# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread May , 2011



## GAP (30 Apr 2011)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread May , 2011 *               

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


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## Infanteer (30 Apr 2011)

Time for another fighting season to kick off.


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## GAP (2 May 2011)

*Articles found May 2, 2011*

 Bin Laden's body buried at sea after raid in Pakistan
Article Link
CTV.ca News Staff Date: Mon. May. 2 2011 8:59 AM ET

The United States has reportedly buried the body of Osama bin Laden at sea, after killing him in a surprise military raid in Pakistan.

The notorious al Qaeda leader died Sunday, U.S. President Barack Obama confirmed in a late night-address, when U.S. forces attacked a fortified compound in a town about 100 kilometres north of Islamabad where bin Laden had been located.

Intelligence sources said the CIA pinpointed bin Laden's location and Obama gave the order to undertake the early-morning raid on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

A small team of Navy seals flew to the compound via helicopter and engaged bin Laden in a fatal firefight.

U.S. officials said bin Laden was killed by a bullet to the head, after a firefight that ensued when the terrorist leader and his guards resisted the attack. 
More on link

 Panjwaii road dubbed 'dagger' in insurgency heart: A lasting Canadian legacy?
Article Link
By Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press – 18 hours ago

MUSHAN, Afghanistan — It could end up as the most tangible accomplishment of Canada's long, bloody and expensive involvement in southern Afghanistan _ a 15-kilometre stretch of gravel road.

Cut through some of the most hostile territory in the country, the road through Kandahar's Panjwaii district evokes pride among Canadian soldiers.

"This will be one of our great achievements here in Afghanistan because it's not something that will really ever go away," said Capt. Adam Siokalo as he recently surveyed the ribbon of gravel.

"This is something that is here to stay."

Last November, Canadian soldiers, along with American counterparts and private Afghan contractors, began carving out the road that runs from just west of the major town of Bazar-e Panjwaii to the hamlet of Mushan on the very western edge of Panjwaii.

Five months later, the last of the hundreds of gravel trucks that have been making the daily run from Kandahar city have been dumping their loads at the end of Route Hyena.

Lined up as far as the eye can see, they spend hours waiting to discharge their cargo and return to the big city.

Some three years ago, vulnerable Canadian soldiers were forced to dismantle their lonely outpost in Mushan amid repeated insurgent attacks, and withdraw from western Panjwaii.
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 Bin Laden's death draws cheers, relief, dismay
Article Link
By DEB RIECHMANN The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — Osama bin Laden's death drew a mix of celebration and relief from his enemies around the world, shock among his followers and warnings that his demise would not bring an end to terrorist attacks.

Spontaneous, celebratory rallies broke out in New York City at ground zero, where the World Trade Center towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001 and outside the White House where President Barack Obama announced bin Laden's slaying in a helicopter raid in Pakistan.

"This is justice," Filipino Cookie Micaller said in the Philippine capital, Manila, where she wept and remembered her sister who perished at the World Trade Center. She added that terrorist attacks probably would continue: "I don't think this is going to stop."

Outside the iconic Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, India — one of the sites of the 2008 terror seige that killed 166 — the news was met by disbelief and relief.

"It's a good feeling there is one terrorist less," said Sufyan Khan, a 20-year-old Muslim student. "It gives a sign the world is a little safer than before."

Hardline followers and sympathizers of bin Laden expressed shock and dismay or vowed revenge.
More on link

 Threat of Taliban attacks brings tighter security procedures
  Article Link
 By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News May 1, 2011

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD—Much stricter security procedures have been imposed on Canadian and other NATO forces operating from this huge logistics base and elsewhere across Afghanistan because of fresh threats of violence by the Taliban.

"The security protocols have somewhat changed because intelligence indicates there might be a series of attacks against ISAF facilities, and we feel they are credible," a spokesman for the International Security and Assistance Force told Postmedia News.

"We are increasing our security procedures. We anticipate that something might happen. It is better to be prepared than to be caught short."

Afghan forces are also taking extra precautions, including flooding the streets of Kandahar City with army troops and police. The new security measures began several days ago.

They took on added significance after the Taliban declared Saturday that they specifically intend to target NATO troops, senior government officials and those who worked for companies doing work for western forces and facilities.

The radical Islamic group also warned Afghans to steer clear of NATO bases and convoys.
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 12-year-old suicide bomber kills 4 in Afghanistan
Article Link
AFP/NEWSCORE  May 1, 2011

KABUL -- A 12-year-old suicide bomber killed four people and wounded a dozen in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, while a Taliban clash with police left two civilians and two police dead, officials said.

The boy -- thought to be one of the country's youngest-ever suicide attackers -- detonated a vest packed with explosives in a marketplace in Paktika province near the Pakistan border, provincial spokesman Mukhlis Afghan said in a statement.

"The head of Shkin district council, Shair Nawaz, a woman and two other men were killed and 12 others were wounded," the statement said.

Taliban militants in neighboring Ghazni province meanwhile ambushed a police vehicle and sparked an exchange of fire, deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Hussain said.

"Two policemen and two civilians including a woman were killed," Hussain said.

Another 13 civilians were wounded when a bomb attached to a bicycle parked in front of Ghazni police headquarters exploded Sunday, he added.

Five of the wounded were in critical condition, Mohammad Ismail Ibrahimzada, the head of Ghazni hospital, said.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks but Hussain blamed Taliban insurgents.

The Taliban has announced its spring offensive would start Sunday, with spring and summer the traditional fighting season in the country.
More on link


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## GAP (4 May 2011)

*Articles found May 4, 2011*

 A brief moment of jubilation, then troops go back to work
Article Link
 VanDoos exchange cheers and high fives before their patrol
 By MATTHEW FISHER, Postmedia News May 3, 2011

Canadian troops on the front line reacted to news of Osama bin Laden's death Monday morning by doing what they have done since Canada's participation in the war on terrorism began soon after the 9/11 attacks.

In armoured vehicles and on foot, the Quebec-based Royal 22e Régiment battle group went out on patrol again in the Taliban heartland in Panjwaii.

But as news that the Al-Qa'ida leader had been eliminated circulated among support troops gathered around TV sets in chow halls and recreation areas at Kandahar Airfield, they cheered and exchanged highfives.

"I think it is awesome," said Capt. Luong Phuc Nguyen, a Montrealer serving as an Afghan infantry instructor in Panjwaii with Canada's Operational Mentor Liaison Team.

