# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread September 2009



## GAP (31 Aug 2009)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread September 2009  *               

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


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## MarkOttawa (31 Aug 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND AUG. 31

Snafu in Afghanistan (long article)
German Troops Bemoan 'Criticial' Deficits in Training and Equipment
_Spiegel Online_, Aug. 31
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,646085,00.html



> Damning reports are emerging from Germany's military forces in Afghanistan, claiming that cooperation with civilian agencies is abysmal, equipment is lacking and training is insufficient. With the US preparing to pressure Berlin to send more troops, there are now increasing calls for "urgent improvements."..
> 
> ...the Bundeswehr also has to deal with some serious problems of its own, particularly its non-functioning logistical supply system. According to internal reports on the lack of supplies, German troops often have to wait months for urgently needed materiel, which creates a "permanent administration of scarcity."
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (1 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 1, 2009*

 CFB Shilo Troops Prepare for Tour
Last Updated Mon, 31 August 2009 06:50:50 PM
Article Link

Z Troop is preparing to leave for Afghanistan. The 31 members of the troup started training together back in January, and finished in June. With deployment not till October, Exercise Brave Ram is keeping the troops’ skills on the gun line fresh. It’s hard to prepare for such an unpredictable job.

“It could be the middle of the night and they’re calling it in. We’re up and we’re firing support, right there and then, no warning,” says Capt. Adam Bradley, Z Troop’s Commander. “It’s just literally in the middle of the night, fire mission troop move. And that’s what we do. And that’s what we train for more than anything else, is making sure that our guys are fast and accurate.”

The gun line shoots at targets that are between five and 10 kilometres away. They’re practicing with 105 mm projectiles. The accuracy of the guns and troops using them is tested and fine. Targets during training could be an old truck hull or plywood structure.

“In the artillery we have double checks,” says Troop Leader Lt. Colin Mayes. “So you will do something, then someone else will double check that to make sure it’s good, so that it’s always safe.”

There will be 168 members of the Canadian Forces based in Shilo sent to Afghanistan this fall for a six month tour. The gun line is just one line of defense, and the troop practices accordingly.

“We were firing on a target, we’ve gone and checked firing so we’re going to stop,” says Capt. Bradley, as fighter jets fly overhead. “They’re going to bring in the planes, they’re going to come in and use whatever assets they have, so that’s like the cannons or the bombs, whatever, and hit the target. They’re going to pull out of the way. Once they’re clear, we’re going to continue to engage with the guns.” 
End

 Arms Supplier Admits Guilt in Pentagon Contract 
Article Link

By C. J. CHIVERS
Published: August 31, 2009

An arms dealer in Miami Beach who had extensive business with the Pentagon to supply ordnance for Afghanistan’s security forces pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy. The dealer, Efraim E. Diveroli, left, of AEY Inc., admitted that he had arranged the repackaging of millions of old, made-in-China cartridges for assault rifles, and then had certified that they had been made in Albania. As part of a plea agreement, the government dropped more than 80 other charges. Two other men who worked for AEY on the Afghan contract have also pleaded guilty. A fourth man is awaiting trial. At his sentencing on Nov. 10, Mr. Diveroli, 23, could receive up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 
end

 A 'civilian surge' to Afghanistan is just starting
By ROBERT BURNS (AP) – 19 hours ago
Article Link

WASHINGTON — Five months after President Barack Obama ordered a dramatic increase in American civilian experts in Afghanistan to undergird a new military push, the so-called civilian surge is moving too slowly, U.S. officials and outside experts warn.

In place are fewer than one-quarter of the extra civilians expected to provide expertise in law, agriculture, engineering and other areas deemed vital to stabilizing Afghanistan. At that pace, according to military and political leaders, the U.S. risks losing a critical opportunity to boost the war effort amid a resilient Taliban insurgency, waning public support and the deployment of thousands more American troops.

Obama administration officials often promote the idea of linking civilian and military tools of influence, calling the strategy "smart power." However, Anthony Cordesman, a civilian military analyst who spent July in Afghanistan advising Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander there, said the intention to beef up the civilian side does not match reality.

"We need to stop talking about 'smart power' as if we had it," Cordesman said at a Brookings Institution forum last week. "We don't have the civilians in the field."

Those at the highest levels of the U.S. military are concerned, too.

"Our ability to bring civilians in and surge those civilians ... has not moved at a pace that probably we would like it to," Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress in July.
More on link

Suspects Detained in Deadly Afghan Bombing
Soldier Killed, CBS Reporter Badly Wounded in Roadside Bomb Attack; Afghan Official Sought 3 Suspects' Release
Article Link

The U.S. military has detained three people in connection with the roadside bombing in Afghanistan that claimed the life of an American soldier and badly wounded CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick.

The three suspects were taken to an U.S. detention facility at Bagram Air Base after investigators gathered forensic evidence from the scene, including fingerprints from the vehicle wreckage and the discovery of explosive residue on at least one of the suspects, reports CBS News correspondent David Martin.

Shortly after the suspects were taken into custody, an Afghan official tried to convince the Americans that they had the wrong men. That piqued the interest of investigators because the cell phone of one suspect had a number for an office in the Afghan Defense Ministry in Kabul, reports Martin. There have been allegations of widespread corruption in that ministry and other arms of the Afghan government. 
More on link


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## GAP (2 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 2, 2009*

Misconduct Claimed at U.S. Embassy in Kabul
By GINGER THOMPSON  September 2, 2009
Article Link

WASHINGTON — Security at the United States Embassy in Afghanistan has been seriously compromised by mismanagement and misbehavior among civilian guards and their supervisors, according to reports by a Congressional subcommittee and a nonprofit oversight organization.

In a report delivered Tuesday to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Project on Government Oversight accused ArmorGroup North America, which was hired in 2007 to provide security, of “a pattern of blatant and longstanding violations,” which resulted in a “pervasive breakdown” in discipline and morale among guards at the embassy in Kabul, which employs about 1,000 people, including American diplomats and staff members as well as Afghans.

Much of the report echoes the same warnings issued by a Senate subcommittee months ago, including reports that many guards spoke so little English that they communicated by pantomime, and that staffing shortages meant guards had to work 14-hour shifts for weeks at a time.

The report delivered Tuesday also includes anonymous testimony from dozens of American guards who provided lurid details of hazing and other abuses.
More on link

U.N. Sees Afghan Drug Cartels Emerging
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.  September 2, 2009
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan — Though the Afghan opium harvest has declined for the second consecutive year, a new United Nations report says, there is growing evidence that some Afghan insurgent forces are becoming “narco-cartels” — similar to anti-government guerrilla groups in Colombia — that view drug profits as more important than ideology.

Afghanistan’s multibillion-dollar illicit narcotics industry finances much of the country’s insurgency, and the influence of drug money is a major reason the Afghan government is considered among the most corrupt in the world.

Afghanistan’s production of opium, the raw material for heroin, declined by 10 percent this year, and the amount of land used to cultivate opium fell by 22 percent, according to a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that is to be formally released Wednesday.

The smaller harvest, largely attributed to market forces and heightened interdiction efforts, is a rare bit of good news for the United States and the coalition of Western governments whose troops and taxpayers are supporting what even American commanders describe as a deteriorating situation as the war approaches its ninth year.

But while United Nations officials suggested that some opium-trafficking guerrillas were now less focused on Taliban ideology, they also reported that perhaps more than 10,000 tons of illegal opium — worth billions of dollars and enough to satisfy at least two years of world demand — is now secretly stockpiled. They said they were concerned that part of this stockpile could be a “ticking bomb” in the hands of people who could use it to pay for “sinister scenarios.”

Opium is easily smuggled and stored and “is an ideal form of terrorist financing,” Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said in an interview. “It’s a huge amount of money to have in the wrong hands.” He called on intelligence agencies to investigate the stockpiles.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (2 Sep 2009)

U.S. to boost combat force in Afghanistan
Support units will be replaced by up to 14,000 'trigger-pullers,' and noncombat posts will be contracted out, Defense officials say. The swap will allow the U.S. to keep its troop level unchanged.
_LA Times_, Sept. 2
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/afghanistan/la-fg-afghan-troops2-2009sep02,0,6170770.story



> U.S. officials are planning to add as many as 14,000 combat troops to the American force in Afghanistan by sending home support units and replacing them with "trigger-pullers," Defense officials say.
> 
> The move would beef up the combat force in the country without increasing the overall number of U.S. troops, a contentious issue as public support for the war slips. But many of the noncombat jobs are likely be filled by private contractors, who have proved to be a source of controversy in Iraq and a growing issue in Afghanistan.
> 
> ...



Taliban Surprising U.S. Forces With Improved Tactics
Obama Facing Major Strategy Decisions
*Washington Post*, Sept. 2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/01/AR2009090103908.html



> The Taliban has become a much more potent adversary in Afghanistan by improving its own tactics and finding gaps in the U.S. military playbook, according to senior American military officials who acknowledged that the enemy's resurgence this year has taken them by surprise.
> 
> U.S. rules of engagement restricting the use of air power and aggressive action against civilians have also opened new space for the insurgents, officials said. Western development projects, such as new roads, schools and police stations, have provided fresh targets for Taliban roadside bombs and suicide attacks. The inability of rising numbers of American troops to protect Afghan citizens has increased resentment of the Western presence and the corrupt Afghan government that cooperates with it, the officials said.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (3 Sep 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 3

NATO chief: mission to last 'as long as it takes'
AP, Aug. 28
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jbOytu3-ng3UhATYJleTNddH3b2AD9ABUJIO0



> ...
> [Turkish foreign minister Ahmet] Davutoglu said Turkey would increase the number of its troops to 1,600 from the current 795 when it takes over the rotating command of the NATO peacekeeping operation in Kabul in November
> [Regional Command Capital, now commanded by French, see placemat here].
> http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/epub/pdf/placemat.pdf
> ...



Turkey to Increase Military Presence in Afghanistan 
Bloomberg, Aug. 28
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=antR6z3rnTPQ



> ...
> [New NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh] Rasmussen thanked Turkey for its contribution and called for “even more,” particularly trainers to help develop Afghanistan’s own security forces. Davutoglu said Turkey is already helping with training and didn’t make any new pledge...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (4 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 4, 2009*

 Britain cannot walk away from Afghanistan: Brown
Fri Sep 4, 2009 6:12am EDT By Adrian Croft
Article Link

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his slim chances of winning an election undermined by attacks on his Afghan policy, will confront critics on Friday by saying that Britain cannot walk away from the war.

