
By DANICA KIRKA AND MEERA SELVA The Associated Press

LONDON — Britain has banned the export of a handheld bomb-detection device to Iraq and Afghanistan, months after the U.S. military warned that the product is ineffective and fraudulent.

The ADE651 device made by the British company ATSC is used at security checkpoints across Baghdad, and its makers claim it can detect explosives at a distance.

But Britain's Department for Business Innovation and Skills halted the export of the ADE651 after a BBC-TV "Newsnight" investigation Friday challenged its effectiveness.

The broadcaster took the key aspects of the device to a laboratory, which concluded that a component intended to detect explosives contained technology used to prevent thefts in stores.

"Tests have shown that the technology used in the ADE651 and similar devices is not suitable for bomb detection," the department said in a statement.

A British news agency reported that police have arrested the company's director on suspicion of fraud.

The findings on the ADE651 back up the U.S. military, which has had concerns about the device for months
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 Bombs kill 2 international troops in Afghanistan, rocket strike at major base wounds 8
By Amir Shah (CP) – 2 hours ago
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan — Bomb strikes killed two NATO soldiers - a Briton and a Norwegian - while a rocket attack at the major international military base in southern Afghanistan wounded eight other international troops, officials said Monday.

The violence came three days before a London conference on Afghanistan that is expected to focus on a government plan to reintegrate Taliban militants willing to lay down their arms.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, said the Taliban could be part of a peace agreement if an influx of 37,000 foreign troops succeeds in bringing stability to the country.

"As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting, and that what we need to do all of us is to do the fighting necessary to shape conditions where people can get on with their lives," he said in an interview published Monday in the Financial Times. "I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past."
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 Nato forces in Afghanistan to launch Helmand offensive
Article Link

UK and other Nato troops are to launch an offensive to take back areas of southern Afghanistan, the British general in charge of forces there says.

Maj Gen Nick Carter said the operation would "assert the control" of the Afghan government in parts of Helmand now controlled by the Taliban.

He told BBC Radio 4's The World At One that Helmand was "a work in progress, with parts simply ungoverned".

There have been 251 UK service member deaths in Afghanistan since 2001.

Gen Carter said that if parts of Helmand were governed at all, "it's by parallel governments provided often by the Taliban". 
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Suspected U.S. drone goes down at Pakistan border
Article Link
A suspected U.S. drone crashed in Pakistan's lawless tribal area near the Afghan border Sunday, a rare mishap for a program Washington has increasingly relied on to kill Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents.
By RASOOL DAWAR The Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A suspected U.S. drone crashed in Pakistan's lawless tribal area near the Afghan border Sunday, a rare mishap for a program Washington has increasingly relied on to kill Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents, said intelligence officials and a local resident.

Local tribesmen in North Waziristan were congratulating each other for shooting down the drone, said resident Saudur Rehman. But the Pakistani army rejected similar claims after a drone crashed in neighboring South Waziristan in 2008, saying it was a technical problem.

"I saw that the aircraft was coming down and finally crashed in an open area a distance from me," said Rehman, who indicated he heard gunfire just before the crash. "Tribesmen are celebrating and congratulating each other for shooting it down."

The crash occurred around 6 p.m. in the Hamdhoni area of North Waziristan, some 2.5 miles northwest of the main town of Miran Shah, said two intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
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 National Post editorial board: Time for some straight talk on Afghanistan
Posted: January 25, 2010, 9:00 AM by NP Editor  Canadian politics
Article Link

Auditor-General Sheila Fraser returned from a five-day visit to Afghanistan Friday with an important message for Canadians, and some crucial questions.

Ms. Fraser, whose job is to track the billions of dollars Ottawa spends and the government’s efficiency in spending it, had words of praise for efforts to rebuild Afghanistan and train Afghans to take control of their own civic structures.

“[There’s] really a strong development component to [the mission], which I don’t think Canadians are aware of,” Ms. Fraser pointed out. “Some of these very significant training and development projects ... aren’t going to be accomplished in a year or two years, so what is the plan for sustainability for these projects?”

