# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread April 2009



## GAP (31 Mar 2009)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread April 2009 *               

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


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## GAP (1 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 1, 2009*

 Canada expresses outrage over Afghan women's law
Updated Tue. Mar. 31 2009 7:35 PM ET The Canadian Press
Article Link

OTTAWA -- Canadian officials contacted the Afghan government Tuesday to express concern about controversial new legislation that would reportedly allow men to rape their wives. 

The Canadian government reacted with outrage following reports that the Karzai administration has approved a wide-ranging family law for the country's Shia minority. 

Various reports say the legislation would make it illegal for Shia women to refuse their husbands sex, leave the house without their permission, or have custody of children. 

Canadian officials contacted the office of President Hamid Karzai, and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon spoke to two Afghan cabinet ministers Tuesday seeking clarification. 

Karzai's office has so far refused to comment on the legislation, which has been criticized by some Afghan parliamentarians and a UN women's agency but has not yet been published. 
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 The US Military’s March 2009 Fuel Contracts
Article Link

Fuel is a big issue to the US military.

While there are some contracts issued throughout the year, the US military typically issues large sets of contracts over concentrated periods. In March 2006, for instance, DID covered over $3 billion in contracts issued within a week. The Defense Energy Support Center estimates that the US military paid more than $10 billion for over 130 million barrels of fuel in 2006, compared to $6.7 billion for 144.8 million barrels in 2004. No wonder energy conservation is on the Pentagon’s agenda, while DARPA researches alternative fuels for B-52 bombers.

It would appear to be that time of year again. Here are all of the American military’s fuel contracts for March 2009, along with descriptions of key fuel types and explanations of the contract language. The final tally was $5,693,595,745 – plus any economic price adjustments, a term we explain below….

Key Fuel Types

The March 2007 contracts aren;t specific, but “fuel” can encompass a number of different products. For your information, here are some of the key fuel types involved, beyond contracts for straight diesel fuel. Information in this section is taken from the US Coast Guard’s Propulsion Fuel Guide, and the US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. Both documents are in PDF format.

JP-5 (also known as F-44) & JP-8. is procured to MIL-DTL-5624T. JP-5 is a very clean burning fuel with very strict quality requirements – especially its limit of water and particulate content. Gas turbine maintenance (particularly when associated with combustor cans) is reduced when burning JP-5. It is used in US Navy aircraft, and has a high flash point, which means it doesn’t vaporize until it reaches about 130 degrees Fahrenheit or so. This makes it ideally suited for storage aboard ship where low flammability is desired. JP-5 is also inherently stable; it does not form oxygenated sludge, and because it’s an aviation fuel it includes a Fuel System Icing Inhibitor (FSII) additive. The downsides are threefold. JP-5 tends to be more expensive. Its energy content is lower than F-76 type fuel, which means lower mileage efficiency; and it may have lower viscosity and/or lubricity characteristics, which can cause extra wear in diesel engine injection pumps.
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 Suspected drone attacks kills 8 in Pakistan
Article Link

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suspected U.S. missile strike killed eight people in in the violence-plagued tribal region in northwestern Pakistan Wednesday, a local political official said.

The strike occurred in the Orakzai Agency, one of seven regions that make up the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the border with Afghanistan. Pakistani and U.S. officials have reported a presence of militants in the region.

The official, Basir Orakzai, said some victims of the attack were trapped under rubble.

It is the first suspected U.S. missile strike in the Orakzai Agency, based on a CNN tally.

The U.S-led coalition and NATO -- based in Afghanistan -- have been seeking a way to effectively battle militants who are launching attacks from the swath of tribal areas along the border.

They have become frustrated with Islamabad over the years, saying it is not being proactive enough against militants -- a claim Pakistan denies.

The United States is the only country operating in the region known to have the capability to launch missiles from drones, which are controlled remotely.
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 10 die in attack on Afghan government building
NOOR KHAN Associated Press April 1, 2009 at 6:21 AM EDT
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Three suicide bombers disguised in army uniforms stormed a government office in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday after a fourth detonated a car bomb, officials said. At least 10 people — including the four assailants — died.

The co-ordinated assault in Kandahar city underscored a new tactic by Afghan militants to launch multidirectional attacks against government offices. It mirrored a February attack in Kabul, where militants assaulted three government buildings simultaneously, killing 20.

Wednesday's attack on Kandahar's provincial council office killed five civilians and a police officer, said Zemeri Bashary, the Interior Ministry's spokesman.

The assault began just before noon, when a suicide bomber in a vehicle full of explosives blew himself up at the gates of the council office, opening the way for three other attackers in Afghan army uniforms to storm the building, said Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the council and President Hamid Karzai's brother.
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 Australian Special Forces Kill Taliban Commander in Afghanistan  
By Michael Heath
Article Link

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Australian special forces killed a senior Taliban insurgent involved in organizing suicide attacks and training foreign fighters in Afghanistan, the Department of Defence said today. 

Mullah Abdul Bari coordinated bomb attacks on international and Afghan forces in the southern province of Uruzgan, the department said in a statement. Bari was killed in a recent operation by Australian and Afghan National Army troops, it said, without elaborating. 

“His weapons of choice were roadside bombs and suicide bombers, and his death means that Taliban insurgents operating in the region have lost one of their key facilitators,” Chief of Joint Operations Lieutenant General Mark Evans said. 
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## MarkOttawa (1 Apr 2009)

US surge troops see highway as road to freedom in Afghanistan
_The Times_, April 1
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6011860.ece



> Around the highway running south from Kabul [the "ring road']the landscape is changing. Where there were patches of desert scrub a few months ago US bases are sprouting, complete with 30ft defensive walls, watch towers and internet relaxation areas. The air hums with the sound of electricity generators and helicopters.
> 
> As the first of 21,000 additional surge troops arrive, US commanders have one objective in 2009: to retake the Afghan ring road [that will certainly include operations in RC South north and west of Kandahar, and in Helmand province].
> 
> ...



Afghan-Pakistani border plan wins leaders’ nod 
CP, April 1
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1114423.html



> The Canadian government used an international conference to announce that it has brokered a deal to bolster the anarchic Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
> 
> Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Tuesday the two countries had agreed to timelines and objectives for bringing order to their lawless frontier.
> 
> ...



Pakistani Taliban says it carried out deadly assault on Lahore academy
_Irish Times_, April 1
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0401/1224243794521.html



> *Terror attack: warlord threatens similar assaults in West*: A PAKISTANI warlord yesterday claimed responsibility for Monday’s assault on the Lahore police training academy and threatened attacks on the West.
> 
> Baitullah Mehsud leads the biggest faction of Pakistan’s Taliban and is based in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region in the northwest, which borders Afghanistan. Last month, the US offered a $5 million bounty for Mehsud, describing him as key commander of al-Qaeda.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (2 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 2, 2009*

 FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan
Thu Apr 2, 2009 6:00am 
Article Link

Following are security developments in Afghanistan at 1000 GMT on Thursday:

HELMAND - Afghan troops, advised by U.S.-led coalition forces, called in an airstrike which killed 20 militants after an ambush in Kajaki district, 475 km (295 miles) southwest of Kabul, on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

BADGHIS - Sixteen road workers were kidnapped in Ghormach district, 510 km (315 miles) northwest of Kabul, the Interior Ministry said. (Compiled by Jon Hemming; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
end

 Militants Storm Government Office in Afghanistan, Killing 13  
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Five suicide bombers stormed a government office in Kandahar on Wednesday morning, killing 13 people, including two provincial government officials, and wounding 14.

One militant detonated a car bomb at the entrance gate of the provincial council office, as the others stormed the compound with assault rifles and hand grenades. Seven civilians and six police officers were killed in the 20-minute gun battle, which ended when two of the militants blew themselves up in the main hall, said the provincial police chief, Matiullah Qati.
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U.S. Weighs Putting 70,000 Troops in Afghanistan   
APRIL 1, 2009, 11:14 P.M. ET By YOCHI J. DREAZEN
Article Link

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is weighing whether to deploy 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan but lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are questioning an increased commitment and seeking specific measures of progress against the deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

When President Obama took office, the U.S. had about 38,000 troops in Afghanistan. The White House has announced plans to send 21,000 reinforcements in coming months, increasing the tally to almost 60,000.

Mr. Obama will decide this fall whether to order 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan next year, senior Pentagon officials told a Senate panel Wednesday, bringing the total to almost 70,000.
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Nato snubbed over request for 4,000 troops in Afghanistan
Michael Evans, Defence Editor and David Charter in Brussels   April 2, 2009
Article Link

Nato leaders meeting at the 60th anniversary summit of the alliance face humiliation unless they can persuade members to send 4,000 extra troops to southern Afghanistan for the four-month period of the elections due on August 20.

An urgent military request for two more infantry battalions and the logistic support units to go with them was made months ago but so far no Nato government has come forward with offers.

Britain is expected to provide extra transport and logistic back-up for the election period but other countries with troops in the south, such as Canada and Denmark, are being urged to prop up security measures. 