Brown is under fire from opposition Conservatives, the media and retired generals who accuse him of putting British soldiers' lives at risk in Afghanistan by failing to give them enough helicopters or sufficiently armored vehicles to survive roadside bombs.

He suffered a further blow when a parliamentary defense aide resigned on Thursday in protest at the government's strategy.

Britain has 9,000 troops battling Taliban insurgents, the second largest foreign contingent after the United States.

Polls suggest public opinion is increasingly against the conflict after some 40 British soldiers died there in the last two months. Further heavy British casualties could damage Brown in a national election due by next June which the opposition Conservatives are on track to win.
More on link

 Soldiers compete in Exercise Mountain Man
By KRISTY BROWNLEE, Sun Media 3rd September 2009
Article Link

A soldier, gearing up for his first deployment to Afghanistan next month, got a taste of the gruelling desert heat.

Cpl. Paul McKinnon, 24, raced more than 50 km today, while hauling a 15-kg pack, for the military’s Exercise Mountain Man competition.

“Physical fitness should be first priority if you’re going to be in a hazardous situation. That in itself can help keep you safe,” said McKinnon, a medic with Edmonton’s 15 Field Ambulance unit.

The temperature reached a high of 32C on race day.

Only a handful of the 152 competitors are preparing for deployment, as the training for overseas missions is difficult to juggle with race preparation, said Maj. Gerhard Hildebrandt, with the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

But the physical fitness of military personnel is “incredibly important,” said Hildebrandt.
More on link

 Canada to stage mock Afghan attack in Washington 
Article Link
Paul Koring Washington — Sep. 04, 2009 08:56AM EDT

The Taliban will attack an Afghan village set up in the heart of Washington courtesy of the Canadian Forces, who will send in a medic in a dramatic effort to save a civilian crippled by the explosion.

At least four times over two days this month, simulated IED blasts will bring the Afghan war – and Canada's combat role in Kandahar – home to Americans if an elaborate scheme based on modern training realism attracts widespread attention, as is hoped.

“If this works the way I want it to, more Americans will know what Canada is doing in Afghanistan,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Martin, a military attaché at the Canadian embassy.

A clutch of top American generals, powerful Capitol Hill players and Afghan experts from both sides of the border are expected at the two-day conference hosted by the embassy.
More on link


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## GAP (6 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 6, 2009*


 Canada to surrender control of Afghan hospital
 By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 3
Article Link

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Canada is not leaving its combat role in southern Afghanistan for another two years, but a key command element is slated to return home in October.

Forty-four months after taking on what NATO intended to be a one-year assignment, the Canadian Forces will finally surrender control of the Role 3 Multinational Hospital at Kandahar Airfield, which has seen a major increase in trauma cases as the war turned bloodier this summer.

Unlike the decision to withdraw combat troops in 2011, this one has nothing to do with politics in Ottawa.

Like so much else connected to the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. military is taking over the world-class trauma facility, which is run out of a labyrinthine warren of makeshift plywood buildings and khaki modular tents protected by slabs of concrete near the world's busiest runway.

"This is our last time to shine and we are shining right now," said Col. Danielle Savard, a career soldier who is the first woman and the first pharmacist to run the hospital. "If you reach Role 3, your chances are pretty good that you will survive."
More on link

  Sobeys' customers play Santa Claus for Canadian troops
Care pacakges shipped out of Barrie to Afghanistan today
Updated 1 day ago
Article Link 

BARRIE — Two years ago in Angus, Matthew Derouin, a Sobeys manager, began Operation Santa Claus in conjunction with a program called Support of Our Troops.

"This program was run quietly out of one store, raising enough funds to send all 3,500 troops care packages," said Deurouin in a release.

Last year, the program expanded to four stores in the local area, including Barrie, Angus and Alliston and result in 4,700 care packages overseas.

Now, this past year, 15 stores in Ontario have been involved and that number is expected to climb.

The program ran throughout August and resulted in Sobeys' customers getting the chance to buy a Support Our Troops ribbon for $2. The money from those sales went towards the purchase of care packages to send overseas.

More than $80,000 was raised, double the expected goal, to fill the packages. 
More on link

 Francophone entertainers mingle with Canadian troops at Kandahar Airfield
By Bill Graveland (CP) – 2 days ago
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — When it comes to Canada's role in Afghanistan, a change of venue has resulted in a change of heart for Quebec songstress and actress Annie Dufresne.

Dufresne, 36, is one of a group of francophone entertainers who arrived Thursday at Kandahar Airfield to entertain Canadian troops, many of them from Quebec's Royal 22e Regiment, the Van Doos.

Dufresne, who got her first movie role at 16 years old in "Reveille ton reve" and is in the more recent hit "Les Boys," is also a singer-songwriter with two solo albums under her belt.

Like many of her fellow Quebeckers, Dufresne has long counted herself among those who would prefer to see the 2,700 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan at home instead.

No longer, she said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"I thought we were not supposed to be here," Dufresne said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "But now I changed my mind."

"Me, I am profoundly for peace . . . I think all people should have the right to go to school and have the right to live in peace," she said.
More on link


 'Scores dead' in Pakistan offensive
Article Link

At least 43 fighters have been killed by troops in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber region, government officials say.

At least 15 fighters were killed on Saturday in the first clash, while 28 others were killed in air raids on suspected fighters' hideouts, the officials said on Saturday.

"Our forces targeted a headquarters of Lashkar-e-Islam and about 15 militants were killed in the attack," a Frontier Corps spokesman in Peshawar , the capital of NWFP, said.

Lashkar-e-Islam is under the command of Mangal Bagh, an ethnic Pashtun fighter.

The group is suspected to have links with al-Qaeda and has been a main target of the latest government offensive in Khyber, which authorities say has killed scores of suspected fighters.

The Khyber operation was launched about a week ago after a suicide bombing at a border checkpoint killed 19 police officers.

Tariq Hayat, a senior government official in Khyber, said the operation would continue until all fighters were flushed out of the region.
More on link

 In Afghanistan, less armor may be more
In an effort to gain the trust of Afghan civilians, U.S. commanders are calling on troops to be respectful drivers and to consider long-term benefits of getting out and mixing. But there are qualms.
Article Link

Reporting from Tagab Valley, Afghanistan - As the radio crackled with a report that nearby soldiers had come under attack, the mood among Georgia National Guard members in their heavily armored truck grew tense.

They were entering a stretch of road known as "the Gantlet" for its frequent small-arms fire and roadside bombs. Earlier in the summer, three members of the company were killed in a roadside blast not far away.

Staff Sgt. Rodney "Bull" Bettis gave the driver a warning: Don't slow down.

Speeding up is a common response to the rising threat from roadside bombs all around Afghanistan, an instinctual response to mortal danger.

But the new U.S. and allied commander wants troops to think twice before barreling through Afghan villages and cities.

"We send a message that we don't care about them, that our safety is more important than theirs," Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal told his regional commanders during a morning briefing this summer.

McChrystal said he has his own convoy move with the traffic, perhaps going even a bit slower. He never waves other vehicles off the road.
More on link

 Pentagon seeks stability in Afghanistan deployments
As part of the counterinsurgency mission, US Army units will return to the same regions in order to build on experience and develop stronger relationships on the ground.
By Gordon Lubold | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor September 5, 2009 edition
Article Link

Washington - The US Army announced that it would begin deploying the same headquarters units to the same regions in Afghanistan in a sign that the new US commander is serious about creating an effective counterinsurgency mission there.

The announcement Thursday comes as the US assesses the form and size of its commitment in South Asia and what the top commander there, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, deems is necessary to get the job done.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Great Britain made a forceful speech Friday outlining why British troops must continue fighting there amid waning public support in both the UK and the US for some have called in comparison to Iraq "the righteous war"

The Pentagon announcement Thursday means that the Army will deploy the same three or four division headquarters to the same regions in Afghanistan to maintain relationships with the Afghan people. Normally, units rotate in and out depending on the availability of forces – whoever is free, goes. Now there will be some predictability of units in Afghanistan. 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (7 Sep 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 7

Europe 'big three' call for Afghanistan conference
AFP, Sept. 7
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090907/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestgermanybritaindiplomacy_20090907045611



> Britain, France and Germany have unveiled proposals for an international conference on Afghanistan later this year in order to press Afghans to take more responsibility for their own country...
> 
> The conference, the location of which is yet to be decided, "is to create some momentum and to say that we are now coming to a transitional phase following the second presidential election" in Afghanistan, she said.
> 
> ...



Afghan airstrike roils Germany election campaign
_German troops' involvement in a strike that killed Afghan civilians has again galvanized antiwar sentiments weeks before the vote, leaving the government scrambling to defend the mission._
_LA Times_, Sept. 7
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/afghanistan/la-fg-germany-afghan7-2009sep07,0,959965.story



> Reporting from Berlin - Even if an election was not looming in Germany, the involvement of the nation's military in an airstrike in Afghanistan that left scores dead and wounded would have intensified political debate about the German role in the region.
> 
> The fact that Friday's attack, which both U.S. and Afghan authorities say killed some civilians as well as militants, occurred three weeks before Germans go to the polls has magnified its effect -- one commentator likened it to a "political fragmentation bomb." And it has ensured Afghanistan a place at the center of what had been a lackluster campaign.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (8 Sep 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 8

Afghan Reaction To Strike Muted
Anger at Taliban, Apology by U.S. Deflect The Usual Outrage Over Civilian Deaths 
_Washington Post_, Sept. 8
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/07/AR2009090701920.html?sid=ST2009090400002



> KABUL, Sept. 7 -- When U.S. warplanes bombed two stolen fuel trucks in northern Afghanistan early Friday, causing an explosion that incinerated civilians as well as insurgent fighters, the incident could easily have turned into a propaganda opportunity for the Taliban.
> 
> Instead, popular and official reaction to the lethal airstrike has been far more tolerant than after similar past incidents. There have been no angry demonstrations against Western occupiers, and no blistering condemnation by President Hamid Karzai or local authorities. So far, not even the families of the dead have come forward to protest.
> 
> ...