Jobs, education and a sense of hope are at least as crucial to warding off a return of Taliban tyranny as tanks and troops. And while public attention naturally concentrates on the drama of combat, the benefits of good roads and reliable power systems continue long after the soldiers have left. 
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 Afghan warlord courts Canada 
Article Link

e's eradicated opium poppies, driven out the Taliban, and brought prosperity to his province. Now Atta Mohammad Noor is promising Canada a better return on its aid investment

Sonia Verma

Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan — From Monday's Globe and Mail Published on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010 9:45PM EST Last updated on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010 9:48PM EST

From a plush chair, behind a hand-carved desk crowded with custom china and a tissue box made entirely of gold, Atta Mohammad Noor rules his province with an iron fist.

In the five years since the former warlord was crowned provincial governor of Balkh, he's defied every odd: He's eradicated poppy cultivation and driven out the Taliban. He's sowed security that's fuelled stunning economic growth.

Under his forbidding watch, Balkh has become a model of peace and prosperity for the rest of Afghanistan. Now, Mr. Noor has a modest proposal for Canada: “Your country is spending billions of dollars in Kandahar, but you are also losing lives. ... The Taliban are killing your sons, burning your schools and your clinics,” he points out, seated beneath a gild-framed oil painting of Hamid Karzai, his political rival.

“If you spent money in my province, where there is safety and security, we can deliver results,” he promises, with a wave of his hand and flash of his diamond-studded watch.
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 US commander signals peace talks with Taliban
Article Link

Nato's top commander in Afghanistan has said increased troop levels could bring a negotiated peace with the Taliban.

US Gen Stanley McChrystal told the UK's Financial Times newspaper that there had been "enough fighting".

He said a political solution in all conflicts was "inevitable". His remarks came as the top UN envoy in Kabul said it was time to talk to the militants.

Afghan and Pakistani leaders are in Turkey to discuss tackling the Taliban-led insurgency in their countries.

This is the fourth such meeting initiated by Turkey, which has offered to broker talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

Both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, will attend an international conference on Afghanistan in London on Thursday. 
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## GAP (26 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 26, 2010*

 Merkel Says Germany to Add 500 Troops in Afghanistan
Article Link

Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will send 500 additional German troops to Afghanistan, bowing to U.S. pressure to widen a mission that most Germans reject.

The extra troops will protect the civilian population and train Afghan forces to help President Hamid Karzai’s government assume more responsibility for security, Merkel said. Another 350 soldiers will be put on standby for Afghanistan, she said.

“I think this will get a positive reception,” Merkel told reporters in Be
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 ‘Firing on all cylinders’
Military up to demands of Haiti, Afghanistan, MacKay says
By BRUCE ERSKINE Staff Reporter Tue. Jan 26 - 4:54 AM
Article Link

Defence Minister Peter MacKay acknowledges that the sudden mission to Haiti, in addition to Canada’s commitment to Afghanistan and to security at the upcoming Olympics in Vancouver, is placing extra demands on the Armed Forces.

But he said the military is up to the task.

"They can handle it. The question is, for what period of time? But one thing I know about the Canadian Forces is they are extremely adept at planning. They’re very flexible with their ability to deploy with new equipment," he said in Halifax on Monday.

"We are firing on all cylinders now, going at a very high tempo, but the good news is we’re responding brilliantly, the men and women in uniform have done yeoman service on all of these missions and our recruitment continues to be very high."
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 NATO weighs Taliban truce in plans for Afghan peace 
Article Link
Doug Saunders updated on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 7:47AM EST

After hitting southern Afghanistan with tens of thousands of additional soldiers in an effort to weaken a resurgent Taliban, the NATO-led military alliance is considering a plan to end the war by entering power-sharing negotiations with Taliban leaders and former fighters.

The scenario of a negotiated peace and a joint government involving the Taliban, once considered unlikely and controversial, is gaining momentum ahead of a critical summit on Afghanistan in London on Thursday.