The focus at the summit will be on meeting the appeal by General John Craddock, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, for up to 4,000 troops for the south. 
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 Top US Commander says Sustained Commitment Needed in Afghanistan   
By Deborah Tate Capitol Hill 01 April 2009
Article Link  

The commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, General David Petraeus, told a congressional committee Wednesday that success in Afghanistan would require a sustained, substantial commitment.  But some lawmakers expressed skepticism over how progress could be measured in Afghanistan and whether Pakistan is really committed to fighting extremists on its border with Afghanistan. 

General Petraeus cautioned that there would be no quick victory in Afghanistan. He said Islamic insurgents are a growing threat not only to Afghanistan, but to neighboring Pakistan.

"The extremists that have established sanctuary in the rugged border areas not only contribute to the deterioration of security in eastern and southern Afghanistan, they also pose an ever more serious threat to Pakistan's very existence," Petraeus said. 
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## GAP (2 Apr 2009)

Obama ends Pak veto over India in Afghanistan   
Lalit K Jha Washington, Apr 2 (PTI)
Article Link

 President Barack Obama has ended years of "veto power" wielded by Pakistan in Afghanistan over India's active involvement in the country post-Taliban, a US expert on South Asia has said.

Because of Pakistan's stiff resistance and opposition to involve India in any way in Afghanistan that the Bush Administration was literally prevented to take any move to include New Delhi as part of its regional strategy on Afghanistan, Deepa Ollapally, Associate Director of George Washington University's Sigur Center for Asian Studies, said in a Congressional testimony on Afghanistan.

"So far, the US Government has refrained from including India in regional political efforts in Afghanistan, basically bending to Pakistan's sentiments. India has obviously not been happy with this state of affairs, but it has pushed ahead with development assistance instead," she said in her testimony before the National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"The new plan that was announced (by Obama) on Friday (March 27), which will include an international contact group which will have India involved, I think is a step in the right direction," she said. PTI 
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## MarkOttawa (3 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 3

Afghanistan, anniversaries, and strategy
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1238770043

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (4 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 4, 2009*

 Sailor in spy case gets maximum 10-year sentence
By Terry Frieden Justice Producer
Article Link

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A former U.S. Navy sailor who provided al Qaeda supporters secret information about planned ship movements received a maximum 10-year prison sentence, the Justice Department announced Friday.

The former sailor, Hassan Abu-Jihaad, was convicted in 2008 of disclosing secrets on ship movements to potentially enable an attack similar to one carried out against the destroyer USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. sailors.

A federal jury heard the case in Connecticut, which is home to a Web hosting company that included Web sites of a London, England-based organization that allegedly supported acts of terrorism.

Prosecutors presented evidence at trial that Abu-Jihaad praised Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, and praised the attack on the USS Cole as a "martyrdom operation."

U.S. District Court Judge Mark Kravitz in New Haven granted prosecutors' request for the longest possible sentence of 10 years in prison.

"We are pleased that the court imposed the maximum prison term allowed under the law," said Acting U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Nora Dannehy
end

 Obama Says 5,000 More NATO Troops Will Be Sent to Afghanistan  
By Hans Nichols and Edwin Chen
Article Link

April 4 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama announced that NATO countries will send an additional 5,000 non-combat troops and trainers to Afghanistan as a “concrete commitment” to the revised Afghan strategy announced last week. 

“I am pleased that our NATO allies pledged their strong and unanimous support for our new strategy,” Obama said at a press conference at the conclusion of a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Strasbourg, France. 

“This effort can’t be America’s alone,” he said. “We’ve started to match real resources to achieve our goals.” 

The new troops will be used to train the Afghan National Army and police and to help secure the country in preparation for its August elections. Along with an additional $500 million for reconstruction, the new troops “indicate the seriousness of purpose” that the 28 members of the alliance bring to the Afghan conflict, Obama said. 

Obama came to the two-day summit on the Rhine River bearing the new strategic plan for Afghanistan he outlined on March 27. The plan calls for more U.S. troops, establishes benchmarks for improving Afghanistan’s governance and focuses more aid and attention on neighboring Pakistan. The U.S. will send 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan as part of the new strategy. 
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Defending women’s rights in Afghanistan and Pakistan
 April 4th, 2009
Article Link

Barely had President Barack Obama outlined a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan meant to narrow the focus to eliminating the threat from al Qaeda and its Islamist allies, before the U.S.-led campaign ran into what was always going to be one of its biggest problems in limiting its goals. What does it do about the rights of women in the region?

The treatment of women has dominated the headlines this week after Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a new law for the minority Shi’ite population which both the United States and the United Nations said could undermine women’s rights. Karzai has promised a review of the law, while also complaining it was misinterpreted by Western journalists. 

In Pakistan, video footage has been circulated of Taliban militants flogging a teenage girl in the Swat valley, where the government concluded a peace deal with the Taliban in February. The graphic and disturbing video, which has been posted on YouTube, has outraged many Pakistanis and the flogging was condemned by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani as shameful. There have been contradictory reports of exactly when and why the girl was punished, although Dawn newspaper quoted a witness as saying she was flogged two weeks ago for refusing a marriage proposal
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 Pakistanis find 43 dead in truck from Afghanistan
Sat Apr 4, 2009 7:18pm BST
Article Link

QUETTA, Pakistan, April 4 - Pakistani police found on Saturday 43 dead bodies and dozens of other people, many of them unconscious, crammed inside a shipping container on a truck from Afghanistan, an official and police said.

The truck had apparently been driven in to Pakistan by human smugglers aiming to take the people to Iran, said government official Naseem Lari.

"The truck came from Spin Boldak and was bound for Iran," Lari said, referring to an Afghan border town opposite the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

"We've got 43 dead confirmed and many more unconscious," he said.

The truck carrying the container had been left at a truck stop on the outskirts of the city of Quetta and police had been alerted after passers-by heard cries for help, said police official Abid Jadoon.

Jadoon said about 100 people in total were in the container and the dead had suffocated in its tightly sealed interior.
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 NATO Leaders Agree on Secretary-General, Afghanistan   
By VOA News 04 April 2009
  Article Link

Leaders of the 28 NATO countries have named Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the new Alliance secretary-general and agreed on a common policy toward Afghanistan.

NATO's outgoing Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced the accord on his successor, noting that Turkey dropped its objections to Mr. Rasmussen.

He also said the leaders, meeting in Strasbourg, agreed to send additional forces, including those expected to help train Afghan units. He said the new troops will also assist the Afghans in preparing for elections scheduled for later this year. 
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 'Deadly air strike' in Pakistan   
   Article Link

A suspected US missile strike in north-west Pakistan, the second drone attack in four days, has killed 13 people. 

Local officials in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, said the dead included women and children as well as militants - some of them foreigners. 

But a Taleban spokesman denied this, saying all those killed were civilians. 

The US military does not routinely confirm drone attacks, but US forces in Afghanistan are believed to be the only ones in the region with the capability. 

Pakistan is critical of drone use because, it says, civilians are often killed, fuelling support for militants. 

Retaliation threatened 

Local administration officials say the missiles destroyed part of a house owned by a school teacher in a village near the region's main town of Miranshah. 

A number of foreign militants were among those killed in the strike at 0300 local (2200 Friday), security officials said. 
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 Uzbekistan allows supplies for Afghanistan
Article Link

WASHINGTON, April 4 (UPI) -- Uzbekistan agreed Friday to allow the United States to use it as a transit point for the shipment of "non-lethal" supplies to Afghanistan.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the agreement between the two countries covers rail and road transport as well as air, the Novosti news agency reported. Supplies that would be allowed include food, medical equipment and construction supplies but not weapons or ammunition.

Kyrgyzstan announced in February it was closing the Mamas air base, which had been a U.S. supply route. Whitman said talks with the country are still under way.

Ukraine said Thursday it would allow shipments for Afghanistan.

The ground route through Pakistan has become more difficult because of the Taliban resurgence along the border with Afghanistan. 
More on link


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## George Wallace (5 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 5, 2009*

 Suicide bomber kills 22 at Shia mosque in Pakistan
With files from the Associated Press
Article Link

*At least 22 people were killed Sunday after a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the entrance to a Shia mosque in northeast Pakistan, officials said.*


CBC News 

As many as 50 others were injured in the blast in Chakwal, 80 kilometres south of the capital, Islamabad.

The attack came a day after eight paramilitary soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing in Islamabad and a week after a commando-style attack against a police academy in Lahore that left 12 people dead, including seven police officers.

No one claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack on the mosque, but Pakistan's frequent sectarian violence has been dominated by Sunni militant attacks on minority Shias.

Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud claimed credit for both the police academy attack and Saturday's bombing in the capital, saying they were carried out in retaliation for U.S. drone air strikes against militants in Pakistan near the Afghan border.

end

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## GAP (6 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 6, 2009*

 Media allowed to witness return of war casualty
By RANDALL CHASE – 10 hours ago 
Article Link

DOVER, Del. (AP) — The military says the wife of an airman whose remains are being returned to the U.S. in a ceremony the media will be allowed to witness will be among those meeting the plane.

Family members gave their permission for the media to be at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. It will be the first such opportunity since the Obama administration overturned an 18-year ban on news coverage of returning war dead.

An eight-person team will bring the flag-draped coffin with the remains of Air Force staff Sgt. Philip Myers off the 747 after a chaplain says a prayer.

The Department of Defense says Myers of Hopewell, Va., was killed April 4 in Afghanistan.