"People who get paid a lot more than me can better assess the impact, but it is not going to change in any the way how we do our work."

The death of the Al-Qa'ida leader represents closure of sorts for Canada's Afghan mission. More than nine years after the Chrétien government sent troops to Afghanistan to fight Al-Qa'ida and its Afghan ally, the Taliban, the man who inspired and helped plan the 9/11 attacks is dead.
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 Pakistan and Osama bin Laden: How the West was conned
The ISI and its covert support of Islamist terrorism must be confronted 
Article Link
By Praveen Swami 10:01PM BST 03 May 2011

In December 1979, at the end of a meeting in which Pakistan decided to embark on a United States-backed, Saudi Arabia-funded secret war that could well have ended in its annihilation by the Soviet Union, the military dictator who ruled Pakistan offered his spymaster a Zen-like maxim. "The water in Afghanistan," Gen Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq told Lt Gen Akhtar Abdul Rehman Khan, the director general of the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), "must boil at the right temperature."

Ever since 9/11, the ISI has been seeking to keep the jihad inside Afghanistan and Pakistan warm, nurturing allies it gave birth to in the years after that meeting, while also joining the West's war against terror – the source of billions of dollars in aid and military patronage.

But Osama bin Laden's killing may mark the point where the water boiled over – destroying Pakistan's relationship with the West, and setting off a chain of events no one can predict. 
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 The not-a-million dollar question
Article Link
S Hinan Govani, Shinan Govani, National Post; National Post May 3, 2011 

Advice that goes for art as much as it goes for life (and, well, probably politics), courtesy of the lass who's been called "Canada's David Hockney": best to quit when you're ahead.

In a fascinating interview that I just unwrapped, and that appeared not long ago on TVO's Studio 2, the evercoltish Joanne Tod set down the ground rules about painting. Asked by her interrogator, Steve Paikin, what she thinks of when she's finished a piece of art, she came right back, "Well, is it finished? That's one of the most difficult things to determine."

And, according to Tod's experience, this much is usually true: "It's at the moment when you step back and -ah! -I think it's perfect, except for that one little thing, that's when you should stop. Because, usually, nine times out of 10, when you go back and hone in on that Achilles' heel ... you'll wreck it."

Something that also proved to be a truism in this interview: the fact that, well, nine times out 10, when you ask someone how much they "make," they will visibly cringe, and shift lizard-like in their chair. It was a track that Paikin seemed determined to travel, repeatedly asking his artist guest about how much her various works cost and what her "average year" is.

To be fair, Paikin was only trying, it's true, to make the point that artists in Canadaeven artists as acclaimed and accepted as our Tod -don't make a helluva lot, but, naturally, she used every chance she got to dodge the subject. You'll have to ask my dealer, she trotted out at one point. At another, she hit back, "Well, how much do you make, Steve?" (a tactit that proved insufficient because as Steve, an employee of the government, technically, replied, "Everyone knows that, it's published every year!). Last, but not least, the gumption-packed artiste tried being oblique by simply answering with the "I pay income tax" line.
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 Fort Wainwright Strykers take over in Afghanistan
by Jeff Richardson / jrichardson@newsminer.com Fairbanks Daily News Miner
May 04, 2011
Article Link

FAIRBANKS — The 1st Stryker Combat Brigade Team, 25th Infantry Division assumed authority of its new home in Afghanistan on Monday, a key moment in the yearlong deployment of the Fort Wainwright-based force.

A Transfer of Authority ceremony was held at Army Strongpoint Tarnak in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. The local Stryker Brigade takes over responsibility of the area from the 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, which is returning to its home base in Vilseck, Germany.

In a video clip supplied by the Army, Lt. Col. Douglas Sims said his soldiers leave the area with “a great deal of optimism” about conditions in the central Afghanistan province.

Sims, in a story in an online media service provided by the U.S. military, referenced the preparedness of the Fort Wainwright soldiers.

“Dand district and Eastern Panjwai are in exceptional hands. In the past several weeks, we have learned the Bobcats of 1-5 Infantry (part of the Fort Wainwright Stryker brigade) are well led and well trained and have the exact right attitude and direction to join the team here, in southern Afghanistan.”

The story on the military’s Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System says the Fort Wainwright personnel “are taking over at the beginning of the fighting season at the possible tipping point for the war in Afghanistan.” It says the Dand district was reported as being close to operating independently.
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 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan happy but cautious at bin Laden's death
Article Link
By Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press – 1 day ago

SALAVAT, Afghanistan — Word that U.S. forces had killed terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden swept through a small Canadian patrol base in southern Afghanistan on Monday like a brush fire.

Initial disbelief gave way to cautious optimism and outright jubilation as soldiers passing each other asked: "Have you heard?"

"I just found (out) a few moments ago. Good news, another indication that we're winning the war," said a beaming Warrant Officer Gabriel Bernard as he gave a double thumb's up.

"Hopefully, it's a step forward toward world peace and a resolution for the conflict here in Afghanistan."

Some wondered what the reaction might now be from both al-Qaida and the insurgents in Afghanistan. "Many consider him a saint," said one man on the base, who preferred not to be identified.

Others _ whose first question in the news-deprived environment of the base near Salavat in Panjwaii district was "Are you kidding?" _ said they did not think they would see the day.

"I did not expect it to happen on my tour," said Sgt. Michel Pelletier.

"I guess it's a step forward because they've been trying for so long to get him."

Pelletier said bin Laden's death in neighbouring Pakistan might put a dent in the insurgents' morale, temporarily.
More on link


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## GAP (5 May 2011)

*Articles found May 5, 2011*

 Canadian soldier is 'King of Kandahar Airfield;' lifts 610 kilograms for title
Article Link
By Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Meet the King of KAF.

Canadian Sgt. John Beres, with Airwing headquarters, recently earned the title by out-powerlifting eight other competitors at the British gym on Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan.

Beres, of Welland, Ont., accomplished the feat by hoisting a total of 610 kilograms _ 1,345 pound _ in three rounds comprising a bench press, dead lift and squat.

"It was painful," he said. "But it was good."

The 44-year-old Beres, who is in military intelligence, began powerlifting as a hobby shortly after joining the military in 1987.

However, he let it lapse for about 15 years until he was diagnosed diabetic.

"When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I had to get back into shape to lose some weight and get fit again," Beres said.