US Gen Stanley McChrystal rebukes Germans over Afghan strike that killed civilians
America’s senior commander in Afghanistan rebuked his German subordinate on Monday as the Nato allies exchanged recriminations over an air strike that claimed at least 54 lives.
_Daily Telegraph_, Sept. 7
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6153097/US-Gen-Stanley-McChrystal-rebukes-Germans-over-Afghan-strike-that-killed-civilians.html



> German troops in Kunduz province summoned a US F-15 jet to destroy two fuel tankers, which had allegedly been hijacked by Taliban insurgents.
> 
> When the fighter dropped two 500lb bombs, the explosions ignited the cargo of liquid fuel, causing a fireball that engulfed a crowd of people.
> 
> ...



Merkel Defends German Afghan Role as War Tops Election Agenda
Bloomberg, Sept. 8
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aXNiZfiWnib0



> Chancellor Angela Merkel said German troops will remain in Afghanistan to fight international terrorism, rebuffing criticism of the mission after an air strike in which scores of Afghans died.
> 
> Merkel, addressing a special session of parliament in Berlin today, likened the Sept. 4 bombing to a magnifying glass that focused “all of the fundamental questions that must be answered by our mission.”
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (8 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 8, 2009*

  Germany’s Merkel under siege after Afghanistan airstrike
The deadliest use of force by German troops since World War II has ignited a debate among an increasingly skeptical electorate.
By Robert Marquand | Staff writer 09.08.09
Article Link

PARIS - German chancellor Angela Merkel, with furor at home over a deadly Afghan airstrike ordered by a German commander, told parliament today she “deeply regrets” the loss of innocent life but said the case should not be “prejudged” – an effort to push the radioactive issue past Sept. 27 elections, analysts say.

The airstrike ordered by Col. Georg Klein in Kunduz, Afghanistan, killed civilians as well as Taliban, according to a NATO report Tuesday. The deadliest use of German military force since World War II has injected an intense, emotional debate about the war in Afghanistan into a German election that had been devoid of the subject until now.

Germany and other European nations are unlikely to abruptly change their Afghan missions in the short term, despite high levels of public dissatisfaction. But German, French, and British leaders this week began to signal that their commitment is not indefinite.
More on link

 Panel Orders Recount as Tally Gives Karzai 54%
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan — The United Nations-backed commission serving as the ultimate arbiter of the Afghan elections announced Tuesday that it had found “clear and convincing evidence of fraud” in a number of polling stations and ordered a partial recount even as election officials declared that President Hamid Karzai had won a majority of the vote.
More on link

  U.S. troops stormed Afghan hospital, aid group says
updated 8:32 a.m. EDT, Mon September 7, 2009
Article Link

 KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN)  -- U.S. soldiers searched a hospital in central Afghanistan for Taliban fighters, tying up hospital guards and entering women's wards in violation of local customs, an aid worker said Monday.

The soldiers raided the hospital Wednesday night in Wardak province, said Anders Fange, the country director of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.

The troops, from the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division, said they were looking for suspected Taliban fighters in the hospital, he said.
More on link


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## GAP (9 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 9, 2009*

 Reporter freed, commando killed in Afghan raid
Updated Wed. Sep. 9 2009 8:42 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

A British commando has died during a daring rescue mission in Afghanistan, which saw a New York Times reporter freed from captivity and his translator killed.

Reporter Stephen Farrell and his translator, Sultan Munadi, had been held captive in the northern province of Kunduz since the weekend. They were rescued Wednesday after a group of commandos dropped from helicopters onto the house where they were being held.

Farrell, a dual Irish-British citizen, told the Times that he saw his colleague step forward into a volley of bullets during the raid, after yelling "Journalist! Journalist!"

He then heard British voices and yelled "British hostage!" Farrell was ordered to come over to their position, which is when he saw what had happened to Munadi.

Farrell said he did not know if his colleague had been felled by insurgent or commando fire.

Munadi and Farrell had travelled to the area following a NATO air strike on a pair of hijacked fuel tankers last Friday. They had intended to interview villagers about the incident, but were instead captured and held captive by Taliban insurgents. 
More on link

 Harper's fate tied up with Karzai's 
Article Link

Hamid Karzai's woes are Stephen Harper's woes.

With a federal election increasingly likely, Tuesday's confirmation of widespread fraud in the Afghanistan presidential election from a United Nations-backed election monitoring team is politically dangerous news for the Conservative Prime Minister, putting at even greater risk the Conservatives' embattled redoubt in Quebec and handing the NDP fresh ammunition in battleground ridings, especially in British Columbia.

The Afghan President is, after all, the Canadian Prime Minister's guy. The Conservative government has backed the Karzai administration despite widespread allegations that the regime is a corrupt kleptocracy, funnelling vast sums of aid and local revenues to friends and relations while sustaining unsavoury former warlords neck-deep in the drug trade. 
More on link

 Analysis: Afghan highway symbol of mission in crisis 
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN)  -- Paid for with U.S. dollars, Afghanistan's Highway 1 was supposed to symbolize a path toward a bright future when it was repaved five years ago.

 The $300 million project smoothed over the highway's rough potholes and cut in half the 12-hour drive time from the capital, Kabul, to the country's political center, Kandahar.

But today, roadside bombs have re-scarred the road, and Taliban militants routinely stage brazen attacks on its travelers.

The journey between the two cities now takes at least nine hours, and people risk their lives when they travel on the road.

"It's been blown up by landmines, and there is no security on it," truck driver Mohammed Qasim said.
More on link

  Spain considers sending 200 more troops to Afghanistan
Article Link

    MADRID, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish prime minister said Saturday his country would send more troops to Afghanistan to increase the country's military presence there to 1,000.

    Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said over the "Onda Cero" radio that the defense minister would put to the parliament for approval a request of sending more troops to Afghanistan.

    Spain currently has some 800 troops stationed between the Afghan provinces of Herat and Badghis.

    Spain is in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) that has a combined total of 55,000 troops.

    Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon said earlier: "If the post-election security conditions (in Afghanistan) require an increase in troop numbers, I will ask the Parliament to sanction it."

    The mandate issued by the Spanish Parliament does not allow Spanish forces in Afghanistan to engage Taliban insurgents unless being directly attacked first. 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (9 Sep 2009)

'We're pinned down:' 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush
McClatchy, Sept. 8
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/75036.html



> GANJGAL, Afghanistan — We walked into a trap, a killing zone of relentless gunfire and rocket barrages from Afghan insurgents hidden in the mountainsides and in a fortress-like village where women and children were replenishing their ammunition.
> 
> "We will do to you what we did to the Russians," the insurgent's leader boasted over the radio, referring to the failure of Soviet troops to capture Ganjgal during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (10 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 10, 2009*

 Australia to deploy Israeli-made UAVs in Afghanistan
By ASSOCIATED PRESS 
Article Link

Australian Defense Minister John Faulkner announced on Monday that the Royal Australian Air Force would begin deploying the Israel Aircraft Industry-made Heron unmanned aerial vehicle during missions in Afghanistan.

The announcement follows an agreement between Australia and Canada, whose armed forces work closely together in Afghanistan. According to the deal, the RAAF will lease the UAV from the Canadians for an estimated US $81 million.

The Heron UAV operates at an altitude of 30,000 feet, and can remain in the air for up to 40 hours. 
More on link

 Suicide Bomber Strikes at Gate to Kabul Airport
By VOA News 08 September 2009
Article Link 

A suicide car bomber killed three Afghan civilians in Afghanistan's capital Tuesday, while four U.S. soldiers died during fighting in a northern province.  

An Afghan police official said the attacker in Kabul struck a NATO convoy outside the military base at the international airport.  

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, which wounded another six Afghan civilians and three international soldiers - two Americans and a Belgian. 
More on link

 Pakistan resumes polio vaccines halted by Taliban
By ASIF SHAHZAD (AP) – 2 days ago
Article Link

ISLAMABAD — Authorities in Pakistan's Swat Valley have resumed vaccinating children for polio, a practice the Taliban had banned as un-Islamic before they were beaten back by an army offensive.

The last inoculations were administered nearly a year ago, an official said Tuesday.

The Islamist militants, who began taking over the valley in 2007, had declared a campaign to vaccinate against the potentially crippling disease was un-Islamic because it was foreign-funded. Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazullah said the vaccinations were a Western conspiracy to make Muslim children infertile.
More on link


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## GAP (11 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 11, 2009*

 NATO secretary general cancels trip to Ottawa
By Murray Brewster (CP) – 18 hours ago
Article Link

OTTAWA — NATO's secretary general, who recently ruffled feathers by urging Canada to extend its combat mission in Afghanistan beyond 2011, quietly scuttled a planned visit to Ottawa that was supposed to take place over the last few days.

The decision by Anders Fogh Rasmussen to postpone meetings with the Conservative government came as the U.S. turns up the heat on the Netherlands to keep its troops in the war-torn region.

Alliance officials were not immediately available for comment. But Canadian government officials, speaking on background, said the cancellation happened at the last minute after an air force Challenger had been tasked to pick up the secretary general in Norfolk, Va., where he was participating in a change-of-command ceremony.

His plan to visit Ottawa was announced Sept. 2 in a statement at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

In Norfolk, Fogh Rasmussen lamented the growing backlash to the war in Western countries.

"Public discourse on the effort in Afghanistan has started to go in the wrong direction" said a copy of his Sept. 9 speech circulated ahead of time.
More on link

 2 Say They Reported Abuses at Embassy 
By GINGER THOMPSON Published: September 10, 2009
Article Link

WASHINGTON — Two former employees of a private contractor hired to provide security at the United States Embassy in Afghanistan charged that State Department officials were aware as early as 2007 that guards and supervisors were involved in lewd conduct.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, one of the former employees, James Gordon, a native of New Zealand who served as director of operations at the contractor, ArmorGroup North America, charged that he had spoken numerous times with State Department officials about significant problems that threatened security at the embassy. 
More on link

  Top Taliban arrested in Pakistan
Article Link

One of the highest ranking Taliban officials in Pakistan has been arrested with four other senior militants in the country's north-west, officials say.