The military says Myers' wife will not talk to the pre
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 'Pakistan repatriates bodies of Afghan migrants'
4 hours ago
Article Link

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) — The bodies of 45 Afghans who suffocated to death in a human smugglers' container in southwestern Pakistan were being driven back to Afghanistan Monday for burial, officials said.

A truck container stuffed with around 110 people was found Saturday about 20 kilometres (15 miles) south of Quetta, capital of oil and gas rich Baluchistan province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, police said.

Officials believed the truck was bound for Iran.

Funeral prayers were offered in the city's Bolan Hospital by a Muslim cleric and attended by about 100 doctors, hospital staff and local people.

Private Pakistani charity the Edhi trust put the bodies in 45 wooden coffins for transportation across the border to the Afghan town of Spin Boldak in southern Kandahar province.

Afghan consul general Daud Mohsini said Pakistani 
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 Freed UN official at US base in Afghanistan  
Web posted at: 4/6/2009 1:14:26 Source ::: AFP 
Article Link

KABUL: An American UN official freed overnight after being kidnapped in Pakistan two months ago was yesterday at the main US military base in neighbouring Afghanistan, the military said. The media office at the base at Bagram, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) north of Kabul, confirmed that UN refugee agency (UNHCR) official John Solecki was at the large complex but could give no details. 

UN and US officials in the capital could not comment. 

Solecki, UNHCR head in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan, was freed unharmed early yesterday after being snatched at gunpoint in Quetta on February 2. His driver was killed during the abduction. 

UN spokeswoman in Pakistan Jennifer Pagonis said that a priority was to give Solecki medical treatment. A shadowy organisation called the Baluchistan Liberation United Front had claimed the kidnapping and threatened to kill the UN official unless the government freed more than 1,100 prisoners.  
end


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## GAP (6 Apr 2009)

Edmonton tank squadron to handle Canada's biggest guns in Afghanistan
 Some of new squadron's Leopard tanks are 20 tonnes heavier than old model
 By Ryan Cormier, The Edmonton JournalApril 6, 2009 7:11 AM
Article Link

A new, younger tank squadron from the Edmonton Garrison will soon be in charge of the biggest guns in Afghanistan.

Eighty-two members of Lord Strathcona's Horse C squadron will operate Canada's 35 Leopard tanks from now through October.

It is a less experienced squadron, with only 24 personnel with previous tour experience, a total of 62 deployments. The last squadron had 260 previous deployments. Thirty-five members of the squadron have less than three years experience.

Maj. John Cochrane will lead and isn't bothered by the youth of his squadron.

"There's no doubt in my mind the guys are ready to go," he says. "There are a lot more junior guys coming in. They bring a lot of enthusiasm."

Cochrane hopes the natural flow of the army -- the old teach the young and the young inspire the old -- balances the lack of experience.

Canadian tanks have been in Afghanistan since 2007 and a Lord Strathcona's Horse squadron has been with them each day. When one leaves, another arrives.

Roughly 35 tanks are waiting for them. Some are Leopard 1 C2s and others are the newer-model Leopard 2A6M.

The latter are 20 tonnes heavier and are better armoured.
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 Canadian air force to map Afghanistan
 By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News serviceApril 6, 2009 
Article Link

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — The Canadian air force is to digitally map southern Afghanistan and especially the province of Kandahar for NATO and Afghan pilots and ground troops fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida.

An Aurora reconnaissance aircraft with highly sophisticated sensors is to be dispatched to the region in the coming weeks to undertake what will be a major mapmaking project, according to Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, who is responsible for all Canadian forces overseas.

"The aim is to have the best situational awareness we can have," Gauthier said in an interview during his last visit to Afghanistan before leaving his position as commander of CEFCOM next month. "This superimposes a layer to do with the physical battle space that allows us to understand the operating environment."

The state-of-the-art mapping project is to be "focused on the south and principally Kandahar and, of course, we will share it with anybody who will be operating with us," the general said.

Parts of Afghanistan have very poor maps that are old and out of date, which has sometimes been a concern for battle commanders here trying to plan operations.

"There is a need for us to have an up-to-date digital picture of the ground in Afghanistan and a smart young sergeant mapper, which is to an old term that no longer applies because we use 21st-century technology, urged us to bring this technology into operations in order to provide a digital map view of the terrain in Afghanistan. "

Auroras last served in the area during the winter of 2001-02 when they supported maritime reconnaissance operations for half a dozen Canadian warships which were rushed to the Arabian Sea after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S..

The Aurora crews that will be flying over southern Afghanistan will be from bases in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

They join Chinook and Griffon helicopters and crews that have been flying here in support of Canadian and other NATO forces since early this year. The other element of the Canadian air wing in Afghanistan, which numbers about 490 men and women, are technicians who help operate unmanned aerial surveillance drones that have been leased from an Israeli defence company.
end


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## GAP (7 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 7, 2009*

Romanian soldier killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan
By ASSOCIATED PRESS  Apr 7, 2009 12:06  BUCHAREST, Romania 
Article Link

The Defense Ministry says a Romanian officer has been killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. 

Four Romanian soldiers were wounded in the explosion. 

A ministry statement says Capt. Iuliu-Vasile Unguras was killed Tuesday morning when the vehicle he was in drove over an improvised bomb. The soldiers were on a patrol mission on the road from Kandahar to Kabul. 

The incident happened 20 kilometers northeast of Qalat. The injured were taken to military hospitals in Lagman and Kandahar. 

Unguras's death comes days after another Romanian soldier was killed in Afghanistan. He is the he 11th Romanian to die in Afghanistan.
end

 Dutch soldier killed in Afghanistan   
 www.chinaview.cn  2009-04-07 19:29:49       
Article Link

    BRUSSELS, April 7 (Xinhua) -- A Dutch soldier was killed and five others wounded in a missile attack on the Dutch camp in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan on Monday, Dutch daily De Volkskrant reported Tuesday. 

    This brought total Dutch fatalities to 19 since the country deployed troops in southern Afghanistan in 2006. 

    The soldier killed, 20-year-old Azdin Chadli, had only been in Uruzgan for a week. The five wounded soldiers are aged between 19 and 24. They are said to be in a stable condition. 

    Camp Holland was attacked with four missiles at around 18:15 local time (1345 GMT), probably by the Taliban, according to the Dutch Defense Ministry. 

    One rocket landed in the center of the camp where the Dutch victims were hit. A second missile hit the nearby Afghan army base, slightly injuring two Afghan soldiers. Two other missiles missed their target. 
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 Heroic German shepherd dog sniffs out landmines for Canadian troops
23 hours ago
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — There's little doubt among the soldiers keeping watch over the Arghandab valley that Koma is man's best friend.

Koma, a German shepherd trained to sniff out explosives, recently alerted a security team about an improvised explosive device, or IED, buried right where they intended to deploy to scan the area for Taliban insurgents.

Mujibraman Riassi, who is Koma's master, speaks with pride of the four-year-old canine.

"My dog found the mine in the ground and that's why I think - and the Canadians believe - that she's a hero," Riassi said as he stood near the van where the dog rested in its cage after its shift. "She's a good dog."

Recently, a four-member team of soldiers in an armoured vehicle were tasked to protect a work site where Afghan labourers were paving an eight-kilometre stretch of road in the impoverished region.

The road links two forward bases and is critical to civilian and military travel in the valley.

They planned to set up their observation post in the heights above the road in the lush agricultural region to get a clear view of the area.

The spot was checked by explosives specialists and a dog team and something didn't sit right with Koma, who was drawn to a certain spot.
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 Afghanistan: Attack Misses Merkel  
By NICHOLAS KULISH Published: April 6, 2009 
Article Link

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany made a surprise visit to troops in Afghanistan on Monday but left about 20 minutes before a rocket attack on the base in Kunduz, according to a statement released by the German government. The attack failed and none of the 700 German soldiers stationed there were wounded, the government said. The German Web site Spiegel Online reported that a Taliban spokesman called it “a targeted attack against Angela Merkel.” Germany has roughly 3,800 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission there, and plans to send an additional 600 ahead of presidential elections in August. 
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## GAP (8 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 8, 2009*

 US seeks greater role for India in Afghanistan  
Article Link

New Delhi (IANS): The US on Wednesday sought a greater role for India in Afghanistan, at the same time saying it wouldn't pressurise New Delhi on its ties with Pakistan. 

“What happens in Afghanistan depends on Pakistan. They are deeply inter related... It's in the national security interest of all three (India, Pakistan and the US) to work together,” said Richard Holbrooke, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

He was speaking to reporters here after he and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the US, met Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon. Mullen separately held talks with Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta. 
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 Chopper-aid to Afghanistan  
  Article Link

ISTANBUL - Turkey may send 19 Russian utility helicopters to the fledgling Afghan military as part of an increased commitment to Afghanistan, according to an official source. Turkey acquired the Mi-17 helicopters from Russia in the 1990s. They are presently in the inventory of the Gendarmerie Command.

 U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged a larger military and civilian commitment to Afghanistan.

He has warned of major setbacks for the West's security if the insurgency is allowed to grow further. Obama has also urged NATO allies, including Turkey, to do more for Afghanistan, and received agreement from Turkish leaders when he met with them in Ankara on Monday, the source said.