"The bug just kept getting to me."

Demonstrating how he earned the morale-boosting title, Beres grunted and sweated during a workout at the Canadian gym, manhandling weight after weight onto the bar.

His face contorted in a grimace, he hoisted the load onto his shoulders and doing squats.
More on link


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## GAP (9 May 2011)

*Articles found May 9, 2011*

 Safety still a concern as Afghan mission shifts to Kabul, says commander
  Article Link
 By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News May 6, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan — "The No. 1 priority" of the commander of Canada's new, three-year Afghan training mission is to protect his soldiers from lethal threats, including possible attacks by local troops that they are instructing.

"Kabul is relatively safe," compared to Kandahar, said Col. Peter Dawe, an Afghan infantry veteran who returned to the country this week to lead a training force that will number 950. "That being said, there are risks any place, any time when you don a uniform . . . You can't cancel risk. The insurgents have a vote. Everyone in this mission appreciates that."

Only last week an Afghan air force officer ran amok after an apparent dispute with members of a NATO training cell, killing eight U.S. airmen at Kabul Airport. In another violent act in the capital last year, Canadian Col. Geoff Parker died when the convoy he was part of was attacked by a suicide bomber.

"That was an example of the random violence that can occur even in this neck of the woods," the boyish-looking Dawe, 41, said in his first interview since arriving in Kabul earlier in the week. "We are certainly going to take measures to mitigate the risks, whether transiting from Point A to Point B or doing our jobs as advisers in the various camps."
More on link

 Rights abuses by U.S. grounds for denying extradition, court rules
Article Link
Tracey Tyler Legal Affairs Reporter

A Toronto judge was justified in freeing an alleged Al Qaeda collaborator given the gravity of human rights abuses committed by the United States in connection with his capture in Pakistan, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled.

Judges are not expected to remain passive when countries such as the U.S. violate the rights of alleged terrorists, the court said Friday.
More on link

 Canadian troops on guard against rogue Afghan soldiers
  Article Link
Coalition faced 16 attacks over the past 18 months
 By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News May 7, 2011

The No. 1 priority of the commander of Canada's new, three-year Afghan training mission is to protect his soldiers from lethal threats, including possible attacks by local troops that they are instructing.

"Kabul is relatively safe," compared to Kandahar, said Col. Peter Dawe, an Afghan infantry veteran who returned to the country this week to lead a training force that will number 950. "That being said, there are risks any place, any time when you don a uniform . . . . You can't cancel risk. The insurgents have a vote. Everyone in this mission appreciates that."

Only last week an Afghan air force officer ran amok after an apparent dispute with members of a NATO training cell, killing eight U.S. airmen at Kabul Airport. In another violent act in the capital last year, Canadian Col. Geoff Parker died when the convoy he was part of was attacked by a suicide bomber.

"That was an example of the random violence that can occur even in this neck of the woods," the boyish-looking Dawe, 41, said in his first interview since arriving in Kabul earlier in the week. "We are certainly going to take measures to mitigate the risks, whether transiting from Point A to Point B or doing our jobs as advisers in the various camps."

To protect the troops, which are largely drawn from the Edmontonbased 3 Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, a small number of armoured vehicles that have been used in Kandahar will be dispatched to Kabul.
More on link

 Taliban attacksAfghan government offices in south
By Mirwais Khan and Heidi Vogt The Associated Press 05/08/2011 
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The Taliban unleashed a major assault Saturday on government buildings throughout Afghanistan's main southern city, an attack that cast doubt on how successful the U.S.-led coalition has been in its nearly year-long military campaign to establish security and stability in the former Taliban stronghold.

The Taliban said its goal was to take control of Kandahar city, the birthplace of the Taliban and President Hamid Karzai's home province, making it the most ambitious of a series of recent high-profile attacks on government installations.

The attack came a day after the Islamist movement said Osama bin Laden's death would serve to boost morale, but a Taliban spokesman insisted it had been in the works for months before the al-Qaeda leader was killed by American commandos Monday.

Shooting started shortly after midday and lasted more than seven hours, while government forces were backed by military helicopters firing from overhead.
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 Despite insurgent threats, hundreds of boys at school in Salavat, Afghanistan
Article Link
By Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press – 16 hours ago

SALAVAT, Afghanistan — Not a single kid or teacher showed up when the unadorned eight-room school in Salavat opened to much fanfare barely a month ago.

It was a heart-breaking moment for the Canadian military and civilian sponsors for whom education of children in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar province has long been a top, if frustrating, priority

"The insurgents told us, 'Don't go to the school. If you guys go, we will cut off your ears,'" says one boy, who looks about 12.

Still, here they are now, neatly paired — sometimes in threes — quietly seated in their wooden desks, attentively reciting a lesson or reading from the chalkboard.

Weeks after that inauspicious start, the raucous chatter of scores of kids sporting baby blue UNICEF backpacks echoes across the dusty soccer pitch at the start of the school day.

Each morning now, boys and teens make their way down the laneways of the town, most on foot, on bicycles or even by taxi for the first formal schooling of their lives.

"This is the best thing that happened to me in Afghanistan in 18 months — children going to school," a smiling Cpl. Gabriel Ferland says as he surveys the blue backpacks and eager kids.

The Taliban have long opposed secular education, arguing it corrupts the mind.

Countless schools, teachers and students across Afghanistan have been on the violent end of their ideological wrath.
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 Taliban release video of kidnapped Canadian
  Article Link 
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News May 9, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan—A 26-year-old Canadian tourist kidnapped in Afghanistan three months ago was shown in a video Sunday proclaiming he was innocent of Taliban charges that he was a spy.

The Taliban released the video to news organizations Sunday along with a statement demanding the federal government secure his release, lest he face Taliban prosecution.

The man, who described himself as an auditor, was captured in the central Afghan province of Ghazni. Insurgents said he had been collecting secret information and would be put on trial unless Canada met unspecified demands.

In the video, the clean-faced kidnap victim quietly answered questions for an interrogator who was off camera. The Canadian said he came to Afghanistan because he was interested in its history and planned to visit "old buildings and shrines." He denied professing any religious beliefs or that he worked for the Canadian government.
More on link


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## GAP (10 May 2011)

*Articles found May 10, 2011*

 Canada was hoping to train Afghan security forces in Russia: U.S. diplomatic cables
Article Link
National News | 09. May, 2011 by APTN National
By Jorge Barrera APTN National News

OTTAWA–The Conservative government was exploring ways to have Canadian military trainers work with Afghan security forces in Russia as part of a wider plan to significantly downgrade Canadian involvement in Afghanistan and shift focus to the rebuilding of Haiti, according to “confidential” U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by APTN National News.