Muslim Khan was a key spokesman for the Taliban in the Swat valley as well as one of the most senior militant commanders in the region.

The army recently staged an offensive in Swat, which it declared a success.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says this is a milestone for the army's operation there.

One of the chief criticisms of the operation had been that it had failed to net the top Taliban leadership, our correspondent says. These are the first significant arrests.

"Five Taliban commanders, including Muslim Khan, were arrested in a raid," Pakistan army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the BBC.

He gave no details of the raid but strongly denied local media reports that the men had been lured under the guise of talks by the army and then taken into custody.

"This is absolutely incorrect," he said.

Despite the latest arrests, the whereabouts and fate of the Taliban leader in Swat, Maulana Fazlullah, are unknown. 
More on link

 Prince Edward visits British troops in Afghanistan
(AP) – 19 hours ago
Article Link

LONDON — Britain's Ministry of Defense says Prince Edward recently spent two days visiting troops in Afghanistan.

The ministry said Thursday that Edward visited the 2 Rifles Battle Group in the volatile Helmand province and had dinner with the soldiers. The 2 Rifles Battle Group commanding officer Lt. Col. Rob Thomson said the visit this week had been a real boost to the troops.

Buckingham Palace said Prince Edward left Afghanistan on Wednesday evening. Edward is the third son of Queen Elizabeth II and is seventh in line to the throne.
End

Texas couple pleads guilty in Afghanistan fraud
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Article Link

WASHINGTON -- A Houston couple has pleaded guilty in an alleged plot to defraud the U.S. while working as contractors on rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan.

Seventy-three-year-old Delmar Dwayne Spier and his wife, 60-year-old Barbara Edens Spier, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Their plea agreements require them to forfeit $3 million in proceeds from the fraud. Sentencing has not been set.

According to court documents, the Spiers were officers in Houston-based United States Protection and Investigations (USPI), a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
More on link

 Gun Prices Soar As Afghanistan's Postelection Crisis Continues
By Tim McGirk / Kabul Thursday, Sep. 10, 2009
Article Link

The reliable measure of stability in many countries is the value of the currency or the price of equities, bread or fuel — but not in Afghanistan: here the key indicator that nearly every Afghan keeps tabs on is the price of a Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle. And the bad news is that the market is bullish. The stepped-up Taliban offensive and mounting discord over the outcome of last month's election have seen the price of a Chinese-made AK smuggled in from Pakistan rise to $400 from $150 in just three months. "People are arming themselves," a Western official in Kabul noted with alarm.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (11 Sep 2009)

U.S. ratchets up contribution to Canadian task force
Nearly 1,000 troops -- 10 times more than expected -- will join mentors
_Ottawa Citizen_, Sept. 11
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Somnia/1981726/story.html



> Canada's task force in Kandahar is to grow by nearly 1,000 soldiers this month as U.S. troops pour into the provincial capital to work alongside Canadians mentoring Afghan police.
> 
> The move was confirmed by Canadian and American civilian officials based in the violence-plagued southern province. It is part of what may be the first overseas civilian-military co-operation agreement signed between Canada and the U.S. since the Second World War.
> 
> ...



Obama Faces Doubts From Democrats on Afghanistan
NY Times, Sept. 10
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/world/asia/11military.html?ref=todayspaper



> The leading Senate Democrat on military matters said Thursday that he was against sending more American combat troops to Afghanistan until the United States speeded up the training and equipping of more Afghan security forces.
> 
> The comments by the senator, Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, illustrate the growing skepticism President Obama is facing in his own party as the White House decides whether to commit more deeply to a war that has begun losing public support, even as American commanders acknowledge that the situation on the ground has deteriorated.
> 
> ...



Spain sets five-year target for Afghan withdrawal
Xinhua, Sept. 10
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/10/content_12024857.htm



> Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon said on Wednesday that she hoped the country would be able to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan within five years.
> 
> The remarks followed Spain's recent announcement that it would send another 220 soldiers to the Central Asian country to help in the continued struggle against the Taliban.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## MarkOttawa (11 Sep 2009)

Afghanistan: mission possible
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Sept. 11
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1252694655

Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (12 Sep 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 12

Senate Armed Services Chairman: No More U.S. Troops to Afghanistan (bit of repetition, but more detail in full story)
Fox News, Sept. 11
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/11/senate-armed-services-chairman-troops-afghanistan/



> ...
> The debate whether to send more combat troops to Afghanistan took a twist reminiscent of the Iraq conflict when the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday advised not sending any more U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan beyond those already approved by President Obama until more Afghan security forces are trained.
> 
> Speaking on the eighth anniversary of the date the United States was attacked by terrorists trained in Afghanistan, Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., also called for a shift in U.S. efforts toward more trainers, who could, in part, be supplied by NATO allies. He said he would like a plan for Afghanistan that would replicate the "Sons of Iraq" strategy to separate low and mid-level Taliban fighters in Afghanistan from the leadership of that terrorist group.
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## CougarKing (13 Sep 2009)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090913/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan



> *Official: Dozens of Taliban killed after US deaths*
> 
> 1 hr 8 mins ago
> KABUL – *A battle in western Afghanistan that included airstrikes killed dozens of Taliban militants after an insurgent ambush left three U.S. troops dead, an Afghan official said Sunday.
> ...


----------



## GAP (14 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 14, 2009*

 Germany ponders Afghanistan exit strategy
By GEIR MOULSON (AP) – 20 hours ago
  Article Link

BERLIN — Germany's foreign minister on Sunday advocated laying the foundations by 2013 for an eventual withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who he is challenging in elections later this month, said it makes sense to exert pressure on Kabul to ensure progress. The country's unpopular mission in Afghanistan, where it has more than 4,200 troops, has been put in the spotlight by a German-ordered airstrike near Kunduz in which civilians appear to have died.

Merkel last week joined the French and British leaders in calling for a new international conference on Afghanistan to be held this year, hoping to accelerate and improve training of local forces and lay out a timetable in which Afghans can take back full control.

On Sunday, the weekly Der Spiegel reported that a paper drawn up for Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the conference should "not satisfy itself with vague targets" and that foundations for a withdrawal should be laid in Germany's next four-year parliamentary term.

Steinmeier, asked about that Sunday in a television debate with Merkel, stressed that he didn't envision 2013 as a withdrawal date. He did not specify one.
More on link


 Senate Armed Services Chairman: No More U.S. Troops to Afghanistan
The debate whether to send more combat troops to Afghanistan took a twist reminiscent of the Iraq conflict when the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday advised not sending any more U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan beyond those already approved by President Obama until more Afghan security forces are trained. 
FOXNews.com Friday, September 11, 2009 
Article Link

The debate whether to send more combat troops to Afghanistan took a twist reminiscent of the Iraq conflict when the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Friday advised not sending any more U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan beyond those already approved by President Obama until more Afghan security forces are trained. 

Speaking on the eighth anniversary of the date the United States was attacked by terrorists trained in Afghanistan, Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., also called for a shift in U.S. efforts toward more trainers, who could, in part, be supplied by NATO allies. He said he would like a plan for Afghanistan that would replicate the "Sons of Iraq" strategy to separate low and mid-level Taliban fighters in Afghanistan from the leadership of that terrorist group.

Levin added that more equipment could be moved from Iraq to Afghanistan as U.S. efforts wind down in Iraq.

"In order to succeed in Afghanistan we need a surge of Afghan forces," Levin said, adding that "we have not done nearly enough."

If the shift is not made, "I think it's less likely we'll succeed in Afghanistan," he said.
More on link

 Afghanistan's stunt double 
Article Link
Peter Cheney Yuma, Ariz. — Monday, Sep. 14, 2009 05:44AM EDT

Riding with the 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron is Apocalypse Now from the other side of the camera: We're blasting across the desert fast and low, with a pair of black machine guns jutting from the wide-open side doors. The gunners perch on the edge, wearing monkey-tail leashes in case they fall out.

During a strafing run on a simulated Taliban encampment – a collection of steel shipping containers and abandoned cars in the desert near the Mexican border – a hurricane of noise and hot air blows through the cockpit. The temperature outside is over 45 C. Each gun fires six high-powered rounds a second.The helicopter is a CH-146 Griffon that looks like a high-tech version of a Vietnam-era Huey. At the controls is Lieutenant-Colonel Jeff Smyth, who has racked up more than 3,000 hours in the Griffon and makes the desert mission look easy. It isn't.
More on link

 U.S. Gives New Rights To Afghan Prisoners
Indefinite Detention Can Be Challenged
Article Link
By Karen DeYoung and Peter Finn Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, September 13, 2009

Hundreds of prisoners held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan will for the first time have the right to challenge their indefinite detention and call witnesses in their defense under a new review system being put in place this week, according to administration officials. 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (14 Sep 2009)

Obama's War: A City Quietly Falls
In Kandahar, a Taliban on the Rise
U.S., NATO Struggle to Check Insurgents in Key Afghan Area
_Washington Post_, Sept. 14
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/13/AR2009091302950.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009091302958



> ...
> The slow and quiet fall of Kandahar, the country's second-largest city, poses a complex new challenge for the NATO effort to stabilize Afghanistan. It is factoring prominently into discussions between Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the overall U.S. and NATO commander, and his advisers about how many more troops to seek from Washington.
> 
> "Kandahar is at the top of the list," one senior U.S. military official in Afghanistan said. "We simply do not have enough resources to address the challenges there."
> ...



More troops boost Canada's Afghan mission
CP, Sept. 13
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/695042



> ...
> Canada has been going it largely alone for the past three years and the reinforcements couldn't come at a better time.
> 
> "It's been a huge bonus. When you think three years ago we were covering this massive region with a single battalion and here today in 2009 *we're covering this region with eight battalions* [emphasis added]," said Chief of Defence Staff General Walt Natynczyk in an interview with The Canadian Press at Forward Operating Base Ma'sum Ghar...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (15 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 15, 2009*

 Ottawa to open doors to local Afghan workers  
TheStar.com September 15, 2009 Bruce Campion-Smith Ottawa Bureau Chief
Article Link

OTTAWA–They are privy to some of military's sensitive strategies in Afghanistan, face death alongside Canadian troops and now will be offered safe haven in Canada.