Turkey primarily wishes to provide civilian-related help to the war-torn country. But the 19 helicopters would be a fairly large military contribution to the Afghan air force, which uses many Russian-made aircraft. The Turkish military also may send new trainers to help the Afghan army, the source said.
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 Canada Orders Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Operations

 
Article Link

GATINEAU, Quebec: The Minister of Public Works and Government Services, the Honourable Christian Paradis, and the Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, the Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, as well as the Minister of Industry, the Honourable Tony Clement, today announced that the Government of Canada has awarded a contract to Insitu Inc. of Bingen, Washington, USA, to provide small unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAV) services to support the Canadian Forces.

“As a result of a fair, open and transparent competition, we now have a contract to provide SUAV services that our Canadian Forces will be able to use in Afghanistan and beyond,” said Minister Paradis. “We moved quickly last summer to meet our short-term needs,” he added. “This procurement will not only add to the SUAV fleet for our Forces, but will provide best value for Canadian taxpayers while stimulating our economy.”

“The Canadian Forces’ UAV capability directly contributes to the safety and protection of our troops deployed on operations,” added Minister MacKay. “The awarding of this contract will help ensure that the men and women of the Canadian Forces are provided with the necessary support to sustain this important capability in current operations in Afghanistan, and into the future.”

As part of the Request for Proposal, Insitu Inc. must provide 100 percent industrial and regional benefits. This means that Insitu Inc. will boost the Canadian economy by generating one dollar of economic activity in Canada for every dollar it receives from the contract.
More on link


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## GAP (9 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 9, 2009*

 Marital law saps Canadian support for Afghan mission
Updated Wed. Apr. 8 2009 4:45 PM ET The Canadian Press
Article Link

OTTAWA -- Canadians' tepid support for the combat mission in Afghanistan would turn icy should the Afghan government proceed with a law allowing marital rape, a new poll suggests. 

A proposed family law code for Afghanistan's Shia minority would make it illegal for women to refuse to have sex with their husbands, and would require that they get approval from a male relative to leave the house. 

A survey by The Canadian Press Harris-Decima suggests 40 per cent of Canadians support the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan. But should the family law code be enacted, the poll suggests opposition to the mission would rise to roughly 75 per cent. 
More on link

 No U.S. drones over Pakistan's Baluchistan: Zardari
Thu Apr 9, 2009 8:39am 
Article Link

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The United States will not extend attacks on militants by pilotless drone aircraft to Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview broadcast on Thursday.

The United States and Pakistan do not see eye to eye on strategy to fight al Qaeda and Taliban militants, Pakistan said this week during a visit by senior U.S. officials, with the drone strikes a major point of dispute.

The New York Times reported last month that the United States might expand the area of its strikes from northwestern Pakistan to Baluchistan province, which borders violent southern Afghanistan.

But Zardari, speaking after this week's visit by U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that would not happen.

"In Baluchistan, they have assured us they will not be using drones," Zardari said in an interview with Dunya television.

Pakistan is crucial to U.S. efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, where a Taliban insurgency has intensified. Surging militant violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has also raised fears about its prospects.

The United States has since last year stepped up strikes on militants in strongholds on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border by pilotless drones, mostly in the Waziristan region.
More on link

 Returning troops getting tested for brain injuries
By KRISTIN M. HALL – 1 hour ago 
Article Link

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Every soldier who's gone to war in the past year paused before leaving to take a brain test — basic math, matching numbers and symbols and identifying patterns to measure response time and accuracy. Now that some of these troops have returned, they're taking a fresh round of tests, all part of a broad effort by the military to better treat head injuries.

The Department of Defense is also deploying some unusual weapons for treating the injuries, including paint guns and motion-sensitive video games integrated into therapy at new trauma centers around the country.

More than 150,000 service members from the Marines, Air Force, Army and Navy have undergone the testing that became mandatory last year. Those who suffer a concussion or similar head injury will get a follow-up test.

The 101st Airborne Division is the only division going a step further and testing all soldiers again over the last few months as they have been returning to Fort Campbell from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tests alone can't diagnose traumatic brain injuries, the signature injury of the wars, potentially crippling and sometimes hard to detect damage from blows that can include an exploding roadside bomb, a mortar blast or a vehicle crash.

But they help doctors zero in on which mental functions are damaged and the best way to treat that by comparing an individual soldier's brain function before and after the injury.
More on link

Article Link
 Suicide bomber kills 5, wounds 17 in Afghanistan
By NOOR KHAN – 2 hours ago 

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber attacked a police drug eradication unit in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing five people and wounding 17 others, an official said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

The attacker struck the patrol in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, a major drug-producing area, said Kamal Uddin, the deputy provincial police chief.

The members of the force were traveling in a convoy of vehicles headed for nearby districts to eradicate poppies at the time of the blast, Uddin said.

Five people — two police officers and three civilians — were killed in the blast, said Daud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor. The blast also wounded four policemen and 13 civilians, Ahmadi said.

Two police vehicles and three shops were damaged in the explosion, Uddin said. He initially reported four dead policemen, but the casualty figures were later revised by Ahmadi.

A spokesman for the Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast in a phone call to an Associated Press reporter in southern Afghanistan.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry blamed "the narcotics mafia" for the attack.

Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, the main ingredient in heroin. The Afghan opium trade accounts for 90 percent of worldwide production. The U.N. estimated last year that up to $500 million from the illegal drug trade flows to Taliban fighters and criminal groups.
More on link

 Dutch Recognize the Limits of Their Afghan Approach  
By INDIRA LAKSHMANAN Bloomberg News
Article Link

THE HAGUE - As President Barack Obama tries to change the course of the war in Afghanistan, the Dutch Army's gains there against the Taliban have captured the attention of his advisers. Temper your enthusiasm, say the Dutch.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the Netherlands-led mission last week as an inspiration for the mix of military muscle and economic development at the heart of Mr. Obama's new strategy. But officials in The Hague say the formula their forces have used to stabilize the south-central province of Uruzgan might not work across the rest of the country.

Though ''elements of what we're doing can be copied, replicated in other provinces,'' it is impossible to use the model where violent extremists are more numerous and hard-core, says Peter Mollema, a former top Dutch diplomat in Afghanistan. Mr. Mollema and his military counterpart were invited to Washington two months ago to brief Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, and administration officials. ''We told them yes, we think civil-military cooperation is essential,'' Mr. Mollema says. ''But this is a slow and incremental process, and there is no magic wand.''

The Dutch have focused on winning over and protecting the local population rather than seeking out the enemy, and transferring decision-making and responsibility for security and development to residents, the Afghan Army and the police. With improved public safety, men who formed militias or allied with the Taliban for protection have a reason to lay down their arms, the Dutch say.

''We tell them, 'If you want a well, we deliver the shovels, but you dig it yourselves,''' said Lt. Bart Noordzij during a break from a recent training exercise in central Holland that included role-playing outreach to local tribes. ''If you want to run a shop, we'll make sure you get education in how to run a shop, but you have to open it yourself.''
More on link

 Quake hits Afghanistan, no word on casualties
Thu Apr 9, 2009 2:22am EDT
Article Link

KABUL, April 9 (Reuters) - An earthquake shook the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday, witnesses and officials said.

Officials at the government's anti-disaster management department said they were checking for damage and casualties but had no details on the size or epicentre of the quake.

Earthquakes in Afghanistan are mainly concentrated in the northeast, which is hit by an average of four quakes with a magnitude of five or more each year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (9 Apr 2009)

More Drone Attacks in Pakistan Planned 
_NY Times_, *April 6* [emphasis added]
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/world/asia/07drone.html?ref=world



> Despite threats of retaliation from Pakistani militants, senior administration officials said Monday that the United States intended to step up its use of drones to strike militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas and might extend them to a different sanctuary deeper inside the country.
> 
> On Sunday, a senior Taliban leader vowed to unleash two suicide attacks a week like one on Saturday in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, unless the Central Intelligence Agency stopped firing missiles at militants. Pakistani officials have expressed concerns that the missile strikes from remotely piloted aircraft fuel more violence in the country, and some American officials say they are also concerned about some aspects of the drone strikes.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (9 Apr 2009)

Afghanistan: dangerous times, tipping points
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, April 9
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1239289037

Two snippets:



> The Government of Canada has released its March 2009 edition of ‘Focus Afghanistan,’ which focuses on justice, rule of law and policing.
> http://29711.vws.primus.ca/focus/4-march/4-eng.html
> 
> The CDA also recommends that its readers have a look at the Seven Year Project, an initiative to connect Canadians with their military.
> http://sevenyearproject.com/



Diplomatic Surge: Can Obama's Team Tame the Taliban?
_Time_, April 9
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1890262,00.html



> Admiral Mike Mullen is an odd one. He eschews the crisp, classic aura of command; he comes across as a no-drama, common-sense-dispensing country doctor from downstate Illinois (actually, he's the son of prominent show-biz publicists from Los Angeles). But as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mullen is still the highest-ranking U.S. military officer, and so it was a bit disconcerting to see him taking flak from a group of Afghan farmers and international agricultural experts in Kabul the first week in April. "The military is giving away free wheat seed to Afghan farmers, and that's undermining our efforts," said an expert whose USAID-supported program gave farmers vouchers to buy seeds, which was helping build a secondary market of seed- and farm-supply businesses.
> 
> Instead of taking umbrage, Mullen took notes. In fact, he seemed close to excited as ideas flew around the table. It was not the normal fare for an admiral, but agriculture — specifically, how to get Afghan farmers to plant something other than opium poppies — is a central issue in this very complicated war. Mullen was thrilled to hear positive news about the relative merits of wheat and pomegranates, and the success of U.S. Army National Guard farmer-soldier teams, which were helping to plant and protect in remote Afghan districts. "There are possibilities here we couldn't imagine a year ago," the admiral said at the end of the meeting. "So please keep thinking about how we can do this. Let your minds run free." (See pictures of soldiers in Afghanistan.)..
> 
> ..."We've developed the best counterinsurgency capability in the world," Mullen said several times — that focus on protecting the public and building civil order. And so, in addition to the usual round of private meetings with government officials, Holbrooke convened a breathtaking parade of farmers, Afghan tribal leaders, women legislators, rule-of-law advocates, journalists, the local diplomatic corps, religious leaders; and then a similar roundelay in Pakistan...