The cables show that in early 2010, U.S. officials expected the Stephen Harper government to basically end Canada’s Afghanistan mission by the end of this year.

This past November, however, the Conservative government announced that about 950 Canadian troops would remain in Afghanistan until 2014 as part of a training mission. The training mission is expected to cost about $700 million a year.

APTN National News obtained hundreds of secret and confidential U.S. diplomatic cables from whistle-blower website Wikileaks.

CBC-Radio Canada also obtained the same batch of cables.

Wikileaks also recently released a large number of unclassified diplomatic cables on its website from the U.S. embassy and consulates across Canada.
More on link


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## GAP (16 May 2011)

*Articles found May 16, 2011*

 Soldiers still face threat in Afghanistan 
By Jeff Cummings ,Edmonton Sun Friday, May 13, 2011
Article Link

CFB SUFFIELD, AB — It's no longer a combat role for Edmonton-based troops in Afghanistan, but that doesn't mean there's no longer a threat.

Roughly 3,000 troops from Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry have been training at CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat in preparation for the long mission in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul. And now about 950 leaders from Afghan security forces are being trained in Kabul by Edmonton-based troops.

Canada's soldiers will continue to travel from place to place within the country, and Kabul is far from safe.

Improvised explosive devices used by Taliban forces are planted even within the city.

"To be able to move from camp to camp, we have to be prepared to deal with the typical threats that exist within Afghanistan," says Major Darren Hart, with PPCLI's third battalion, recently training at CFB Suffield.

"That includes IEDs or fire ambushes that exist within that environment."

Canada's military death count in Afghanistan is at 155 since the mission began in 2002. Ninety-eight of those deaths were the end result of an IED.

Soldiers from Edmonton Garrison spend 12-hour days practising drills on the base's vast expanse of fields and gravel roads.

During one convoy drill, a handful of soldiers exit their vehicles after spotting an imperfection along a muddy road.

Then they slowly walk the area to hunt down the IED.

Those soldiers on foot are the first line of defence for the rest of the convoy.
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 4 soldiers hurt in Afghanistan helicopter accident
  Article Link 
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News May 16, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Four Canadian soldiers were injured when a helicopter "rolled" Monday during a "hard landing" on a riverbed in Afghanistan.

The Canadian CH-47 Chinook transport chopper accident occurred during night operations by the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment in the Horn of Panjwaii. Insurgents were not blamed in the incident.

None of the injuries were considered serious or life threatening at this time, said Maj. David Devenney, the Task Force Kandahar spokesman. Among several dozen passengers was a Canadian journalist who was uninjured.

Three of the wounded were flown by another helicopter to the U.S. Navy-run Role 3 Hospital at Kandahar Airfield. Canadian and other coalition forces secured the crash site.

"I am extremely happy everybody is in good shape," said Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner, the Canadian commander. "The casualties were very minor. They'll be looked at over the next few days."
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 Transition to Afghan control is bumpy
SUSAN SACHS KABUL Sunday, May. 15, 2011 
Article Link

The international training operation in Afghanistan will devote extra resources this year to creating a police force that is more literate and aware of human rights, although critics say the NATO effort is still short-changing civilian policing in its massive effort to build an Afghan fighting force that can be handed control of the country.

U.S. Lieutenant-General William Caldwell IV, commander of the training operation, said in an interview that he recognizes the police, reviled by many Afghans as corrupt and ill-trained, need more direct mentoring and more prolonged law enforcement training.

But the presence of trained police and soldiers is only one component of making the transition to Afghan control work in the short term, Gen. Caldwell added. It requires effective governance, a functioning police system and security leadership, among other things.

Whether those requirements are being met will be answered only as the handover proceeds, Gen. Caldwell said, with the first three provinces and four cities set to officially transfer to Afghan security control this summer. The NATO training mission (NTM-A), along with the overall military foreign command, is already pouring in extra police, troops and supplies to those areas to fill requests from Afghan officials.
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 Canada expected to cut back on financial assistance to Afghanistan
  Article Link 
By Mark Iype, Postmedia News May 10, 2011

OTTAWA — Canada is expected to "scale back" financial assistance to Afghanistan as it draws down troop levels and winds up the combat mission in that country, according to a confidential cable from the U.S. Embassy released by WikiLeaks.

The cable, dated Feb. 18, 2010, voices the concerns of U.S. diplomats about Canada's involvement in the Afghanistan mission post-2011.

The cable points out that Canada's military mission is expected to end in 2011 — Canadian troops will be withdrawn from a combat role but others will remain in a training capacity — and U.S. officials are worried that financial assistance may be withdrawn as well.

"Canada will not only end its military mission in Afghanistan in 2011 but will likely significantly scale back its assistance after 2011 and offer only relatively modest contributions to Afghan Trust Funds," reads the cable.

"With growing concerns over budget deficits (which are unusual in recent Canadian history), Canadian leaders will be loathe to make any new generous commitments for Afghanistan in what is already an unpopular cause within Canada."
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 Canadian Forces can't redeploy overseas for a year due to Afghan pullout
  Article Link 
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News May 12, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada's ability to deploy its combat forces overseas will be impeded for more than a year due to the complexity of repairing and repatriating huge quantities of gear at the end of the current combat mission, the commander of the army says.

"We are planning to be reconstituted to a level of deployability by November 2012," said Lt.-Gen. Peter Devlin during a briefing on how to move tons of helicopters, ammunition, heavy armoured vehicles and about 1,000 sea containers of equipment back to Canada. "We will have the means, by December 2012, to deploy a capable task force — not of this size — to respond if the government of Canada wants to commit us."

When calculating the time it will take for Canadian Forces to return to full operational strength again, the general said it was necessary to also consider that its fleet of light armoured vehicles (LAVs) is slated to be upgraded over the next few years at a factory in London, Ont.
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 Canada secretly assured NATO it would consider Afghan training mission
Article Link
By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press – 3 days ago

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper secretly promised NATO early last year that Canada would consider staying in Afghanistan to conduct army training, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable.

It was an assurance the Conservative government kept under wraps for months until the new mission was announced — much to the surprise of the public and opposition parties — last November.