The federal government is prepared to open its doors to hundreds of Afghan citizens who have worked alongside Canadian soldiers and diplomats in Afghanistan.

The initiative recognizes that Afghans often face risks and reprisals from insurgents as a result of assisting Canadians in the war-torn country.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney will announce the program today as Ottawa releases a report card on its military and development efforts in Afghanistan.

The first choice has been to resettle Afghans and their immediate families in other parts of Afghanistan. But when that's not possible, the federal government will move them to Canada.

In this country, they will be given many of the same benefits as refugees – income support and health care – and be put on the path to obtaining Canadian citizenship.

Canadians in Afghanistan rely heavily on local workers in the camps and as interpreters. 
More on link

UN chief Peter Galbraith is removed in Afghanistan poll clash
Article Link
 September 15, 2009

America’s top diplomat at the United Nations mission in Afghanistan has been ordered out of the country after a row with his boss over how to respond to last month’s fraud-riddled presidential elections, it has been alleged.

The alleged quarrel is threatening to spark a mutiny within the UN mission. At least a dozen senior staff are backing the American, Peter Galbraith, in the dispute with his Norwegian superior, Kai Eide.

Mr Galbraith, a close friend of the US special envoy Richard Holbrooke, left for Boston on Sunday after a heated meeting with Afghan election officials. His “pointed” questions to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) were evidence of a much tougher line towards the Afghan authorities than the “softly-softly” approach of Mr Eide, who heads the UN mission to Kabul.

“The relationship between Kai and Peter has completely broken down,” said a diplomat in Kabul. “Peter has left the country. The official line is that he’s on a three-week mission to New York. But Kai just turned round to Peter and said, ‘I want you out’.” 
More on link

 Veterans' subsidies chopped
 No help with private care: Try Ste. Anne's Hospital or public network, they're told
 By KATHERINE WILTON, The GazetteSeptember 15, 2009
Article Link

Elderly Canadian veterans who can no longer live at home are experiencing delays in getting placed in seniors' residences because Ottawa is no longer providing subsidies to allow them to stay in private care facilities.

The veterans have been told they must wait for a place at Ste. Anne's Hospital for veterans, which has a long waiting list, or find a spot in the public health network.

A social worker who places veterans in care said Veterans Affairs Canada has turned down the request of a few who applied for a subsidy to stay at a private residence. One elderly man is now in a rehabilitation centre waiting for a bed, social worker Bonnie Sandler said. "This population is disappearing ... if you have an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient, why is his life being made more difficult?" she asked. "It's just not fair."
More on link

 Recount ordered at 10 per cent of Afghan vote sites
Tue. Sep. 15 2009 7:36 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

Afghanistan's election commission was ordered Monday to carry out a recount of ballots from roughly 10 per cent of the country's polling stations.

The order came from a U.N.-backed monitoring body that observed the presidential election last month and determined that there were suspicious totals from many of the polls.

President Hamid Karzai has been leading in the election, earlier this month achieving more than 50 per cent of the vote over his main opponent Abdullah Abdullah.

Under Afghan election laws, there is no runoff election after a candidate has passed the 50 per cent mark. 
More on link

 Clinton Aide Takes Responsibility in Afghan Embassy Hazings
By Janine Zacharia
Article Link

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The State Department’s personnel chief took the blame for lewd acts by the guard force at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, a hazing scandal that has raised questions about the outsourcing of diplomatic security.

“As the State Department’s senior management officer, I take responsibility for having failed to prevent them and for not having uncovered them earlier,” Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management, told an oversight panel today of the incidents documented in photographs, testimony and e-mails.

Eight guards assigned to secure the embassy in Kabul have been fired and four quit after appearing in scenes of nudity and drunkenness. In addition, the senior management team in Kabul for the contractor, ArmorGroup North America, is being replaced. ArmorGroup is owned by Wackenhut Services Inc., whose parent company is West Sussex, U.K.-based G4S Plc. 
More on link

 Afghan Detainees to Get Six - Month Reviews - Pentagon
 REUTERS September 14, 2009 
Article Link

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prisoners held at a U.S. base in Afghanistan will have their detention reviewed roughly every six months, officials said, part of efforts by the Pentagon to improve the image of its forces in the country.

The new policy will apply to some 600 Afghans held at a prison at the Bagram air base north of Kabul.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said detainees would be assigned personal representatives drawn from U.S. military ranks on the base to "guide them through the review process" and help gather witness statements that could be used to challenge their imprisonment.

The prison has housed suspected Taliban members since U.S. and Afghan forces overthrew the militants' government in 2001 after the September 11 attacks.

Two prisoners died at the prison in 2002 after being beaten by American soldiers, and human rights advocates say prisoners have been staging protests there for the past few months over the conditions of their detention.
More on link

Germany aims for Afghanistan pull-out in 2013
Article Link
 Tuesday, September 15, 2009

DEREK SCALLY

GERMAN FOREIGN minister Frank Walter Steinmeier has said the country should work towards 2013 as the date to begin its exit of the Nato mission in Afghanistan.

Two weeks before the general election, the proposal from the man hoping to unseat chancellor Angela Merkel comes at a time of increased public discontent at Germany’s deployment of 4,200 soldiers in northern Afghanistan.

In a 10-point policy paper leaked to the German media, the foreign ministry calls for an Afghan conference scheduled for later this year not to satisfy itself with “vague targets” but to lay the foundations for a troop pull-out.

By 2011, German-controlled regions should be run by German-trained a local police force, the paper says, with training facilities converted into administrative buildings. “Our purpose is to make ourselves superfluous in Afghanistan,” said Mr Steinmeier in a televised debate on Sunday evening. “We want to create the conditions . . . by 2013 so that the withdrawal can begin.”
More on link

 Illiteracy concerns military trainers
Article Link

By FISNIK ABRASHI The Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, September 14, 2009 at 9:13 p.m.

KABUL - Afghan army recruit Shahidullah Ahmadi cannot read -- and neither can nine out of 10 soldiers in the Afghan National Army.

And the lack of that skill points to a basic challenge for the United States as it tries to expand the Afghan army.

"If someone calls me and tells me to go somewhere, I can't read the street signs," Ahmadi, 27, a member of a logistics battalion, said while walking through downtown Kabul. "In our basic training, we learned a lot. Some of my colleagues who can read and write can take notes, but I've forgotten a lot of things, the types of things that might be able to save my life."

A private company, Pulau Electronics of Orlando, has been hired to run a program that aims to make 50 percent of the troops "functionally literate," within the first year of its effort.

The speed with which NATO trains and equips more Afghan security forces has become an issue in the United States and among its allies as governments decide whether to commit more deeply to the war against militants in Afghanistan.
More on link


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## GAP (16 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 16, 2009*

Portrait of Valor: Hero of Afghanistan Sgt. Jared Monti Wins Medal of Honor Posthumously
Killed Trying to Rescue Injured Comrade Three Times, Soldier Receives Top Honor
Article Link

Soon after Sgt. Jared Monti died -- killed by a rocket-propelled grenade while trying to save a comrade high in the mountains of Afghanistan in 2006 -- his father Paul found hidden in his son's bedroom drawer a bronze star, five Army commendation medals and four Army achievement medals.

"He never told anyone he won them. He was always very humble. He didn't want accolades. He didn't want medals. He wanted his work to speak for itself. When he was a kid he was never one to jump up and down and say 'look at me,'" said Paul Monti.

Soon Monti, 30, will be awarded another medal, the highest award the U.S. military bestows for bravery -- the Medal of Honor. 
More on link

 Al Qaeda calls for foreign kidnappings in Afghanistan
Wed Sep 16, 2009 3:35am
Article Link

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A senior al Qaeda official has called on the Taliban to kidnap foreign civilians in Afghanistan to force U.S.-led forces to negotiate prisoner exchanges, a former Australian police counter-terrorism analyst said.

The directive has been issued by veteran al Qaeda adviser Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al Masri, and stems from the U.S. detentions in Guantanamo Bay, Leah Farrall told Reuters on Wednesday.

Farrall, who had worked for the Australian Federal Police, said she had found the al Qaeda internet document, written in late July, while completing a PhD on al Qaeda at Monash University in Australia.
More on link

 Karzai secures 54.6% of Afghan vote: first count
By Waheedullah Massoud (AFP) – 1 hour ago
Article Link

KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai won 54.6 percent of the preliminary result released on Wednesday from controversial elections, but his victory is not secure until massive claims of vote fraud are resolved.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) released figures which put Karzai on track to win a second term with more than the necessary 50 percent plus one vote, a clear lead on nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah, who has 27.7 percent.

"Based on the preliminary results that we have announced today, Hamid Karzai is at the front of the queue," IEC official Daud Ali Najafi told reporters.

"This is just the preliminary results, we will have final results when we investigate the (fraud) claims," he said. It was "impossible" to announce Afghanistan's new president on Thursday as originally scheduled, he added.

Turnout was 38.7 percent, he said, with threats of violence by Taliban militants waging a bloody insurgency seemingly keeping people away from the polls.

The total number of ballots cast was 5,918,741 -- 3,093,356 going to Karzai.
More on link

 Guard photos could harm US effort in Afghanistan
(AP) – 2 days ago
Article Link

WASHINGTON — A member of a commission investigating wartime spending says photos of private security guards in various stages of nudity at parties flowing with alcohol may be as damaging to U.S. interests in Afghanistan as images of detainee mistreatment at Abu Ghraib were in Iraq.

Dov Zakheim, a former Pentagon comptroller, made the comment at a hearing Monday held by the Commission on Wartime Contracting on allegations of lewd behavior and sexual misconduct by employees of ArmorGroup North America, the company hired to protect the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Zakheim said the photos are circulating heavily on the Internet, giving Muslims in Afghanistan a negative image of the United States.
End


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## The Bread Guy (17 Sep 2009)

This, from the Globe & Mail:


> One of Canada's leading observers on Afghanistan is pushing back against growing doubts over the merits of its mission there, calling for more international troops on the ground and a renewed focus on attacking militant targets in Pakistan.
> 
> Chris Alexander, who served as Canada's first ambassador to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, said Canada and its allies should hold an international conference on Afghanistan later this year to set new goals to reflect the changing reality.
> 
> “Yes, this mission is taking longer than everyone had hoped, or than we expected because the conflict is getting worse. So we need to have a serious discussion about how we can succeed with the investments that we are prepared to make,” Mr. Alexander said in a wide-ranging interview with The Globe and Mail Wednesday. Later, he confirmed to The Globe that he is seeking the Conservative Party nomination in Ajax-Pickering in the next federal election....