Within a 24-hour period, senior figures in the Afghan government and the United Nations – and perhaps most startlingly, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan – all endorsed seeking some form of peace settlement with the Taliban, which has battled Western forces to a standstill in the war-torn southern provinces. 
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 UK Afghanistan ambassador Mark Sedwill given Nato role 
  Article Link
The UK's ambassador in Kabul is to be the new Nato senior civilian representative for Afghanistan.

It is expected Mark Sedwill, who has been based in Afghanistan for about a year, will work on its development and the implementation of civilian aid.

He will also work closely with the commander of the Nato-led force there, Gen Stanley McChrystal.

And he will direct the non-military work of the 43 nations involved in the Nato-overseen operation.

Western countries engaged in Afghanistan are set to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai and scores of other officials from the region in London on Thursday to discuss how to reinvigorate civilian and military operations in the country. 
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 Car Bomb Wounds 6 Near US Base in Afghan Capital 
Article Link

A Taliban suicide car bomber struck near a military base in Afghanistan's capital Tuesday, wounding at least six people, Afghan and NATO officials said.

The militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message to The Associated Press from a phone number commonly used by the insurgent group. The target was an international military convoy, the extremist group said.

An AP reporter at the scene saw the wreckage of a vehicle from afar. U.S. soldiers had blocked off access to the site right outside Camp Phoenix, an American base inside Kabul.

The attacker was driving a minibus laden with explosives that wounded at least six Afghan civilians when it went off, said Jamil Jumbish, the head of Afghanistan's criminal investigation unit. Jumbish said he had no reports of deaths but added that he did not know if there were any casualties among NATO forces.
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 Sarkozy reaffirms no combat troops for Afghanistan
Article Link

French President Nicolas Sarkozy reaffirmed Monday that France will not send combat troops to Afghanistan but groups of trainers on a prime-time television appearance, days ahead the crucial Afghan conference to be held in Britain.

"It has been a year and a half since I demanded the parliament send 700 extra soldiers and I said no more troops, I am trying to stick to my engagement and words," Sarkozy said in a short interview with French political channel TF1.

"If we want to reinforce the training force for (Afghan army), to regulate Afghan police, to realize the work of civil security, then why not," Sarkozy added three days before the Afghanistan Conference to be held in London, the capital of Britain on Jan. 28.

NATO allies including France and Germany, the United Nations, representatives of Afghanistan and its neighbors will attend the international conference focusing on the future stability of Afghanistan.
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## GAP (27 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 27, 2010*

 UN eases sanctions on five Taliban leaders 
Article Link
The United Nations has removed five former Afghan Taliban officials from its sanctions list which was imposed because of alleged links to al-Qaeda.

The UN said the five would no longer be subject to international travel bans and a freeze on their assets.

Separately, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a fixed date to pull troops from Afghanistan would be a mistake.

She was speaking with Afghan President Hamid Karzai ahead of Thursday's London conference on Afghanistan.

The UN Security Council sanctions panel "approved the deletion (de-listing) of the five entries" from its blacklist of individuals subjected to a travel ban, assets freeze and arms embargo, the UN said in a statement.

The five men are former members of the Taliban government, and were put on the UN blacklist in 2001.
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 Australian Security Contractor Sentenced to Death in Afghanistan 
Article Link
By ROD NORDLAND and WAHEED ABDUL WAFA
Published: January 27, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan — An Australian security contractor working for an American company has been sentenced to death by an Afghan court for murdering a colleague and then trying to cover up the crime by staging a Taliban ambush.

It is the first time a foreigner working with the NATO coalition has been sentenced to death in Afghanistan.

The contractor, Robert Langdon, a 38-year-old who worked for a New Mexico-based security company called Four Horsemen International, was convicted of murder last October and sentenced to death, but the authorities kept quiet about the case.

It became public on Wednesday after an appeals court upheld the sentence and, in response, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia said his government would ask for clemency. An Australian Foreign Ministry statement said the country would make a “high-level” and “vigorous” lobbying effort to at least commute the death sentence, but a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, Zahir Faqiri, said that “so far we have not received any official protest from the government of Australia.”

The appeals court judge, Abdul Salam Qazizada, said the cold-blooded nature of the attack and its cover-up justified the sentence.