The government line almost right up to the training mission announcement was that the combat mission would end and the troops were coming home.

The army is now set to deploy up to 950 troops and support staff to bases in Kabul, Marzar-e-Sharif and Herat.

NATO's secretary general pressed Harper and Defence Minister Peter MacKay in a series of meetings in Ottawa in January 2010 to join its newly established training mission command in Kabul.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen "sought Canadian commitment to a post-2011 role in training Afghan security forces as part of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan," said a cable released by WikiLeaks on Thursday.

The Jan. 20, 2010, summary of the discussion from the U.S. embassy in Ottawa noted that "Harper promised that the government would look at the possibility."
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## GAP (18 May 2011)

*Articles found May 18, 2011*

 Canada's Afghan training mission details revealed
By James Cudmore, CBC News Posted: May 17, 2011
Article Link

As Canadians were heading to the polls at the beginning of May, the first soldiers taking part in Canada's new training mission in Afghanistan were already on their way to Kabul.

A small team of officers is on the ground there, now, preparing to welcome the first 150 Canadian military advisers by the end of the month.

Those troops will quickly be sent to two bases in and around Kabul to begin the massive job of training and building the Afghan National Army.

In a first look at details of the training mission, Col. Peter Dawe, deputy commander of the mission, talked to CBC News about the new effort announced last year as the replacement to Canada's combat mission in Kandahar.

That mission officially ends in July, but it will take several months to withdraw all the troops and equipment that have built up in southern Afghanistan since Canadians arrived in 2005.

Dawe said it will differ significantly from the combat Canadians have come to associate with operations in Afghanistan.

"There is zero offensive combat action involved in the mandate here whatsoever," Dawe said in an interview from Kabul. "We're here to defend ourselves and to do our job and there is no question of looking for a fight or to pursue an offensive action per se."

Dawe provided a comprehensive rundown of the military's plans for the training job, which will begin in earnest in November:

    The contingent will be 950 soldiers strong, based mostly in and around Kabul.
    Roughly 200 soldiers will form Dawe's headquarters, and work in a command and support unit that will administer the mission.
    Another 250 will be based at the Kabul Military Training Centre, a key Afghan training facility near the capital's downtown core.
    About 150 Canadian troops will find themselves at a field training centre on the eastern outskirts of Kabul, and 50 more will be at a similar facility south of the capital.
    In total, 750 Canadian troops will work as trainers, including roughly 50 soldiers at a far-flung outpost in Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, and another 25 in the far west of the country near Herat.

"It's a huge effort, all with a view to ensuring that the Afghan national security forces work towards this objective of a professional trustworthy, viable, self-reliant, self-sustaining force in the long run," Dawe said.
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 The Gitmo Files: An agent of Iran
By Thomas JoscelynMay 18, 2011
Article Link

A current Guantanamo detainee was an "agent of the Iranian Savama (Ministry of Intelligence and Security)" and "closely associated" with the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), and al Qaeda, according to a recently leaked threat assessment. The detainee, an Afghan named Haji Hamidullah (Internment Serial Number 1119), joined the HIG in the early 1980s to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan and remained a member of the organization until his capture in 2003.

In a leaked threat assessment dated April 23, 2008, Joint Task Force - Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) analysts concluded that Hamidullah "was one of one of the most significant former Afghan HIG members detained" at Guantanamo because of his extensive involvement in anti-Coalition activities.

Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) previously identified Hamidullah as a HIG "commander...closely connected to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar." The NDS also reported that Hamidullah "was responsible for explosions" and "murdered 71 people."

The HIG wasn't the only terrorist organization Hamidullah served, according to JTF-GTMO. Intelligence reports cited in Hamidullah's file demonstrate a high degree of coordination between the various insurgency groups, including al Qaeda, as well as the intelligence services that support them. In addition to being an "agent" of Iranian intelligence, the leaked file links Hamidullah to a Pakistani intelligence initiative designed to orchestrate the various insurgency groups' actions.

Intelligence reports cited by JTF-GTMO also raise new questions about the ties between two members of Hamid Karzai's government and Iran.

JTF-GTMO's analysis

The post-9/11 story pieced together by JTF-GTMO analysts begins in January 2002, when Hamidullah and his father (described as a "HIG leader") left Meshad, Iran - a common transit point for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters - for Kabul. They allegedly did so at the behest of Iranian intelligence.

Upon arriving in Afghanistan, father and son "stayed with Iranian supported warlord Ismail Khan." Khan, a longtime mujahedeen commander, had fled the Taliban's Afghanistan in the 1990s for Iran. He returned to Afghanistan, became of the governor of the western province of Herat, and eventually assumed the title of Minister of Water and Energy in Hamid Karzai's government. Khan's relationship with Iran is well-known, but he has repeatedly tried to portray it in the best possible light, downplaying any nefarious implications. 
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 Canadian Forces, US Marines lift damaged Chinook to safety
Article Link
Story by Cpl. Rashaun X. James

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan –Canadian and U.S. forces safely recovered a downed Canadian Forces CH-47 Chinook helicopter during a tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel mission in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, May 17.

Utilizing a trio CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters from Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 461, with assistance from 2nd Marine Logistics Group’s helicopter support team, the Canadian and American team was able to transport the damaged aircraft back to its home at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.

“We showed up with two aircraft to do the lift in case one had a maintenance issue during the mission,” said Maj. Jade Steward-Campbell a CH-53E pilot and HMH-461’s maintenance officer. “A third CH-53 served as our tactical support aircraft, which launched out with the HST to rig the CH-47 for pick-up, and to transport all the debris from the crash and Canadian Forces personnel back to Kandahar.”

To ensure the mission was carried out safely, a pair of Canadian Forces attack helicopters provided close-air support during the mission, while Canadian Leopard 2 tanks provided ground security.
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## GAP (20 May 2011)

*Articles found May 20, 2011*

 Canada’s special forces to get ancient war-fighting machines: canoes
Article Link
Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA—What does a world-class, lightning-fast commando force need after a decade of hunting the Taliban in the dust and dirt of Afghanistan?

Canoes, apparently.

Trained to dodge enemy fire, slither down ropes from hovering helicopters and scale treacherous mountain peaks, Canada’s special operations forces are already accustomed to the more daring aspects of the great outdoors.