In the War Against Militants, U.S. and Pakistan Remain at Odds (usual copyright disclaimer)
_Time_, April 8
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1890199,00.html



> As a fresh wave of terrorism violence spreads deeper into Pakistan, the Obama Administration is urging the country to act more decisively against militants who are based in the tribal areas and pose a threat to the region and beyond. For Washington, stabilizing Afghanistan depends on stanching the flow of militants from across the border. But while both political will and public opinion have discernibly shifted in recent days, there remain deep divisions — and some resentment on the part of Pakistan — over how to tackle the threat.
> 
> In the latest of a series of attacks, a remote-controlled bomb ripped through a music shop in Peshawar on Monday night. The explosion came just hours after Richard Holbrooke, the Obama Administration's special representative to the region, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Islamabad for their first visit since Washington announced its new strategy for the region. The morning before, 22 people were killed by a suicide bomber outside a mosque in Chakwal, a Punjabi town known for its links to the army. And on Saturday night, six paramilitary soldiers died after a suicide bomber blew himself up in the heart of Islamabad. (See pictures from Pakistan's dangerous frontier with Afghanistan.)
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (10 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 10

A Short Fuse in Pakistan (usual copyright disclaimer)
_Washington Post_, April 10, by David Igatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/09/AR2009040903505.html



> ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan seems like a Molotov cocktail waiting for a match. Its ruling elite bickers over politics, while out on the streets Taliban insurgents step up their suicide attacks. Its military plays the role of national conciliator even as it worries about Muslim revolutionaries in its own ranks. Meanwhile, the United States, Pakistan's historic friend and benefactor, is symbolized in the popular mind by unmanned drones that cruise over the western frontier assassinating Taliban militants by remote control.
> 
> Which is why two top Obama administration emissaries, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and Adm. Mike Mullen, paid an urgent visit here this week to explain the administration's new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy. During a brief tour, they gathered evidence about Pakistan's crisis and explored ways to help the country move back toward stability.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (11 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 11

U.S. Looks to Expand India Ties 
_Wall St. Journal_, April 8
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123919429771401043.html



> NEW DELHI -- Two U.S. policy makers touted India's critical role in helping to solve the problems in Pakistan and Afghanistan, saying the growing bilateral relationship between the U.S. and India needs to expand to include more cooperation on regional and global issues.
> 
> Senior U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke, in India on Wednesday [April 8], said the country will play an important role along with the U.S. in helping to stabilize Pakistan andAfghanistan. Mr. Holbrooke held regional security talks with Indian officials after visiting neighboring Pakistan andAfghanistan.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## George Wallace (13 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 12

Female legislator gunned down in Kandahar city 

LINK

*A female provincial government official in Afghanistan who worked hard for women's rights was gunned down on Sunday during a weekend of violence that has rocked the south of the country.* 

12/04/2009 10:35:59 PM

CTV.ca News Staff 

Sitara Achakzai died when gunmen ambushed her outside her home in Kandahar city before driving away, according to Matiullah Khan Qateh, Kandahar province's chief of police. 

Four men on motorcycles drove up to the house and shot Achakzai as she exited her car, Qateh said. 

Qari Yousef Ahmedi, a Taliban spokesperson, claimed responsibility for the killing. 

Achakzai spent the years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan living outside the country. She lived in Germany for at least 20 years and was a dual Afghan-German citizen. 

She returned to Afghanistan to work for women's rights, according to Shahida Bibi of the Kandahar Women's Association. 

Achakzai was a member of Kandahar's provincial council and was a vocal proponent of women working outside the home, Bibi said. 

According to Bibi, Achakzai also encouraged other women to join the fight for equal rights. 

Achakzai is said to have family living in Toronto. 

In a statement issued on Sunday, Ron Hoffman, Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan, condemned the death and said that "Canada stands by those who promote and support human rights, including women's rights, in Afghanistan.

"Today's act of violence is especially heinous and the perpetrators of this cowardly act must be brought to justice."

*Weekend violence* 

The killing punctuated a weekend of violence in southern Afghanistan. 

On Saturday, Afghan soldiers and police killed 22 militants during an evening gun battle in nearby Zabul province, according to Afghanistan's Interior Ministry. 

A ministry statement said that militants attacked an Afghan army convoy before local police jumped in to help. 

In a separate statement, the U.S. military said that Afghan and coalition troops killed four militants in the Shinkay district of Zabul province. 

It was not immediately clear if the two statements referred to the same incident. 

The U.S. statement said guns and rocket-propelled grenades were fired at soldiers while they were on patrol in Shinkay. 

The troops returned fire before calling in for air support. 

Four bodies were brought to the district police station, according to provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Furjung, but locals said they found other dead bodies in the area. 

Furjung also said that 22 militants died in the incident. 

Neither statement reported civilian casualties or injuries among Afghan army or coalition troops. 

In another Saturday incident, a would-be suicide bomber was killed when he tried to enter a police station in Helmand province. 

The Interior Ministry reported that police shot the man, which caused his explosives to detonate, before he entered the station. 

No one else was killed in the incident. 

On Friday, NATO forces said they killed 18 insurgents in Kunar province. 

With files from The Associated Press

More on LINK


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## Yrys (13 Apr 2009)

ARTICLE POST APRIL 12






_Sensing that Afghanistan had long been neglected in Washington, some soldiers 
had taken to calling the conflict "the welfare war." There is now an expectation 
that the military could begin to break the stalemate._
*1 picture of ten*


In Afghanistan, Soldiers Bridge 2 Stages of War

DANGALEEK, Afghanistan — First Lt. C. Carter Cheek stood in the Afghan rain. His patrol had climbed 
a switchback road leading to the Taliban-dominated village of Wanat, the location of the bloodiest 
battle for American forces in Afghanistan since 2005.Enemy spotters looked down from higher ridges, 
using hand-held radios to relay word of the American advance. “Basically from here north, it’s game 
on,” Lieutenant Cheek said. If the platoon moved farther toward Wanat, it would probably be 
ambushed, he said.

Lieutenant Cheek, 25, is a platoon leader for Company C of the First Battalion, 26th Infantry. In nine 
months in one of Afghanistan’s more violent areas, the company has been a witness to a subtly 
changing war. The company arrived after a ferocious battle and in a climate of political uncertainty 
about the degree of commitment to the war. But it has since been issued heavier fighting vehicles, 
seen another battalion reinforce its efforts in the region and fought what is essentially a holding 
mission to prepare for a large influx of American troops that President Obama has ordered to 
Afghanistan later this year.

This spring, as the pace of fighting has increased with warming weather, there have not been enough 
American soldiers here to clear Wanat of the insurgents openly living there. But there is a sense that 
soon the military could be able to break the stalemate of what some soldiers, sensing that Afghanistan
had long been neglected in Washington, had taken to calling “the welfare war.”

Afghanistan has long been a land of invisible but broadly understood boundaries. If you go here, it will
be friendly. If you go there, you will be attacked. There are places where almost no outsiders go at all.
With more military units expected, the many dangerous seams outside of the control of the Afghan 
government, like the Taliban-run area around Wanat, could in time have a regular American presence 
or a fixed outpost, several of the company and battalion’s officers said. And then, patrol by patrol, the
Taliban could be undermined, and the complicated geography of informal boundaries could be eroded.

These changing expectations have made the soldiers now on the ground a bridge from the older war to
a fight that stands to become more invigorated, and hopeful, albeit perhaps more bloody as American
units push into longstanding Taliban sanctuaries.

Company C, with its roughly 120 infantrymen, arrived in Afghanistan last July and was assigned to 
patrol a series of steep-sided valleys and cascading streams that feed the Pech River in Kunar 
Province, just west of the border with Pakistan. As the company packed for a yearlong tour, attention 
at the Pentagon was turning back to Afghanistan after years of focusing on Iraq. Signs of Taliban 
boldness were evident everywhere.