He said that the victim, who used the single name Karim, was the team leader of a group of Afghan security guards working for Mr. Langdon, who was in charge of escorting a coalition supply convoy from Kabul to Ghazni in May 2009. Mr. Karim.
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## GAP (29 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 29, 2010*

 Ottawa adds $25M to fight Afghan drug trade
Article Link

Ottawa is stepping up its efforts to combat the opium trade in Afghanistan and in turn tighten the flow of money to insurgents, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Thursday.

Cannon, who is attending the London Conference on Afghanistan, announced the federal government is contributing $25 million toward counter-narcotic efforts, including improvements to policing and the criminal justice systems. That brings Canada’s commitment to $55 million since 2007.

“Canada recognizes that developing strong and effective counter-narcotics measures in Afghanistan is a vital element in the effort to help Afghans gain the security they need to build a long-term, stable, and prosperous future,” Cannon stated in a release.

“The ultimate goal is to assist Afghanistan as it transitions toward taking responsibility for its security, as the people of Afghanistan rebuild their country as a stable, democratic and self-sufficient society.”
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 Canada won't commit money Taliban fund: Cannon
Article Link
Peter O’Neil, Europe Correspondent, Canwest News Service  Published: Thursday, January 28, 2010

Canada's foreign affairs minister said Thursday he's "extremely confident" the Afghan government and its western allies are on track to turn the tide on that country's powerful insurgency.

But a cautious Lawrence Cannon refused to commit Canada financially to a controversial proposal by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to create a US$500-million fund to convince so-called "soft" Taliban fighters to renounce terrorism in exchange for jobs, housing and a role in government.

Mr. Cannon also said Mr. Karzai's promise to confront rampant corruption and his country's "culture of impunity," first made after his fraud-tainted summer election victory, has to be backed by action.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2496056#ixzz0e0p96CwA
The National Post is now on Facebook. Join our fan community today.
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 Trained dogs sniff out hidden bombs in Afghanistan
Article Link
By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU The Associated Press Friday, January 29, 2010; 2:31 AM

TORA, Afghanistan -- A French officer unleashed Arry, and the tall and muscular dog went to work.

Wagging his tail in the early morning chill, he ran under four Afghan tractor-trailer trucks, sniffing at the exhaust pipes and motor. He then jumped into the cabins, slipping behind the driver's seat and sticking his nose into the glove compartment. A driver's partially eaten snack was ignored.

In less than 10 minutes, the trucks were cleared for entry to Tora Forward Operating Base in eastern Afghanistan, and Arry started barking for more.

The U.S. and its allies are turning increasingly to sniffer dogs to counter roadside bombs and suicide attacks, a major threat in the Afghan war. They can locate low-tech devices without metal parts or traditional explosives, which are nearly impossible to find with mine-detection equipment. The use of so-called "undetectable" bombs appears to be on the rise in Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan's south and east. 
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 Gunmen holed-up in building in southern Afghanistan
Article Link

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Four gunmen wearing suicide vests were locked in a gunbattle with Afghan security forces inside a building in southern Afghanistan on Friday, a police official said.

World

Abdul Qayum, a senior police official at the scene, told Reuters he could hear the sound of rocket-propelled grenades and heavy gunfire. He did not have any more details.

There are more than 110,000 international troops in Afghanistan, including some 70,000 Americans, fighting a resurgent Taliban that have spread their attacks out of traditional strongholds into other previously peaceful areas.

To try and turn the tide, Washington is sending 30,000 more troops this year and other nations are sending some 7,000 more.
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 U.S. adds more troops to Canada-led Afghan battle group
Article Link 
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceJanuary 28, 2010

As Afghan President Hamid Karzai extended an olive branch to Taliban fighters and warlords to lay down their arms in return for money at an international conference in London, another U.S. army unit has received orders to join the war as part of the Canada-led "super brigade" in Kandahar.

The 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division is to be placed under Canadian command in March when it arrives from Fort Drum in upstate New York.