But the latest addition to their equipment sheds at CFB Petawawa, two hours northwest of Ottawa, will be an odd fit with the Griffon choppers, machine-gun-bearing jeeps and high-powered weapons and explosives.

The unit is now making space for 10 lightweight Kevlar canoes capable of carrying up to 900 pounds of soldiers and equipment. They want them on the double — to be delivered on or before June 15. But strictly as fitness machines.

The canoe is an ancient war-fighting machine. It is sleek, silent, stealthy and can operate in the deepest or shallowest of waters. British commandos with the famed Special Boat Service still employ lightweight Klepper canoes — first designed in the 1930s to break down into two pieces — in order to sneak up on unsuspecting ships under the cover of night.

U.S. Navy SEALs — the American counterpart to Canada’s Joint Task Force 2 — use folding kayaks, with which they can jump out of helicopters or launch from submarines and paddle off to their target destinations.
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 Afghanistan, West hope farming will crush Taliban, poppy lure 
Article Link
Fri May 20, 2011 3:22am EDT

* Dam project latest bid to tarnish Taliban's lure

* Poppy farming's appeal will be hard to break

By Amie Ferris-Rotman

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, May 20 (Reuters) - Lush green fields hug a canal snaking through the dusty landscape of what was once Afghanistan's breadbasket, feeding off water from a newly restored dam aimed at tarnishing the lure for farmers to cultivate poppy and help the Taliban.

More than thirty years of warfare and chaos, starting with the Soviet invasion in 1979, has gutted Afghanistan's farms and food industry, destroying valleys that were once rich with pomegranates, wheat and grapes.

Disgruntled and impoverished farmers in southern Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban and one of the country's poorest areas, have turned to fighting instead, tempted by the Taliban's fast cash offer to would-be insurgents.

They also grow opium poppy, a more hardy crop that needs less water than others, making Kandahar one of the top poppy-producing regions in the country, a trade that fuels insecurity through its inseparable links with the Taliban.

"Now people will have work, instead of fighting," said Energy and Water Minister Ismail Khan, one of Afghanistan's most prominent politicians and a staunch anti-Taliban crusader. 
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 For Canadian medics, Afghanistan provided crash course on extreme trauma cases
  Article Link 
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News May 19, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — "War is the only proper school of the surgeon," or so Hippocrates said.

So it has proven to be for the hundreds of Canadian doctors, nurses and medics who have come to Afghanistan. After receiving a crash course in war medicine near the front lines, they have been returning home with cutting-edge knowledge about how to deal with extreme trauma cases that they can use not only to give soldiers better care, but civilians, too.

"Of all the places for Canada to choose, we came to Kandahar so we learned fast," said Capt. Dylan Pannell, a general practitioner who is returning to Canada after half a year at NATO's U.S. navy-run Role 3 Hospital, to begin studying to become a surgeon.

"The type of medicine here is unlike anywhere else except in another active war zone. It is the best education you can perceive of."
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## The Bread Guy (20 May 2011)

GAP said:
			
		

> Canada’s special forces to get ancient war-fighting machines: canoes
> Article Link
> Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau
> 
> ...


MERX listing here (also attached if link doesn't work), a bit more detail from the bid document (PDF) here.


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## GAP (23 May 2011)

*Articles found May 23, 2011*

 Taliban denies reports of leader Mullah Omar's death
RAHIM FAIEZ and HEIDI VOGT KABUL, Afghanistan— The Associated Press Monday, May. 23, 2011
Article Link

The Taliban denied a report in the Afghan press that the insurgent group’s leader had been killed in neighbouring Pakistan, saying Monday that Mullah Mohammad Omar is alive and in Afghanistan.

“This is absolutely wrong. It’s only propaganda and we completely deny these rumours,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in a phone call. “He is inside Afghanistan and he is busy directing military operations with his commanders.”
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 Dental surgeon trades in scrubs to mentor troops in Afghanistan
  Article Link
 By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News May 22, 2011

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- What possesses a Canadian dental surgeon to trade in his scrubs and scalpels for nine months in the Kandahari desert mentoring Afghan troops in counter-insurgency tactics?

"Most people find it hard to relate to," Capt. Luong Phuc Nguyen of 4 Royal 22nd Regiment admitted with a laugh. "I am losing a lot of money and not furthering my career."

That goes double for the 37-year old dentist's father, who is a pediatrician and his mother, who is a pharmacist.

"My parents are from Vietnam," he said. "My grandfather fought the French and the Communists. They stayed there until a few days before the fall of Saigon. When I was almost two years old, I was on the cover of Newsweek.

"So my parents understand my patriotism. But they have had a hard time understanding why someone with my career would want to interrupt it. The prospect of combat is scary for them."

With 130,000 western troops here, including more than 3,000 Canadians, being a military dentist or dental surgeon in Afghanistan were obviously options. But as a qualified infantry officer, Nguyen made it plain that he wanted to be out at a Forward Operating Base with combat troops, not in a staff job at Task Force Kandahar Headquarters as he was for all but a couple of weeks of his first Afghan tour in 2007-2008.
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Counter-terrorism cooperation: Canada seeks extradition of two students
By Asad Kharal Published: May 23, 2011
Article Link

LAHORE: 

The Canadian government has sought help from the Pakistani government in locating and arresting two Canadian students of Afghan descent who are suspected of having joined the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Pakistan received the Canadian requests through Interpol for help in the arrest of  Maiwand Yar, 27, and Farid Imam, 30.

At least one of the young men was reported to be a mechanical engineering student at the University of Manitoba. The Canadian government suspects that they plan to join the Taliban insurgents fighting Nato troops in Afghanistan.

According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the arrest warrants for Yar and Imam are the result of a four-year national security criminal investigation known as Project Darken.

“These warrants are the result of a lengthy and thorough national security criminal investigation involving key partners throughout Canada and the US,” stated Assistant Commissioner Bill Robinson of the RCMP. “We are deeply committed to our efforts aimed at countering terrorism. This investigation targets criminal activity and not specific communities or groups.”
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 Airborne medics save life and limb from chopper over Afghanistan's war zone
Article Link
By Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press – 2 days ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The distressed cries of the little girl are obvious in any language: "Daddy, daddy, it hurts."

Her eyes speak pain, fear and confusion, even if her words are drowned out by the pulsing scream of the helicopter turbines.

Her father, clutching a stuffed animal in his left hand, reaches over and puts his right hand on her bare chest, soothing her as he gently admonishes her to be quiet.