The local insurgents in Kunar, augmented by foreign fighters, had been hardened by years of guerrilla 
war against top American divisions. They were skilled at ambushing patrols from ridges over the 
roads, and they had built a sprawling network of spotters, caves and intelligence sources that made 
them difficult to surprise or to fight on American terms. They had also studied their foe. Over time 
they had shifted to using heavy bombs — 20 to 25 pounds of homemade explosives packed into large 
pots or plastic ice chests buried in the dirt roads. The bombs were large enough to blow apart an 
armored Humvee in one case, and in general they have become even larger recently, officers said.

The Taliban’s local strength was made clear on July 13, as Lieutenant Cheek’s platoon was flying from
Fort Hood, Tex., to Afghanistan, prepared to move into Wanat. A large Taliban force attacked an 
American and Afghan patrol base in the village. Nine Americans were killed and 27 were wounded. 
Afghan police officers were implicated in the attack. The Army left the village. It has yet to return.

Capt. James C. Stultz, 28, the company commander, recalled the sense of seriousness as the soldiers 
grasped the work ahead. “It was an eye-opener to hear what kind of fighting was going on,” he said. 
“Especially because, you know, this was the welfare war. You never heard about the fighting in 
Afghanistan.” Some of the company’s soldiers were surprised by their mission as well. “I never thought
in a million years I’d be walking the mountains of Afghanistan,” said Cpl. Stephen J. Butler, 20, a team
leader in the company’s Third Platoon who enlisted immediately after graduating from high school in 
2006 and expected to be sent to Iraq.

But with the decline of violence in Iraq and arrival of the Obama administration, there have been signs
that priorities have shifted in the Pentagon to improve the infantry’s prospects here. By late last year, 
Company C was issued new and heavily armored vehicles, known as MRAPs, which are much more 
resistant to rocket-propelled grenades and roadside bombs. The vehicles allow the soldiers to plan 
more dangerous missions with less risk.

And by early this year, a battalion from the 10th Mountain Division had arrived and taken positions 
along the Pakistani border. The battalion’s deployment meant the size of the operations areas for other
units shrunk. Company C is now responsible for two-thirds of the area it patrolled last year. The area 
is still too large for the company to cover fully. Three valleys — the upper Waygul, the Watapor and 
the lower Chapa Dara — remain almost untouched by American presence, as do many side canyons off 
the Pech River.

But new construction is visible on a string of small American bases between Kabul and the Pakistani 
border. The officers said the infrastructure will house many of the 21,000 additional American soldiers
due to arrive later this year and will serve as an on-ramp for fresh combat forces to flow into the field
and fill many current gaps. The additional soldiers will bring the total American troop deployment in 
Afghanistan to about 60,000.

What the soldiers do not know is whether more troops will translate to local popular support. In some 
areas within the gaps, the military says, villagers have asked for more American presence. In others, 
including around Wanat, villagers have bluntly told the American military that its presence is not 
wanted.

For now, as signs of buildup accumulate, Company C has concentrated its patrols on the Pech and 
lower Waygul Valleys. The Pech Valley is exceptionally narrow — a jagged slot through the mountains 
that in places is only 700 or 800 yards wide. With snowmelt and spring rainfall leading to an early crop
of wheat, the river’s terraced banks make a stripe of vivid green against the mountain slopes.

The villages vary from tolerant of the Americans to quietly hostile. On six recent patrols along the 
ridges and roads, many children waved. A few raised their middle fingers as soldiers passed by. A few
others threw stones. Last week, as the company’s Second Platoon returned from a patrol, a rock 
slammed into the ballistic glass beside the head of the platoon’s forward observer, Pfc. Matthew C. 
Boyd. “Man, he pegged my window,” he said, chuckling at first, then swearing.

Stones are a small part of it. In one village, the soldiers found an old woman carrying an assault rifle 
under her shawl; in another, they found a 12-year-old boy with a rocket-propelled grenade.

Company C has a history of engaging in intense fighting. It suffered 13 combat deaths in its last 
15-month tour in Iraq, in 2006 and 2007. Nine months into its first rotation in Afghanistan, the 
company has been in 97 firefights and three roadside bomb attacks; roughly one in six of the 
company’s soldiers have been wounded by bullets or shrapnel, six seriously enough to be sent home.


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## Yrys (13 Apr 2009)

ARTICLE POST APRIL 11

Allies Ponder How to Plan Elections in Afghanistan





_The American military dropped bombs on April 3 in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, 
where the Taliban could disrupt an election._

KABUL, Afghanistan — Inside the office of the Afghan interior minister is a map showing that nearly 
half the country is a danger zone. Ten of Afghanistan’s 364 districts are colored black, meaning they 
are under Taliban control, and 156 are colored to indicate high risk.





_Southern Afghanistan is largely under Taliban control._

The map raises a difficult question: How, in such an environment, can Afghanistan hold countrywide 
presidential elections in less than five months? The election, plus votes for provincial council seats, 
has become a prime focus of discussion, according to Richard C. Holbrooke, the special envoy to 
Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who visited 
Kabul last Sunday.

For now, Afghan officials and their American and NATO allies say they are absolutely determined 
to go ahead with the elections, scheduled for Aug. 20. Canceling or postponing them not only would 
be a significant recognition of how badly the war is going, but also would throw the country into a 
political and constitutional crisis.

At the same time, there is increasing concern that, even if NATO and Afghan forces can establish 
enough security in enough places, the vote will be so badly compromised that its credibility will 
be called into question, and with it the legitimacy of the current and future Afghan governments.

Taliban insurgents have such a strong grip on such a broad area — in particular the southern 
provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Oruzgan and Zabul — that even with the anticipated arrival 
of an additional 30,000 American troops this year, the elections will not take place in some areas, 
several Western and Afghan officials in Kabul said.

“There will certainly be some districts where it will be difficult to have elections, especially parts 
of Helmand Province,” said Christopher Alexander, a deputy head of the United Nations Assistance 
Mission in Afghanistan. “But the vast majority of districts, all but 8 or 10, took part in voter 
registration and are expected to take part in elections,” he added.

In interviews, some Afghans were less sure. They predicted that people were so disaffected by 
the war and the insecurity and the lack of progress from the government that many would not 
vote. Opposition candidates, meanwhile, are already expressing concern about fraud and are 
pointing to widespread irregularities in the voter registration.

The recently appointed interior minister, Hanif Atmar, readily acknowledges the herculean challenge 
of getting his underpaid, poorly trained police force in shape to provide security for the elections.

Additional NATO troops and the added American forces will be deployed with Afghan security forces 
to the high-risk areas, he said, meaning virtually everywhere south of the capital, Kabul, in a country 
of mountains and deserts. Afghan forces will handle the safer northern areas largely on their own, 
he said. But beyond providing security for elections, the American, NATO and Afghan security forces 
also have a broader mission: to stem the insurgency, which has sharply escalated in scale and 
casualties every year since 2006.

Some Western officials in Afghanistan warn that the extra American and NATO forces are too little, 
too late to change the military stalemate that exists across southern Afghanistan, and that all the 
military effort will be spent in securing the elections.

Admiral Mullen said that would not be the case. “I am convinced that the additional military capability 
will certainly start to allow us to turn the tide” in the war, the admiral said during his visit.

While election officials say voter registration has been successful, people in the south say Afghans, 
including Taliban members, were motivated to register less by any real interest in voting than by 
the fact that voter cards would ease their travel through government checkpoints. “People cannot 
even travel to their homes,” said Abdul Rahim, 32, a landowner from Oruzgan Province, who 
moved his family to the provincial capital, Tirin Kot, to escape the fighting. “It’s beyond imagination 
that they will take part in the election.”

Whether the Taliban will try to sabotage the vote is not yet clear. In their statements, Taliban 
spokesmen say they oppose the presidential elections as a system imposed by foreigners. But 
in previous years the Taliban have held back from large-scale disruption of elections, partly 
because of pressure from their mentors in Pakistan, and partly, analysts say, so as not to 
alienate the people, who are their base of support.

Nevertheless, the Taliban will be determined to respond to any influx of new American forces. 
Recent attacks by insurgents and Al Qaeda have indicated a growing sophistication and ambition, 
including spectacular bombings and wave attacks by multiple gunmen on government buildings. 
Those are likely to continue, Afghan officials said.

The strength of the insurgency and the distrust of the Afghan government is rapidly causing a 
collapse of authority in the many regions, warned a former foreign minister, Dr. Abdullah, who 
is expected to be named as the candidate for the main opposition movement, the National Front, 
which represents a broad bloc of largely northern tribes.

Dr. Abdullah, who uses one name, said the situation would continue to deteriorate under President 
Hamid Karzai, leaving an even more difficult task for the next president.

Mr. Karzai’s administration has grown increasingly unpopular and is seen as corrupt and ineffective 
as the war has engulfed half the country. There is a growing yearning among Afghans for a change.
But diplomats say Mr. Karzai remains the strongest contender, not least because the opposition is 
divided and may split any vote against him. Also, the most likely contenders may not be an 
improvement, some warn. “Beware what you wish for,” said one diplomat, who requested anonymity
to avoid the impression of interfering in Afghanistan’s election politics.

The National Front continues to question Mr. Karzai’s legitimacy after a Supreme Court decision that 
allowed him to extend his term past its constitutional end on May 21 because the presidential election 
was delayed. The court will let him stay in office until a new president is sworn in, and in a close race,
that could include a second round of voting in October.