This, from CBC.ca:


> A former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security calls it "regrettable" that Canada plans to withdraw from the conflict in Afghanistan.
> 
> "The consequences of failure in this part of the world will not be limited to the United States," said Michael Chertoff, who served from 2005 to 2009 in the administration of former president George W. Bush.
> 
> "They will be felt by everybody," Chertoff said in an interview broadcast Wednesday on The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti....


----------



## GAP (18 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 18, 2009*

 FACTBOX: Security developments in Afghanistan
Fri Sep 18, 2009
Article Link

(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 7:30 a.m. EDT on Friday.

* KHOST - Eight civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in the eastern city of Khost, said provincial police chief Abdul Qayum Baqizoy.

* BADGHIS - Nine Taliban insurgents and one Afghan soldier were killed during a gunfight in the Ghormach district on Thursday, a local official said.

SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN - A U.S. service member with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force was killed in a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, ISAF said in a statement.

KANDAHAR - Afghan and foreign forces detained three insurgents in southern Kandahar province during an operation, ISAF said.
More on link

 Focus on casualties overshadows successes, says former Afghan ambassador
 By James Cowan, National Post September 17, 2009
Article Link

TORONTO — The debate over Canada's mission in Afghanistan has been engulfed by reports of military losses rather than focusing on the achievements being made, according to a former Canadian ambassador to the troubled country.

Christopher Alexander served as ambassador between 2003 and 2005. More recently, he was a deputy special representative of the United Nations Secretary General in Afghanistan. Speaking Thursday to the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto, he said discussions about Canada's role in Afghanistan are often one-sided.

"We are still engulfed, enveloped by the sacrifice, much more than we are by the successes," he said. "We have told ourselves the story of every soldier who has come back under a Canadian flag — and we have been right to do so — but the families of the soldiers who endured that loss, the soldiers who continue to go out of patrol in Panjwaii district want you to know, much more, about the success that Afghanistan has achieved over the past eight years."
More on link

 Italy PM says wants troops out of Afghanistan soon
Thu Sep 17, 2009
Article Link

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Italy wants to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan "as soon as possible" but will not take the decision unilaterally, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Thursday.

"We are all anxious and hopeful to bring our boys home as soon as possible," Berlusconi told reporters in Brussels after six Italian troops were killed by a suicide car bomber in Kabul.

"We are all convinced that it's better for everyone to leave Afghanistan soon," he said.

He said Italy was already planning a "strong reduction" in its approximately 3,100 troops in Afghanistan, and would proceed in that direction.
End

 Rethinking Bagram
The administration's new proposal for reviewing detentions in Afghanistan
Article Link

Thursday, September 17, 2009

THE OBAMA administration deserves credit for proposing changes to the detainee review process at Bagram Air Base. In theory, the changes should increase the likelihood that only those who should be held will be imprisoned there.

But the administration inexcusably continues to resist necessary reforms for those detainees -- among the longest held -- who were captured beyond the Afghan battlefield. It also leaves open the possibility of future renditions to Bagram of terrorist suspects captured outside Afghanistan. On this front, the new proposal risks duplicating the lawlessness that came to mar the detentions at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (18 Sep 2009)

UK army chief: Afghan defeat would harm reputation
AP, Sept. 17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/17/AR2009091703597.html



> Britain's new army chief warned Thursday that failure in Afghanistan would alienate millions of Afghans, lead to a resurgence of al-Qaida inspired terrorism and destabilize neighboring Pakistan.
> 
> Speaking at London's Chatham House, Gen. David Richards warned that failure would have a "hugely intoxicating impact on extremists worldwide of the perceived defeat of the USA and NATO, the most powerful alliance in the history of the world and the debilitating impact on these countries."
> 
> Richards, who became Britain's Chief of the General Staff in August, also said future conflicts were likely to involve failed states like Afghanistan rather than more conventional wars between two governments. He said Britain should rethink its traditional military strategy and make sure it was more prepared for other guerrilla style conflicts...



Afghan 'guns for hire' would drop their weapons for money, says former British general
_Daily Mail_, Sept. 17
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1214134/Afghan-rebels-drop-weapons-money-says-British-general.html



> An offer of money could persuade Afghan insurgents to drop their arms, a former British general said today.
> 
> Former special forces commander Lieutenant-General Sir Graeme Lamb, who has been appointed to oversee a programme of reconciliation with moderate elements of the Taliban, said he believed 'you can buy an insurgency if you have enough money'.
> 
> Lt Gen Lamb said the campaign in Afghanistan had 'drifted' until US commander General Stanley McChrystal took charge...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (18 Sep 2009)

Gates to Boost 'Enablers' In Afghanistan Mission
_Washington Post_, Sept. 18
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/17/AR2009091704683.html



> Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday that he has ordered the deployment of as many as 3,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to meet what the top commander there has described as pressing security needs.
> 
> The additional troops, who Gates said were requested by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, are not part of units designated to be deployed under President Obama's original orders to send 21,000 more service members to Afghanistan this year.
> 
> ...



General Sir David Richards: Afghans losing patience with Nato 'failure'
_Daily Telegraph_, Sept. 17
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6203170/General-Sir-David-Richards-Afghans-losing-patience-with-Nato-failure.html



> _General Sir David Richards, the new head of the British Army, has said that Afghans are losing patience with Nato’s “failure” to deliver progress in the battle with the Taliban_...
> 
> In a frank assessment of the situation, Sir David said: “Over 80 per cent of the Afghan population still doggedly want their government and the international community to succeed, although their patience with our failure to meet the expectations of progress we ironically have done much to create is undoubtedly beginning to flag.”
> 
> Still, he insisted that “despite their frustrations with the speed of progress”, the majority of Afghans remain supportive of the Western intervention...



Can We Bribe Our Way to Victory?
_Slate_, Feb. 15, by Fred Kaplan
http://www.slate.com/id/2228414/



> ...Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., raised the key issue of the day [Sept. 15]. He began his questioning of [chairman of the joint chiefs] Adm. Mullen by asking whether the Taliban had any tanks. No, Mullen replied. Graham then asked how many airplanes they have. None, the admiral answered, perhaps wondering where this line of inquiry was going.
> 
> Then Graham zeroed in. If that's the case, he asked, how is it that the Taliban are gaining ground? The problem isn't the Taliban, it's the Afghan government, isn't that right?
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (20 Sep 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 20

CIA expanding presence in Afghanistan
LA Times, Sept. 20
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-intel20-2009sep20,0,1183243.story



> _The buildup coincides with new warnings that the Taliban has continued to gain territory and strength. McChrystal wants to improve intelligence on the Taliban and focus on reducing the number of bombings._
> 
> The CIA is deploying teams of spies, analysts and paramilitary operatives to Afghanistan, part of a broad intelligence "surge" that will make its station there among the largest in the agency's history, U.S. officials say.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (21 Sep 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 21

Afghanistan: turning up the volume
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Sept. 21
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1253542944

Pakistan offensive against Taliban 'failing to target' most dangerous insurgents
_Daily Telegraph_, Sept. 21
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/6211699/Pakistan-offensive-against-Taliban-failing-to-target-most-dangerous-insurgents.html



> _Pakistan's offensive against the Taliban has failed to target the insurgent networks posing the greatest danger to Nato forces in Afghanistan, according to America's Ambassador in Islamabad._
> 
> Anne Patterson told The Daily Telegraph of Washington's frustration with the "different priorities" of Pakistan's government and how the failure to agree common targets was hampering the struggle against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (22 Sep 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 22

New Zealand special air service troops arrive in Afghanistan
Xinhua, Sept. 21
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-09/21/content_12090609.htm



> A group of 71 New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS) troops have arrived in Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Key announced on Monday.
> 
> New Zealand would provide three rotations of SAS troops during the next 18 months.
> 
> ...



Via Moby Media Updates:
http://mobygroup.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=8&Itemid=50

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (24 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 24, 2009*

 Tribal elders gunned down by Taliban in Pakistan
9 dead, 6 wounded as militants ambush convoy carrying members of an anti-Taliban citizen's group
Article Link

Riaz Khan

Peshawar, Pakistan — Associated Press Last updated on Thursday, Sep. 24, 2009 06:09AM EDT

Militants ambushed a convoy of prominent anti-Taliban tribal elders in volatile northwest Pakistan on Thursday, spraying their cars with gunfire, killing nine people and wounding six others.

The members of the anti-Taliban citizen's group were travelling from the Machikhel area to meet security officials in Bannu district when their three-vehicle convoy was attacked by insurgents, police officer Mohammad Ghani Khan said.

Nine bodies were recovered from the bullet-riddled cars, including at least four tribal elders who had opposed the Taliban in the region, said Ajaz Khan, another police officer. Six people were wounded and hospitalized, he said.

Armed local residents came out of their homes and fought off the Taliban after the ambush, preventing them from finishing off the survivors, Mr. Khan said. Security forces later arrived in Khaisur area and joined the gun battle that still raged Thursday afternoon.

The ambush followed a separate attack by militants who killed two members of another anti-Taliban committee Thursday in the Swat Valley to the northeast. The assailants struck as members of the “peace committee” slept in Sertelegram area, Mayor Mohammad Ibrar Khan said. Security guards fought the militants and killed several of them, although no bodies were recovered.
More on link

 Canada's new man in Kandahar 
Article Link
Gloria Galloway Kandahar, Afghanistan — Globe and Mail Thursday, Sep. 24, 2009 

The new representative of Canada in Kandahar says he and the civilians working for him will regularly do what was impossible just months ago – they will make trips outside the safety of the military base at the Kandahar Air Field to meet with Afghans in their villages.

“We need to engage with a wide range of Kandaharis,” Ben Rowswell told Canadian, Afghan and international dignitaries WEDNESDAY afternoon after his swearing-in ceremony in a steamy reception room on the base.