The girl, just seven years old, is on her way to hospital via an American medevac chopper from Kandahar city, where she had been shot in the back during insurgent unrest.

The bullet tore her through her slender frame, exiting her abdomen and lodging in her arm.

U.S. Staff Sgt. Rob Marchetti places an oversized pair of headphones over her ears to quiet the noise of the chopper and allow the calm chatter of the crew to comfort her.

He puts an oxygen mask over her mouth, hooks her to a monitor, and keeps a close eye on her stable vital signs for the 15-minute flight to the hospital on an Afghan army base.

"Some days you help people — you get that opportunity — and some days you don't," Marchetti says.
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 Trial expected to expose links between Pakistani spy service and Mumbai attack
COLIN FREEZE CHICAGO—Globe and Mail Sunday, May. 22, 2011 
Article Link

He was a pillar of Chicago’s South Asian community, a mysterious Canadian known as a healer. He flew a Maple Leaf flag in front of his immigration consultancy that was a go-to spot to sort out visa woes. A few blocks away on Devon Avenue, Muslims patronized his halal meat shop, which was stocked from his abattoir on the outskirts of town.

That was before his arrest two years ago.

On Monday, in a case that offers a window on frayed U.S.-Pakistani relations, an American court will hear testimony that Tahawwur Rana lived a secret life as a terrorist and helped facilitate the 2008 Mumbai massacre – in which 10 Pakistani gunmen stormed train stations, luxury hotels and a Jewish centre in India’s largest city, killing more than 160 people.

The trial of the Pakistani-Canadian, who claims he was working for Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, will be the first – and probably only – American legal proceeding to publicly probe the inner workings of the secretive service, whose reputation for nurturing terrorists instead of eliminating them was bolstered when agents failed to help U.S. counterparts find and kill Osama bin Laden. 
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## a_majoor (23 May 2011)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gCMpTKttgM1K8Ls4X2hNNBN_9hTg?docId=6930285

*Canada leaves behind a 'dramatically improved' Panjwaii for U.S.etraeus*

By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press – 2 hours ago

BAZAAR-E-PANJWAII., Afghanistan — The governor of Kandahar's restive Panjwaii district pleaded with NATO's top commander in Afghanistan on Monday for more money and resources to convince insubordinate Taliban to lay down their weapons.

Haji Fazluddin Agha's appeal came as U.S. Gen. David Petraeus paid tribute to Canadian troops who are on the cusp of departing the southern region following five long, bloody years of fighting.

"This has been Canada's area," Petraeus said in an interview. "What Canada hands off now to the U.S. elements that take over is dramatically improved."

He noted that the Panjwaii is one of the toughest neighbourhoods in Kandahar, an "area that used to be Mullah Omar's hometown and used to be a Taliban stronghold."

But Petraeus says it now belongs to Afghan security forces, something Canada has "contributed to significantly."

But just how tenuous that hold remains was underlined with determination by Fazluddin Agha, who complained bitterly about the cumbersome process and scarcity of funds from Kabul to push Taliban re-intregration to the next level.

More help would convince many people in his area, one of the most troubled in Afghanistan, to quit the insurgency ahead of the summer fighting season, said the governor who spoke at length during a luncheon at the heavily fortified district centre.

Petraeus promised to raise the concerns in a meeting Wednesday with President Hamid Karzai, but cautioned afterward that re-integration of insurgents needs to be a careful, deliberate process.

"This is a process... that needs to be done properly," he said. "You should not rush to failure."

Earlier in the spring, an optimistic Petraeous endorsed the Afghan government program and predicted almost 5,000 insurgents had either laid down their weapons or were on the way to doing so.

The Karzai government pleaded with NATO countries for years to back such a program and received only a lukewarm response.

Under the program, insurgents who want to give up are vetted, disarmed and given jobs, but the system is slow and cash is not quick to flow.

"Doing it properly means it will be enduring, which would not be the case if it is not done correctly," said Petraeous, who met with senior Canadian commander for perhaps last time before the Royal 22e Regiment battle group leaves for home in July.

"There is a bureaucracy connected with this (re-integration) process. There's a lot of hard work going on to streamline the various steps that are required."

But at the same time, the NATO commander already sees the Afghan peace scheme as more efficient than the one that was implemented in Iraq.

He predicted a tough fighting season.

"The Taliban will try to come back," he said. "They (will) try and regain what's been lost. It matters greatly to them."

But that doesn't seem to affect plans to begin drawing down U.S. forces in July. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the magic number is expected to be about 5,000 soldiers.

Petraeus indicate earlier this month, the United States would go ahead with plans withdraw its soldiers as Canada transitions to a non-combat training mission — a new role for which he had overwhelming praise.

Up to 950 soldiers and support staff will soon begin classroom instruction for Afghan soldiers and cops in the Kabul area, as well as at centres in the north and west of the troubled country. They are expected to remain until 2014.

Copyright © 2011 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.


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## GAP (25 May 2011)

*Articles found May 25, 2011*

 10 Afghan workers killed as Taliban target foreign aid projects
Article Link
    May 24th, 2011 

A roadside bomb tore through a truck carrying workers to a Canadian-funded development project in Kandahar on Tuesday, killing 10 Afghan laborers and injuring another 28.

The Taliban have said in the past that such foreign aid projects were, in their minds, considered legitimate military targets and any civilians working on them would be killed.

The workers were earning about $4 a day - a decent wage in a country with an unemployment rate that ranges from 35% (according to the CIA World Factbook) to 70% (according to Afghanistan's National Worker's Union); not to mention a country where a large portion of the population gets by on $1 a day.
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 Families of Western troops grieve in Afghanistan
Article Link
By Emma Graham-Harrison KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | Tue May 24, 2011 10:32am EDT

(Reuters) - Grieving Canadians and Britons said goodbye on Tuesday to fallen relatives on Kandahar Air Field, a rare reminder in the heart of the war in Afghanistan of the human cost to Western armed forces that has made the decade-long conflict so unpopular back home.

Canada organizes family visits after a member of their armed forces is killed in Afghanistan so that relatives can "feel the heat, smell the air, get covered in the dust" that their loved ones knew in their last days, said Rear Admiral Andy Smith.