Almost all the known candidates complain of fears that Mr. Karzai will use government resources to 
his advantage in the campaign. “We can say straight off that 600,000 to 800,000 votes will be stolen,” 
said Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister and a prospective candidate. Mr. Ghani called for a 
commission to monitor the election commission and one to monitor the president’s use of government 
resources and institutions.

But Mr. Karzai’s opponents say the groundswell of dissatisfaction among the public and the desire for
change may be enough to dislodge him, if the election is fair. “Everybody is complaining, everybody 
is concerned, and everybody is unhappy with the situation,” said Nasrullah Baryalai Arsalai, who is 
from a prominent family in eastern Afghanistan and recently announced his candidacy. “But a free 
vote makes me think it is possible.”

_Taimoor Shah contributed reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Abdul Waheed Wafa from Kabul._


----------



## MarkOttawa (13 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 13

TOP GENERAL EXPECTS SPIKE IN VIOLENCE
_Globe and Mail_, April 13
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090413.AFGHANSIDE13ART22252/TPStory/?query=Mart+De+Kruif



> An influx of U.S. troops scheduled to infiltrate the most volatile areas in this country's south is predicted to cause an initial spike in violence, the region's top NATO general says.
> 
> Dutch Major-General Mart de Kruif, commander of all international security forces stationed in Afghanistan's six southern provinces, warned a contingent of Afghan journalists yesterday that the addition of nearly 20,000 troops during fighting season might seem jarring for locals. Fresh soldiers will arrive in stages, starting *immediately with a U.S. aviation brigade* [emphasis added] consisting of about 3,000 troops to be based in Kandahar province and more than 100 much-needed helicopters. *By late spring* [emphasis added], they will be joined by the massive 8,000-person *2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade* [emphasis added] from Camp Lejune, N.C. [Actually 10,000 in all:
> http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2009/03/afstan-marine-expeditionary-brigade-to.html]
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## George Wallace (13 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 13

Female politician's murder a 'blow' to Afghan society 

LINK


*The brutal murder of a female member of Kandahar's Provincial Council on Sunday afternoon is "a big blow" to Afghan society, says the council's chair. 
*

13/04/2009 4:17:19 PM

CTV.ca News Staff 

Sitara Achakzai died when four gunmen on motorcycles ambushed her outside her home in Kandahar city before driving away. 

The Taliban quickly released a statement claiming responsibility for the killing. 

Ahmed Wali Karzai, chair of Kandahar's provincial council and brother to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said Achakzai's murder will likely deter women from seeking elected office or taking other government jobs. 

"That will definitely affect the family. No one will take a risk to send their daughters and their mothers and their wives to become a member of parliament," Karzai said. 

"So definitely, it's a big blow for the Afghan society," he added. 

In addition to her role on the council, Achakzai was a well-known women's rights activist who was a vocal proponent of women working outside the home. 

While she spent the years of Taliban rule living in Germany and has travelled to Canada to visit family in the Toronto area, Achakzai returned to Afghanistan to help with reconstruction, as well as to encourage women to fight for equal rights. 

She had recently organized marches across the country for International Women's Day. 

Lauryn Oates of the organization Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan said the fact that the Taliban claimed responsibility for the murder indicates Achakzai was likely killed because of her beliefs about women's rights. 

"(In the statement) they used the words that she was involved in 'bad things' without elaborating on what exactly that meant," Oates said Monday on CTV's Canada AM. "I think we can assume it just meant that she was a woman who worked outside her home and she was involved in politics with the government that they are opposing. So she was a worthy target for that reason." 

According to Oates, Achakzai had recently been receiving death threats and had plans to leave the country for an extended period of time on May 1. Conflicting reports suggested she was going to either Germany or Canada. 

Achakzai's death comes at a time when the world's attention is once against focused on Afghanistan over the plight of women in that country. 

The so-called Shia Family Law, which legalizes rape within marriage and confines women to the home unless they have a male escort, was passed by Afghanistan's national assembly but has not yet been enacted. 

News of the law sparked outrage among Western nations, including Canada, which forced President Karzai to issue a statement saying that he has ordered a review of the legislation.



More on LINK


Slain Afghan women's rights advocate had Canadian ties 

LINK[/color]

*Canadian relatives of a women's rights advocate slain in southern Afghanistan over the weekend say they warned her of the dangers of working in the country.*

13/04/2009 11:50:31 AM

Sitara Achakzai, a member of Kandahar's provincial council, was killed Sunday when four gunmen on motorcycles opened fire as she got out of her car outside her home in Kandahar City.

Qari Yousef Ahmedi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Achakzai, a dual German-Afghan citizen, spent the years of Taliban rule in Germany and returned to her native country five years ago to fight for women's rights, her relatives said.

Her mother, two sisters and extended family live in Markham, northeast of Toronto. 

Achakzai's niece, Maryam Maiwand, told CBC News that her aunt last visited Canada three months ago and was due to return in May.

"She was a beautiful person," Maiwand said. "She was always willing to help anybody she crossed paths with."

Friends afraid to speak

Achakzai's female friends and colleagues in Afghanistan were too afraid to speak publicly about her slaying, the CBC's Alan Waterman reported from Kandahar.

One friend of Achakzai's who did not want her name revealed for security reasons said Achakzai was seriously considering not returning to Afghanistan after her planned trip. She added she, too, was planning to leave the county in the wake of her friend's murder.

Maiwand said her family was always warning her about the risks she was taking, but Achakzai was "very hard-headed" and believed she could make a difference in her home country.

"We told her it's dangerous, especially for a woman, back in Afghanistan," she said.

"She didn't listen. She said, 'At least I'm going to try.' "

'Big blow for Afghan society'

Ahmed Wali Karzai, chair of the provincial council and brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said Achakzai's slaying would definitely have an effect on the number of women participating in the country's elections in August.

"No one will take a risk to send their daughters and their mothers and their wives to become a member of parliament," Karzai said.

"Forget about government jobs. It is a big blow for Afghan society, especially Kandahar."

Karzai also pleaded with those looking to leave Afghanistan after the latest attack, especially women, to stay and continue working to improve the country, the CBC's Waterman reported.

But Karzai also advised them to take security precautions, noting that Achakzai did not have bodyguards at the time of her slaying.

More on LINK[/color]


----------



## Yrys (14 Apr 2009)

ARTICLE POST APRIL 12

Les combats se multiplieront dans le sud de l'Afghanistan

...
 The command of the Region the South ventilated in detail the arrival of the American reinforcements 
long-awaited. The 82nd air Brigade of fight, with its 3000 soldiers and its hundred of helicopters, will 
soon be established in the air base of Kandahar, which is the strong place of the coalition in 
Afghanistan.

The 2nd expeditionary Brigade of Marine ( MEB), consisted of 8000 men, will be mainly displayed 
in the center and in the North of the province of Helmand, at the end of the spring.

Finally, the 5th Team of fight of the Brigade Stryker, among which 4000 soldiers will arrive 
in the middle of the summer, will go to the province of Zaboul, as well as in the North and 
in the South of the province of Kandahar.

(I can't find the exact same quote of that article in English...)

NATO troop commander says battle in southern Afghanistan will be pivotal


----------



## Yrys (14 Apr 2009)

ARTICLE FOUND APRIL 14

Taleban 'kill love affair couple'






The Taleban in Afghanistan have publicly killed a young couple who they said had tried 
to run away to get married, officials say. The man, 21, and woman, 19, were shot dead 
on Monday in front of a mosque in the south-western province of Nimroz. Nimroz is an 
area where the Taleban have a strong influence.

Governor Ghulam Dastageer Azad told the AFP news agency the killings followed a decree 
by local religious leaders and were an "insult to Islam".

*Dangerous region*

Mr Azad said: "An unmarried young boy and an unmarried girl who loved each other and 
wanted to get married had eloped because their families would not approve the marriage."

Officials said the couple were traced by militants after they tried to go to Iran. They were 
made to return to their village in Khash Rod district. "Three Taleban mullahs brought them 
to the local mosque and they passed a fatwa (religious decree) that they must be killed. 
They were shot and killed in front of the mosque in public," the governor said. He said there 
were some reports that the families of the young couple could have links with the Taleban. 
The Taleban could not be immediately reached for comment.

Correspondents say that the killings took place in a remote and dangerous region, where the 
government has no access. The Taleban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and during that
time implemented its austere interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, carrying out public killings 
and floggings. Unmarried men and women were forbidden from talking or meeting in public 
and women were not allowed out of their homes without a male relative. Girls were 
discouraged from going to school.

Extrajudicial "honour killings" have been widely carried out in Afghanistan since then by 
conservative families angered by a relative who has brought them shame - usually by 
refusing to marry a chosen partner. The Taleban have widened their influence over the 
past three years and now control many remote districts where there are not enough 
coalition forces to establish a permanent presence.


----------



## MarkOttawa (14 Apr 2009)

Pakistan president signs off on Islamic law deal
AP, April 13
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD97HPDKO0



> Pakistan's pro-U.S. president signed a regulation late Monday [April 13] to put a northwestern district under Islamic law as part of a peace deal with the Taliban, going along after coming under intense pressure from members of his own party and other lawmakers.
> 
> Asif Ali Zardari's signature was a boon for Islamic militants who have brutalized the Swat Valley for nearly two years in demanding a new justice system [see here for some real brutalization]. It was sure to further anger human rights activists and feed fears among the U.S. and other Western allies that the valley will turn into a sanctuary for militants close to Afghanistan.
> 
> ...