"Their arrival is key for us because they will help us to finalize the ring of stability around Kandahar City," Canadian Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard said in an interview. "2010 is the year that we have to make it happen. The only way to do that is to stop talking and to go out and protect the population so they have an alternative to the insurgency."

The incoming unit — between 400 and 500 troops — is to be one of the first U.S. army formations to deploy from the U.S. as part of a surge of 30,000 additional forces that President Barack Obama announced late in 2009.
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 Official: 44 militants killed in Pakistan
Article Link
By HABIB KHAN The Associated Press Friday, January 29, 2010; 8:19 AM

KHAR, Pakistan -- Pakistan security forces battled militants close to the Afghan border Friday in fighting that has killed 44 suspected insurgents over the last three days, a government official said.

There was no independent confirmation of the fighting or the identities of the dead in Bajur, a tribal region where al-Qaida and Taliban have long had a presence. The Pakistan army launched a major operation in Bajur against the militants in 2008 that it claimed had cleared the area of militants, but clashes have continued since then. 
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 French minister: No more combat troops to Afghanistan
By Tom Evans, CNN January 29, 2010
Article Link

France will not send any more combat troops to Afghanistan, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told CNN Thursday, reinforcing his country's opposition to joining the U.S.-led surge there.

Kouchner, speaking with CNN's Christiane Amanpour from the one-day meeting on Afghanistan that drew representatives from more than 60 countries and organizations to London, said, "No more fighters. We are in charge. We don't want to send more troops to fight."

But Kouchner did not rule out the possibility of sending more trainers for the Afghan army and police. France currently has about 3,500 troops in Afghanistan, just over a third the number that Britain has deployed there.
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 U.S. cool to Karzai plan on Taliban
At a London gathering, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai details a peace initiative aimed at reconciling with the insurgency's top echelon. The U.S. approach is more limited.
 By Paul Richter January 29, 2010
Article Link

Reporting from London - Afghan President Hamid Karzai told world leaders Thursday that he intends to reach out to the top echelons of the Taliban within a few weeks, accelerating a peace initiative that has troubled U.S. and many other Western leaders.

Karzai told officials of nearly 70 countries and of international aid groups at a gathering in London that he is seeking the mediation of Saudi Arabia and the blessing of Pakistan to try to negotiate peace with the leaders of the militant movement that was driven from power a little more than eight years ago.

The initiative is delicate for the Obama administration, which wants peace in Afghanistan but is sensitive to concerns about making peace with an opponent that has killed well over 1,000 Western troops and been blamed for aiding in the 9/11 attacks.

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## MarkOttawa (29 Jan 2010)

Reconciliation and Reintegration
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Jan. 29
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1264787149/0#0

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (29 Jan 2010)

Afghan Taliban leader ready to end al-Qaida ties, says former trainer
Article Link
Mullah Muhammad Omar 'a good man' and wants peace in Afghanistan, says Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar

The Taliban leader in Afghanistan, Mullah Muhammad Omar, is ready to break with his al-Qaida allies in order to make peace in the country, according to the former Pakistani intelligence officer who trained him.

Brigadier Sultan Amir Tarar, a retired officer with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, said: "The moment he gets control the first target will be the al-Qaida people. He wants peace in the country, he doesn't want adventure. He has enough of that."

If accurate, his assessment would be a major boon to western countries scrambling to find a negotiated solution to the Afghan war. Talking to the Taliban was the principal focus of a major conference on Afghanistan held in London this week.

But how to divorce the Taliban from its al-Qaida allies who have provided funding, expertise and ideological drive over the past eight years is one of the major headaches facing diplomats and intelligence officers.

Few know the Taliban as well as Tarar, who is sometimes called the "godfather of the Taliban" owing to his pivotal role in fostering the group's emergence during the chaos of Afghanistan's 1990s civil war.
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 U.N. Mission Head in Afghanistan Met With Taliban Envoys 
Article Link

Members of the Taliban leadership met with a United Nations official earlier this month to discuss the possibility of entering into face-to-face peace talks with the Afghan government, American and United Nations officials said Friday.