"It is still very recent, so a visit like this really helps us go through the grieving process," said Guy Scherrer, father of Corporal Yannick Scherrer, who was killed by a homemade bomb in late March, after a memorial service on the base.
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## GAP (26 May 2011)

*Articles found May 26, 2011*

 Special forces commando took on Taliban single-handedly
A special forces commando saved the lives of his colleagues in an act of "selfless bravery" during a raid on a Taliban stronghold after he took on the insurgents single-handedly, an inquest heard.
Article Link
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent 1:56PM BST 24 May 2011

Cpl Seth Stephens was posthumously awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for his bravery after rescuing comrades from the Special Boat Service who were pinned down by heavy fire

In his citation for the award, that is second only to the Victoria Cross, the court heard that the former Royal Marine had "almost certainly saved the lives of his comrades" after exposing himself to enemy fire during a substantial gun battle.

In a story that has never been told before, the inquest heard that Cpl Stephens was part of a large British and Afghan special forces raid on a Taliban headquarters in Helmand province.

In the early hours of July 1 last year Chinooks carrying the teams landed near Haji Wakil village in the Bahram Chah area at 2am and quickly came under determined enemy resistance.

After more than five hours of heavy fighting the SBS force found "progress extremely difficult" as they fought their way through an orchard coming under fire from all sides, the inquest in Bournemouth heard. 
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 Canadian special forces hurt Taliban: general
  Article Link
Mission ending; Insurgents forced to change tactics
 By MATTHEW FISHER, Postmedia News May 26, 2011

After nearly a decade of "tremendously successful work" in Afghanistan, the general commanding Canada's elite, secret special forces says they are to end combat operations here at the same moment as the country's regular combat forces.

"The Taliban cannot operate with impunity anywhere in Kandahar largely because of all the SOF (special operations force) community, because it is an alliance, but certainly because CANSOF was focused on it," Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, commander of the country's clandestine military community, said in a rare interview.

After the Taliban lost badly on the battlefield to mostly Canadian troops in 2006 and early 2007, the insurgents "essentially changed their tactics from holding ground and trying to be the shadow government in a large part of the province and directly challenging the authorities with formed units" to using "intimidation tactics," Thompson said. "They started to go after the Afghan leadership and upped the ante with IEDs and suicide bombings and became much more asymmetrical.
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## GAP (30 May 2011)

*Articles found May 30, 2011*

 Aid watchdog warns of 'escalating stalemate' in Afghanistan as attacks increase
Article Link
By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press – 20 hours ago

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — An organization that keeps track of threats to aid workers in Afghanistan is bracing for a tough, desperate summer and warns of an "escalating stalemate" as it says the Karzai government is losing its grip on northern parts of the country.

A new report from the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office suggested insurgent forces are growing in areas that have previously been assessed as calm.

"We anticipate 2011 will be the most violent year since we have been keeping records," said the organization's quarterly report, which was released over the weekend.

The grim assessment coincided with the deadly attack in Takhar province Saturday that killed six, including two German soldiers, and wounded the NATO forces northern commander, as well as the provincial governor.

Attacks by "armed opposition groups" soared 51 per cent in the first three months of this year when compared with the same period in 2010. The total number of attacks — 1,102 — surpassed those conducted in the run up to the 2009 presidential election, which was considered one of the most violent periods in recent memory.
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Still committed to helping fellow warriors
Article Link
VAFB Tech. Sgt. Robert Butler talks publicly for the first time about the Oct. 5 attack

When the huge homemade bomb detonated, fragments tore through the body of Tech. Sgt. Robert Butler of Vandenberg Air Force Base, leaving him battling for his life.

His lung was punctured, his collarbone shattered. An optical nerve was severed and his right arm shredded.

But the blast failed to extinguish his strong love for and commitment to his highly dangerous job, which he’s determined to continue.

Last week, with Memorial Day fast approaching, Butler talked publicly for the first time about the Oct. 5 attack that claimed the life of Senior Airman Daniel Johnson and landed Butler in hospitals for more than two months.
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 Kandahar women risk paying the ultimate price in pursuit of higher learning
Article Link
By: Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press  05/28/2011 

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Canadian-funded textbooks and computers aren't overly expensive — certainly not compared to the price Afghan women risk having to pay for using them.

The sort of mundane learning most westerners have long taken for granted carries a persistent and very real threat for female students in southern Afghanistan: injury or death at the hands of the Taliban.

For the determined, however, it's no deterrent.

"For sure, I am afraid," says Heena Tariq, a teenager who's taking an online accounting course at a school in Kandahar city.

"It's not fair we are afraid and stay home. We have to be brave. We have to study for the future and brighten our lives."

Tariq is one of about 700 women who have defied custom and the threat of insurgent thuggery to attend the Afghan-Canadian Community Centre.

The centre, a professional-development school, teaches business management, computer technology and English, as well as leadership and job-oriented skills.
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Volunteers lauded for Kandahar polio effort
 Threatened with death by the Taliban
Article Link
By Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News May 27, 2011

After four volunteers were murdered by the Taliban for participating in a $60-million Canadian-funded project to eradicate polio in Afghanistan, Rahmattulah Bashardost continued to help distribute vaccine to more than 350,000 Kandahari children because, he said, it was the right thing to do.

"The Taliban threatened to kill me if I did not quit this job, but what else can we do?" Bashardost asked. "We must support our people and our country.

"Doing this in Kandahar is a hard thing because the roads are so often blocked by the Taliban, by Afghan security forces or by (NATO's) International Security Assistance Force. To stop polio you have to pay attention, road by road, street by street even if in some villages the elders do not cooperate."

Bashardost and several dozen of the 8,000 anti-polio campaign volunteers in Kandahar were honoured Thursday with commemorative plaques by Canada and the provincial government in a ceremony at the governor's palace.

"What we say here does not do justice to the courage, bravery and dedication to humanitarian ideas that these volunteers have shown," Tim Martin, Canada's senior diplomat in Kandahar, told the gathering. "Your efforts have saved lives and have helped a brighter future for the people of this country. The scale of the fight against polio is astounding."
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## observor 69 (30 May 2011)

In pictures: Harper's surprise visit to Kandahar 
Globe and Mail Update 
Published Monday, May. 30, 2011 3:46PM EDT
Last updated Monday, May. 30, 2011 4:14PM EDT
PM travels to Afghanistan to pay tribute to last rotation of Canadian combat troops, marking the coming end of a bloody five-year mission in Kandahar


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/in-pictures-harpers-visit-to-kandahar/article2040165/


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