That includes the government, security forces and groups promoting a civil society, Mr. Rowswell said. But also, he said, it is critical to “try as much as possible to get in touch with the actual people that are living though this insurgency who can tell us, in better terms than anyone, how to defeat it and how to do the best job to stabilize their country.”

The expanding grip of the Taliban and the extreme dangers posed by a simple drive down this province's bomb-ridden roads have all but prohibited forays by non-military personnel into the regions surrounding Kandahar city.
More on link

 Rough year ahead in Afghanistan: CEFCOM head
Updated Thu. Sep. 24 2009 9:27 AM ET The Canadian Press
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Troops in Afghanistan will face a rough year ahead according to a blunt assessment by the commander of Canadian soldiers stationed overseas.

"The thing of concern, and I'm not giving you a rosy coloured outlook, is the level of violence has gone up," said Lt.-Gen. Marc Lessard, commander of CEFCOM (Canadian Expeditionary Force Command) in an interview at Kandahar Airfield Thursday.

"Definitely next year is going to be a tough year. There'll be lots of military operations -- no doubt -- to degrade and isolate the Taliban. Isolate is not just geographically to push them to areas in the mountains but to try and isolate them from the population." 
More on link


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## GAP (25 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 25, 2009*

 New fight: Unit preps for Afghanistan sans tanks
By RUSS BYNUM (AP) – 19 hours ago
Article Link

DAHLONEGA, Ga. — Drenched in sweat, Army Capt. Aaron Hall peeled off his soggy socks and applied a liberal dose of foot powder before slipping on a dry pair and rallying his troops back to their throbbing feet. For an outfit used to being ferried from fight to fight in armored vehicles, a 50-mile march through the Appalachians was a little much.

Perhaps no unit better exemplifies the challenges presented by the Army's transition from desert warfare in Iraq to rugged mountain campaigns in Afghanistan than the 3rd Infantry Division's 4th Brigade, whose tanks and Bradley assault vehicles were among the first to rumble into Baghdad in the 2003 invasion.

Under a 2007 plan to grow the Army and diversify its forces, 4th Brigade is the only mechanized unit being ordered to ditch its tanks and Bradleys and relearn how to move through a war zone on foot.

Which is how Hall and his soldiers found themselves zigzagging through the mountains of north Georgia, trying to cover 50 miles in three days. Even after serving last year as a platoon leader in Iraq, Hall wasn't used to that kind of exertion.

"Whenever they said `road march,' it was pretty much get in your Bradleys and ride 20 miles," said Hall, 28, of Canton, N.C. "Now, it's put on your boots and your rucksack and start walking. We're our own transportation."
More on link

  UK newspaper reveals mole who leaked lawmakers' expenses
updated 2 hours
Article Link

 LONDON, England (CNN) -- The person who leaked British lawmakers' controversial expense claims earlier this year, triggering a national scandal, was motivated by outrage at apparent equipment shortages for British troops, a newspaper said Friday.
The mole was angry at apparent equipment shortages for British troops deployed around the world.

The mole was angry at apparent equipment shortages for British troops deployed around the world.

The mole was one of 20 people employed to process and censor the expenses claims before their scheduled official release in July, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The man leaked the claims to the Telegraph, which printed them in a series of front-page articles in May.

The articles brought public embarrassment to Parliament and even forced some lawmakers to resign.

The 20 employees going through the claims were guarded by British soldiers to ensure nothing was leaked. The soldiers were working there in between tours of duty in order to earn extra money to pay for badly needed military equipment, the Telegraph said.

One of the soldiers had taken on the temporary work to earn enough money to buy a lightweight Kevlar protective vest similar to the ones used by U.S. troops, while another soldier was trying to earn money for desert boots, gloves, and sunglasses, the Telegraph said.
More on link

US soldiers killed in Afghanistan
US soldiers in Afghanistan - 2009
Many US troops are deployed in southern Afghanistan.
Article Link

Five US soldiers have been killed in three separate attacks across southern Afghanistan, the US military has said.

Three died in a roadside explosion, while another was shot by militants. Another soldier was killed after his patrol was attacked.

In a statement, the US military said that all five servicemen died on Thursday. 
More on link

 Canadian general sees 'hopeful signs' in fight against Taliban
 By Mike De Souza, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 24, 2009
Article Link

Canada's top-ranking military official says he agrees with recent warnings about setbacks in NATO's mission in Afghanistan, but believes there are some signs of progress on the ground against the Taliban.

"In some parts of Afghanistan, the situation of the security is deteriorating," said Canadian Forces chief of defence staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk at a news conference in Washington on Thursday.

But Natynczyk said there are additional troops arriving in unstable regions that have allowed NATO to improve security in some communities, opening the door for new redevelopment projects.

"We have seen some hopeful signs, especially since the spring where we've been able to see a large increase of the number of NATO soldiers, specifically U.S. soldiers in the area."
More on link

 General quits 'over Afghanistan' 
Article Link

An army general who is reported to have criticised aspects of the war in Afghanistan has resigned.

Reports said Maj Gen Andrew Mackay, General Officer Commanding Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England, was unhappy about strategy.

Prince Harry spent 10 weeks from December 2007 in Afghanistan under the command of Maj Gen Mackay.

The Ministry of Defence has insisted that the general's departure was a "personal matter".

Maj Gen Mackay's operational tour to Afghanistan was notable for the re-capture of Musa Qaleh, a strategic town, from the Taliban.

He was subsequently awarded a CBE for his role in the mission.

Maj Gen Mackay's resignation comes as the Daily Telegraph reported that a mole who leaked details of MPs' expenses said he was partly motivated by anger at inadequate equipment for UK troops. 
More on link

 Senate Approves Increase in Aid for Pakistan 
Article Link

By REUTERS
Published: September 24, 2009

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States Senate on Thursday approved legislation to triple nonmilitary aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for the next five years as part of a plan to fight extremism.

President Obama had urged passage of the measure to promote stability in Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country that is essential to the efforts by NATO to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan, despite concerns that the Pakistan military may support some extremist Islamic groups.

Mr. Obama got word of the vote while in New York, and he announced it at a meeting of nations that offer aid to Pakistan that took place on the sidelines of the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly. The announcement drew applause.

“It was the only spontaneous applause of the meeting,” said Richard C. Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who called the vote “a big step forward.”
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (28 Sep 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 28

US threatens to escalate operations inside Pakistan
The US has told Pakistan that it may start launching drone attacks against the Taliban leadership in the city of Quetta in a major escalation of its operations in the country.
_Daily Telegraph_, Sept. 27
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/6237185/US-threatens-to-escalate-operations-inside-Pakistan.html



> Washington has long been frustrated at Islamabad's reluctance to target the Afghan Taliban's ruling council, the Quetta Shura, which is accused of directing large parts of the insurgency across the border in Afghanistan.
> 
> State department and intelligence officials delivered the ultimatum to Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, last week as he visited the US for the United Nations' security council sessions and the G20 economic summit.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## Edward Campbell (28 Sep 2009)

Top soldier lambastes local Afghans

Link to the article in today's _Globe and Mail_

*Canadian General Jonathan Vance calls meeting with Deh-E-Bagh's elders after armoured vehicles attacked*

Gloria Galloway

Kandahar, Afghanistan 

Monday, Sep. 28, 2009

A trip by Canada's top soldier in Afghanistan to the model community where troops are implementing a long-term security strategy turned into a lesson on the limits of Canadian tolerance.

As General Jonathan Vance was driving this morning into the village of Deh-e-Bagh in the Dand district, southwest of Kandahar city, the shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade hit one of the armoured vehicles in his convoy. And, when Gen. Vance had travelled about a kilometre past the village on the way to another community where the Canadians hope to implement the same secure-and-stay policy they have used in Deh-e-Bagh, an oncoming Canadian military vehicle was ripped by a bomb planted in the road.

A Canadian soldier had to be airlifted to hospital with multiple fractures to his leg. The troops who tended to him said his wounds will heal.

But Gen. Vance was steaming.

“It infuriates me,” he said after ordering the convoy to return to Deh-E-Bagh so he could lambaste the local people for not warning the Canadians about the explosive trap set by the Taliban. “A determined person can still get through,” the general said of the safety perimeter that the Canadian troops have established at the village. “But we reply on the work of the local population.”

Gen. Vance called an immediate meeting, known as a shura, with Deh-E-Bagh's elders. “It's a sad and serious day,” he told the 24 Afghan men who turned out to the district centre to hear what the general had to say. “Why is it I feel that I am the only one, with my soldiers, who is taking responsibility for security?” Gen. Vance asked. “I am saddened sometimes on days when I feel I am more concerned about Dand district that you are.”

Over the course of the 50-minute meeting, Gen. Vance told the elders they and their people had to be more vigilant. His plan, he said, is to secure many more villages the way he has secured Deh-E-Bagh. “I can't do that until the lands behind me are safe.”

And he made it clear he was unwilling to sacrifice more Canadian lives. “If we keep blowing up on the roads, I am going to stop development,” said Gen. Vance. “And if we stop doing development, I believe that Dand in Kandahar is a project that cannot be saved.”

After arguing that they were not permitted outside their homes at night to watch for Taliban - something the Canadians said is not true -the men of Deh-e-Bagh praised the work of the Canadians. One said he was ashamed that there had been attacks on their “guests.” And they promised to watch for insurgent activity.

Before the general and his convoy had left the compound, the local chief of police and a security officer approached him to say they suspected a man from a neighbouring village of being complicit in the crime. His uncles are Taliban, they said, his brother was blown up trying to plant a bomb, his own toes were mysteriously blown off, and he seemed to know where explosives had been planted. He also worked occasionally with the police, which complicated matters a little.

More on the link


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## GAP (28 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 28, 2009*

  Taliban to Germany: Leave Afghanistan or lose Oktoberfest
By David Montero | Correspondent 09.28.09
Article Link

The insurgents' threat to bomb the famous festival is apparently meant to weaken Germany's resolve for the fight in Afghanistan. It follows similar warnings issued by the Taliban and Al Qaeda ahead of Sunday's elections.

he Taliban have a new target: beer and bratwurst.

In perhaps their most bizarre threat to date, Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan have threatened to bomb the Oktoberfest festival in Munich, Germany, which attracts millions of visitors ever year, along with several landmark buildings and government officials.