Kai Eide, the United Nations’ special representative in Afghanistan, met with a group of Taliban leaders in the days leading to this week’s international conference in London, where President Hamid Karzai invited the Taliban to enter peace talks.

“He wanted to test for himself the mindset of some of the Taliban leaders,” said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was briefed by Mr. Eide on the talks. The discussions were confirmed by a United Nations official in Kabul.
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## GAP (31 Jan 2010)

*Articles found January 31, 2010*

 Canadian envoy: wooing Taliban may leave others out
Article Link
CTV.ca News Staff  Sunday Jan. 31, 2010 8:57 AM ET

There is "no point" in offering money to Taliban fighters to lay down their arms unless the same economic opportunities are being given to ordinary Afghans, the Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan said Sunday, days after world leaders pledged millions of dollars to lure militants to a negotiated peace.

Last Thursday, representatives from 70 countries mapped out an exit strategy from Afghanistan at a conference in London, a plan that calls for the Afghan National Army to take over internal security within the next three years.

President Hamid Karzai also vowed to crack down on corruption, which has undermined his government's credibility with both the Afghan people and the international community.

The delegates also supported Karzai's calls to negotiate with Taliban fighters who are willing to cut ties with al Qaeda and other militant groups.

While world leaders pledged funding for Karzai's plan to offer jobs, housing and other incentives to marginal Taliban members who rely on their militant bosses for a meagre living, they did not agree to an exact figure.

However, some estimates say international allies will contribute at least US$500 million to the fund.

Ambassador William Crosbie told reporters Sunday that funds should also be extended to Afghans who have not joined the years-long insurgency so they don't feel that ex-Taliban fighters are getting a better deal.

"There's no point developing some kind of a fund to which former insurgents are eligible if we're not equally providing support to Afghans who are not part of the insurgency now," Crosbie said. 
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 Peace for sale in Afghanistan?
Article Link
Paying off Taliban fighters could stop bloodshed, but may risk funding even more violence
By GREG WESTON, QMI Agency Last Updated: 29th January 2010

As Canada marches towards an honourable exit from the Afghanistan war next year, the U.S. has decided if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em.

The American and British governments have both agreed to back a new strategy to try to bribe rank-and-file Taliban fighters to lay down their arms in return for jobs, education, farmland and good old-fashioned cash.

The plan was approved at a 60-nation conference in London last week, and is bound to cause no end of indigestion in high places in this country.

The new “peace and reintegration fund” would apparently be used to lure the estimated 70% of mainly low-ranking Taliban fighters who joined the military for economic rather than ideological reasons.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, for one, was at the London conference, and didn’t exactly jump at the chance to use tax dollars to enrich Taliban fighters who have been killing our troops.

“I think it’s probably too early ... to start looking at whether or not Canada is going to participate financially,” Cannon told reporters after the London confab.
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 Olympics, Haiti won't affect Afghan deployment: Senior general
Article Link 
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceJanuary 29, 2010

Although Canadian troops were "ferociously busy," the commander of the army has concluded that the current humanitarian operation in Haiti and security demands for the upcoming Olympics will not affect scheduled deployments to Afghanistan.

"My guys have just gone through all the math (and) there is no impact on the current rotation lengths, tour gates for the deployed forces or those going into Afghanistan between now and the end of the mission," Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie said in a telephone interview Friday after returning to Ottawa, following a visit with nearly 4,000 Canadian troops at Fort Irwin, Calif., who are training to deploy to Afghanistan later this year.

Leslie's comments will put to rest speculation among the nearly 3,000 Canadian soldiers now in Afghanistan and those serving elsewhere about what effect the sudden dispatch of about 1,500 Canadian troops to Haiti this month to help earthquake survivors might have on a force that is being seriously stretched by the Afghan combat mission and a massive security operation for the Vancouver Olympics that involves another 4,000 Canadian troops.
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 Afghan interpreter shoots dead two US soldiers 
Article Link

Two US soldiers who died in eastern Afghanistan on Friday were shot dead by an Afghan interpreter, it has emerged.

A Nato official said the translator gunned down the US soldiers before other soldiers shot him dead at an outpost in Wardak province.