The threats, while perhaps farfetched, follow a series of warnings from the Taliban and Al Qaeda and underscores a concerted effort by the insurgents to weaken Germany’s resolve for the fight in Afghanistan.

Germany has responded by banning all air flights over Munich for the rest of the 16-day festival, which ends Oct. 4.

The threats were delivered in a series of videotapes issued by the Taliban on Friday, the Guardian reported. One features a German-speaking militant named Ajjub.
More on link

 Gates: Mistake to set Afghan withdrawal timelines
By JIM KUHNHENN (AP) – 12 hours ago
Article Link

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it's a mistake to set a deadline to end American military action in Afghanistan, as some liberals have sought, adding that a defeat would be disastrous for the U.S.

In a stern warning to critics of a continued troop presence in Afghanistan, Gates said the Islamic extremist Taliban and al-Qaida would perceive an early pullout as a victory over the United States as similar to the Soviet Union's humiliating withdrawal in 1989 after a 10-year war.

"The notion of timelines and exit strategies and so on, frankly, I think would all be a strategic mistake. The reality is, failure in Afghanistan would be a huge setback for the United States," Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

"Taliban and al-Qaida, as far as they're concerned, defeated one superpower. For them to be seen to defeat a second, I think, would have catastrophic consequences in terms of energizing the extremist movement, al-Qaida recruitment, operations, fundraising, and so on. I think it would be a huge setback for the United States."

Gates' pointed remarks came as President Barack Obama re-examines his administration's strategy in Afghanistan and as the Pentagon sits on a request for additional troops from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan.
More on link

 Afghan Energy Minister Survives Deadly Explosion
By VOA News 27 September 2009
Article Link

Afghan police say the country's energy minister has survived an explosion that killed four people in the western city of Herat.

The Taliban say they carried out the car bombing targeting Minister Ismail Khan Sunday.

Authorities say the explosion wounded at least 17 civilians who were passing on the main road to the Herat airport.
More on link

 Three French soldiers die in Afghanistan -Elysee
Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:57am 
Article Link

PARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Three French soldiers died in an accident during a night time operation in Afghanistan, French President Nicolas Sarkzoy's office said on Sunday.

A military spokesman told France's I-Tele that the three men died when their unit was hit by a violent storm, with one soldier struck down by lightning and the two others swept away by a fast flowing river.

Sarkozy's office gave no details of the accident, saying only that it took place in the Afghanya valley.

"These three soldiers ... have paid with their life for France's commitment to peace and the security of the Afghan people," Sarkozy's office said, adding that the president continued to support this mission.

The unnamed military spokesman said the French soldiers had been tracking down insurgents who had been preparing homemade explosives.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (29 Sep 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND SEPT. 29

Northern Afghan violence undercuts U.S. supply route
AP, Sept. 28
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=65069



> POL-I-KUMRI, Afghanistan — Growing Taliban influence in northern Afghanistan is threatening a new military supply line painstakingly negotiated by the U.S., as rising violence takes hold on the one-time Silk Road route.
> 
> The north has deteriorated over just a few months, showing how quickly Taliban influence is spreading in a once peaceful area. Local officials say the Taliban are establishing a shadow government along the dilapidated road that ultimately could prevent vital supplies carried in hundreds of trucks every week from reaching the military. It also raises the danger that the supplies could end up in militant hands as fodder for suicide attacks.
> 
> ...



RAF Chinooks to be upgraded for Afghanistan
MoD _Defense news_, Sept. 25
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/EquipmentAndLogistics/RafChinooksToBeUpgradedForAfghanistan.htm



> _RAF Chinook helicopters operating in Afghanistan will receive a £408m upgrade to deliver more powerful engines and more advanced, digitised cockpits, Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Quentin Davies, announced yesterday, Thursday 24 September 2009_...
> 
> The upgrade will give the whole Chinook fleet a significant boost by fitting a more powerful engine, enabling the Chinooks to operate more effectively in the hot summers and high altitudes of Afghanistan.
> 
> ...



U.S. Says Taliban Has A New Haven in Pakistan
_Washington Post_, Sept. 29
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092803751.html



> As American troops move deeper into southern Afghanistan to fight Taliban insurgents, U.S. officials are expressing new concerns about the role of fugitive Taliban leader Mohammad Omar and his council of lieutenants, who reportedly plan and launch cross-border strikes from safe havens around the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta.
> 
> But U.S. officials acknowledge they know relatively little about the remote and arid Pakistani border region, have no capacity to strike there, and have few windows into the turbulent mix of Pashtun tribal and religious politics that has turned the area into a sanctuary for the Taliban leaders, who are known collectively as the Quetta Shura.
> 
> ...



The View From Pakistan's Spies
_Washington Post_, Sept. 29, by David Igantius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/28/AR2009092802485.html



> ...
> The ISI agreed to open its protective curtain slightly for me last week. This unusual outreach included a long and animated conversation with Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the agency's director general, as well as a detailed briefing from its counterterrorism experts. Under the ground rules, I cannot quote Pasha directly, but I can offer a sense of how his agency looks at key issues -- including the Afghanistan war and the ISI's sometimes prickly relationship with America.
> 
> At an operational level, the ISI is a close partner of the CIA. Officers of the two services work together nearly every night on joint operations against al-Qaeda in Pakistan's tribal areas, perhaps the most dangerous region in the world. Information from the ISI has helped the CIA plan its Predator drone attacks, which have killed 14 of the top 20 targets over the past several years...
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (29 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 29, 2009*

 Canadian troops in Afghanistan warned: don't pet the jackals.
 By Bruce Ward, Canwest News ServiceSeptember 28, 2009
  Article Link

MA'SUM GHAR, Afghanistan - Canadian kids write the most affecting letters to soldiers. Some are funny, others are well-meaning but strike at the heart in ways no child could imagine.

``I hope you don't lose your legs, I like to run,'' one Grade 4 student wrote. Another child wrote: ``I hope you don't die.''

One eight-year-old boy, perhaps a budding political science student, wrote: ``Have you heard about the election? I hate Stephen Harper.''

Another young student wanted to know: ``Why can't they fight their own war?''

Boxes of letters, written as class projects, are sent to this forward operating base as are several Canadian flags signed by scores of young students. Some soldiers got a kick out of the kid who wrote ``I like Russia!'' just under the Maple Leaf on the flag.

But others said the letters should be vetted so that references to being seriously wounded or killed in action were omitted. They said such letters bring on morbid thoughts which make it more difficult to do their job.
More on link

Roadside Bomb Kills 30 Civilians In Afghanistan
By REUTERS  September 29, 2009 
Article Link

KANDAH5AR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed 30 people in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, officials said, in the deadliest strike on civilians since a NATO air raid earlier this month.

Increased fighting as a result of a growing Taliban insurgency and a bigger NATO-led force in Afghanistan has led to a rise in civilian deaths.

More than 1,500 civilians have been killed by violence in Afghanistan so far this year, the United Nations said last week.

It said 68 percent of the civilian killings were a result of militant attacks, while 23 percent were caused by Afghan and foreign troops led by NATO and the U.S. military.

In Tuesday's strike, a bomb hit a bus outside the southern city of Kandahar killing 30 people including 10 children and seven women, the Interior Ministry said. At least 39 people were wounded.
More on link

  Taliban commander killed in N Afghanistan
www.chinaview.cn 2009-09-29 13:21:04 	 
Article Link

    KABUL, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- A Taliban commander was killed in Kunduz province north of Afghanistan as he came in contact with police, Inspector General of police in the province said Tuesday.

    "Policemen shot dead Taliban key commander Mullah Rashid in Kunduz province during an operation on Monday evening," Abdul Razaq Yaqubi told Xinhua.

    Rashid was on motorbike along with his guard when he came under police attack and was killed on the spot, but his guard escaped, the police officer said. 
More on link


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## GAP (30 Sep 2009)

*Articles found September 30, 2009*

 Canadian Troops Could Remain in Afghanistan: MacKay
Josh Pringle Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Article Link

Defence Minister Peter MacKay suggests Canadian soldiers could still be in Afghanistan beyond 2011.

MacKay said Tuesday that the Federal Government is considering many options for continuing to help the Afghan population once the combat mission ends.

The Federal Government has said Canada will pull its troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2011.

MacKay says options to help Afghans include security and development.

MacKay would also not rule out whether the Provincial Reconstruction Team would remain in Afghanistan. 
More on link

 Federal lawyers seek to gag witnesses in Afghan prisoner inquiry
By Murray Brewster (CP) – 19 hours ago
Article Link

OTTAWA — Federal lawyers are trying to block government witnesses from testifying before a military watchdog investigating the treatment of Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan, The Canadian Press has learned.

The Justice Department has invoked national security and told the Military Police Complaints Commission that subpoenaed witnesses will be allowed to appear at the inquiry, but they will be instructed to say nothing when hearings begin next month.

The position was laid out during a meeting among inquiry lawyers on Sept. 25, said the commission's lead attorney, Freya Kristjanson.

Critics say it is the latest attempt by the Conservative government to shut down the investigation into claims by human rights groups that the Canadian army knowingly handed over insurgents to torture in Afghan prisons.

The order effects "every single government employee" slated to come before the commission, including military officers and senior staff from both the Defence and Foreign Affairs departments.

Kristjanson said the inquiry, which begins Oct. 5 in Ottawa, could potentially be sidetracked for months by legal wrangling, with the refusal to testify being referred to Federal Court.
More on link

 General Says Iraq Troop Reductions May Quicken 
Article Link
By THOM SHANKER Published: September 29, 2009

WASHINGTON — The senior American commander in Iraq said Tuesday that he could reduce American forces to 50,000 troops even before the end of next summer if the expected January elections in Iraq went smoothly.
Skip to next paragraph
Johan Spanner for The New York Times

That could ease the strain across the American armed forces and free up extra combat units for duty in the Afghanistan war, which has become a priority for the Obama administration.

In an interview at the Pentagon, the commander, Gen. Ray Odierno, said he had already ordered some service members and equipment diverted from the Iraq mission to Afghanistan, in particular surveillance aircraft and units known as “combat enablers,” which include engineers for clearing roadside bombs and military police officers for training Afghan forces. 
More on link


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