A US military official told Reuters news agency the attacker seemed to be a "disgruntled employee", not a militant.

Also in Wardak province, four Afghan soldiers died in an apparently bungled coalition air strike.

Afghanistan's defence ministry demanded punishment for those behind the air strike; Nato said the deaths were "regrettable" and announced an investigation.

The shootings involving the translator and the air strike were not thought to be related. 
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 US Marines facing a 'different war' in Afghanistan
Article Link
By Jason Gutierrez (AFP) – 11 hours ago

SOUTHEAST OF MARJAH, Afghanistan — For the US Marines deployed to the battlefields of southern Afghanistan, life is fragile and thoughts focus on the day they see their families again, but something about this war is different.

They are preparing for an offensive on Marjah, one of the Taliban's big urban strongholds in the southern province of Helmand, but progress is slow with the militants apparently preferring fight to flight.

The Marines will soon be joined by tens of thousands more soldiers, the lion's share of the 30,000-strong troop surge promised by US President Barack Obama in December to try and turn around the grinding Afghan war.

A foot patrol for one platoon of Marines ends with a dash under a hail of bullets across a heavily-mined poppy field.

The soldiers have been pinned down in a muddy mound, the thorny weeds cutting through skin. They recover soon enough, however, manoeuvring away from the Taliban's crosshairs and driving them away with heavy machine-gun fire.

"I pray in the morning and at night, hoping that someone up there is looking after me," says Lance Corporal Justin Blancas, serving with the Marines 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment Alpha Company's 2nd Platoon.
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 A Look at America’s New Hope: The Afghan Tribes
Article Link
By RUHULLAH KHAPALWAK and DAVID ROHDE
Published: January 29, 2010

For three decades now, Communism, civil war and Islamic fundamentalism have laid siege to Afghanistan’s tribes. In many ways, Afghanistan’s tribal structure is arguably the weakest it has been in the country’s history.

Nonetheless, American civilian and military leaders are turning to some of these tribes as potentially their best hope for success against the resurgent Taliban after being frustrated by the weak central leadership of President Hamid Karzai.

Tribes have existed for millennia in the area that is present-day Afghanistan. They emerged over centuries in various sections of the country, taking form along extended kinship lines. Led by councils of elders, tribes provided their members with protection, financial support, a means to resolve disputes, and punishment of those who had committed crimes or broken tribal codes of conduct.

For Pashtuns, the country’s largest ethnic group and the Taliban’s primary source of support, tribes are particularly important. Successfully turning Pashtun tribes against the Taliban — or perhaps families or sub-tribes if they deal with the government on their own — could deliver a serious blow to the insurgency and potentially create a means of stabilizing the long-suffering country. 
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 Troops detain Taliban commander in S. Afghanistan
Article Link
KABUL, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) --

 Afghan and the NATO-led forces, during a joint operation in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, arrested a Taliban commander, said a statement of the NATO-led forces released here on Sunday.

"An Afghan-international security force captured a militant while pursuing a Taliban IED (Improvised Explosive Device) commander in Kandahar province yesterday," the statement said.

However, it did not mention the name of the commander, but said that during the operation in Shah Wali Kot district, the joint force came under small arms fire and the forces returned fire, suppressing the threat.
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Air strike kills four in apparent friendly-fire mishap in Afghanistan
By Rich Schapiro DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Sunday, January 31st 2010, 6:36 AM
Article Link

A joint U.S.-Afghan force ordered an air strike on an Afghan Army post after the two sides clashed Saturday, killing four soldiers and triggering outrage from officials.

Though both NATO and Afghan officials called the deadly encounter southwest of Kabul a case of mistaken identity, it threatens to further harm the fragile relations between the two sides.

The apparent friendly fire incident came just a day after a disgruntled Afghan interpreter gunned down two U.S. soldiers in the same district before an American soldier shot him dead. NATO officials said the attacks appeared unrelated.

Saturday's battle erupted after U.S. Special Forces and Afghan commandos approached a remote outpost operated by Afghan soldiers.
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