United Militants Threaten Pakistan’s Populous Heart 
NY Times, April13
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/world/asia/14punjab.html?ref=todayspaper



> DERA GHAZI KHAN, Pakistan — Taliban insurgents are teaming up with local militant groups to make inroads in Punjab, the province that is home to more than half of Pakistanis, reinvigorating an alliance that Pakistani and American authorities say poses a serious risk to the stability of the country.
> 
> The deadly assault in March in Lahore, Punjab’s capital, against the Sri Lankan cricket team, and the bombing last fall of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, the national capital, were only the most spectacular examples of the joint campaign, they said.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## MarkOttawa (15 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 15

Lessons from Iraq? US creates local militias to fight Taliban
With echoes of the Anbar Awakening in Iraq, the US is arming, training, and paying Afghans to set up village militias.
_Christian Science Monitor_, April 13
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0413/p06s10-wosc.html



> _Maydan Shahr, Afghanistan_ - At first sight, Muhammad Nasim Gul and his men – in drab, olive-colored fatigues and baseball caps to match – look like Cuban guerrillas. They slowly patrol the muddy streets of Wardak Province, weapons drawn in a constant state of alert.
> 
> They stand sentry, night and day, on the watch for intruders and other enemies. At times they stop to talk to the townsfolk, to see if anyone has had any trouble recently.
> 
> ...



In Recruiting an Afghan Militia, U.S. Faces a Test
_NY Times_, April 14
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/world/asia/15afghan.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper



> MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan — The ambitious American plan to arm local militias in villages across the country was coming down to a single moment.
> 
> The American officers sat on one side of a long wooden table; a group of Afghan elders on the other. The pilot program was up and running, but the area’s big enclave of Pashtuns — the ethnic group most closely identified with the Taliban — had not sent any volunteers. The Pashtuns were worried about Taliban reprisals.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (15 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 15, 2009*

 Afghan 'anti-rape' women attacked  
Article Link

Dozens of Afghan women who tried to protest against a new law they say legalises rape within marriage have been attacked in the capital, Kabul. 

Police intervened after supporters of the law threw stones at the women and tried to seize their banners. 

The law was signed by President Hamid Karzai but is currently being reviewed after criticism from abroad. 

Its most controversial article says a woman must make herself available for sex with her husband when he desires. 

The law's defenders say it actually protects the rights of women. 

'Revisit and overturn' 

Thursday's demonstration took place outside a religious centre run by a cleric who helped draft the law which is aimed at Afghanistan's Shia minority. 
More on link

 UN investigates itself over allegations of fraud in Afghanistan    
www.chinaview.cn  2009-04-15 05:14:23      Print 
  Article Link

    UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is "clearly disturbed" over allegations that it has refused to cooperate with investigations into squandered grant money from a U.S. aid agency to be used in Afghanistan reconstruction projects, UNDP spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here on Tuesday. 

    "The UNDP is angry over any misconduct," Dujarric told a press conference here, adding that the United Nations was conducting an audit and an investigation of its own. 

    A recent investigation conducted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) acquired by U.S. newspaper USA Today through the Freedom of Information Act depicted a scene of gross mismanagement of USAID funds by the UNDP under the Quick Impact Projects (QIP), a 25.6 million U.S. dollars cooperative agreement to generate jobs in reconstruction infrastructure projects throughout Afghanistan. 

    The UNDP subcontracted QIP projects to the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which then subcontracted the projects to local contractors, in what has been called "ill conceived from the beginning," according to one unnamed USAID contractor. 

    Dujarric told reporters that the vast majority (of QIP projects)were completed successfully despite that the USAID investigation claimed projects worked on by UNOPS "were not completed as claimed" and had "defects and warranty issues that UNDP refuses to address." 
More on link

 Nixed Canada arms deal cost lives: inquiry
23 hours ago
Article Link

OTTAWA (AFP) — A German arms dealer Tuesday told a public inquiry that a failed deal for light armored vehicles with former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney had cost the lives of Canadian troops.

Karlheinz Schreiber said initial negotiations back in the late 1980s with Mulroney's government to build a Thyssen light armored vehicle plant in eastern Nova Scotia province with a first order of 250 vehicles "went very well."

But he said he was stymied by Canadian generals and then deputy defense chief Robert Fowler, and the plant was never built.

Schreiber said he hoped to establish Thyssen in Canada in order to pitch its new light armored vehicle to Washington to replace M113 armored personnel carriers that formed the backbone of the US Army's mobile infantry.

He estimated the global market for light armored vehicles at 360 billion dollars. "And I would have received 1.8 billion dollars" in commissions, he added.

But he said his main concern was the loss of lives in war zones after the nixed purchase of what he described as a superior vehicle with better armor.

"I'm frustrated today because this is the reason why our soldiers are (being) killed in Afghanistan," he said. "It is not about a few bucks of commission. This is about lives.
More on link


----------



## MarkOttawa (16 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 16

Memo From Islamabad
Pakistan Rehearses Its Two-Step on Airstrikes
_NY Times_, April 15
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/world/asia/16pstan.html?ref=todayspaper



> With two senior American officials at his side, the Pakistani foreign minister unleashed a strong rebuke last week, saying that American drone strikes against militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas were eroding trust between the allies.
> 
> The Americans, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and the special envoy, Richard C. Holbrooke, defended their strategy for Pakistan. Later, Mr. Holbrooke dismissed the salvo by the foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, saying it was to be expected.
> 
> ...



Pakistan Dodges A Bullet (usual copyright disclaimer)
_Washington Post,_ April 16, by David Ignatius
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041502843.html



> A month ago, Pakistan came close to a political breakdown that could have triggered a military coup. How that crisis developed -- and how it was ultimately defused -- illuminates the larger story of a country whose frontier region President Obama recently described as "the most dangerous place in the world."
> 
> A detailed account of the March political confrontation emerged last week during a visit to Islamabad by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and Adm. Mike Mullen. As described by U.S. and Pakistani officials, it's a story of political brinkmanship and, ultimately, of a settlement brokered by the Obama administration.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (16 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 16, 2009*

 FACTBOX-Security developments in Afghanistan, April 16
Thu Apr 16, 2009 3:09am April 16 (Reuters) -
Article Link

 Following are security developments in Afghanistan reported as of 0630 GMT on Thursday:

HELMAND - Three militants were killed while planting landmines on Wednesday in Helmand province, which lies 590 km (365 miles) to the southwest of the capital, the interior ministry said.

KANDAHAR - Afghan police have arrested two men accused of assassinating a female member of the provincial council of Kandahar, 450 km (280 miles) southwest of Kabul, at the weekend, the ministry separately said on Thursday.

EASTERN AFGHANISTAN - A soldier from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan was killed by an explosion in an eastern part of the country on Wednesday, the alliance said. It did not specify the soldier's nationality.

(Compiled by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
end

 Pakistani Taliban in Swat refuse to give up arms
The militants had struck a deal to relinquish their weapons in return for Islamic law in the region.
By Anand Gopal posted April 16, 2009 at 8:35 am EST
Article Link

Militants in the Swat valley of northwestern Pakistan are refusing to abandon their weapons, despite having won concessions from Pakistan's president, including the imposition of sharia, or Islamic law. The announcement deepens worries that the agreement with the militants will not bring peace to the region. 

While militants aligned with the Pakistani Taliban struck a peace deal with authorities in Swat in February, the accords were not implemented until this week, when President Asif Ali Zardari signed the agreement. Though the terms of the agreement were not revealed, government officials had said that the militants would have to relinquish their arms. But Reuters reports that Taliban militants said they would not abide by that deal. 

A Pakistani Taliban spokesman in the scenic valley, a one-time tourist destination 125 km (80 miles) northwest of Islamabad, said they would be keeping their guns. 

"Sharia doesn't permit us to lay down arms," Muslim Khan said by telephone. "If a government, either in Pakistan or Afghanistan, continues anti-Muslim policies, it's out of the question that Taliban lay down their arms." 

However, the spokesman for the Swat Taliban faction also said that the guerrillas would abstain from displaying weapons in public, according to the Asian Tribune. 

Militants ... put [a] ban on the display of any kind of weapon by anyone including their own activists in the public places including markets. 

Talking to the media persons in Mingora (Swat) on Tuesday, spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Muslim Khan, said there will be no display of arms by the Taliban members in Malakand division [which encompasses Swat]. 

He said they had taken up arms only for implementation of sharia and now when the government had signed the bill for its implementation militants have no desire for use of weapons. 
More on link


----------



## GAP (17 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 17, 2009*

 22 dead in earthquakes in Afghanistan
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A pair of moderate earthquakes struck Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 22 people and destroying 200 homes, an official said.

The quakes hit the Sherzad district of Nangarhar province, about 50 miles southeast of the capital, Kabul, district governor Said Rahman told CNN.

The first, just before 2 a.m. (5:27 p.m. EDT) registered at magnitude 5.5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The second, centered a few miles away, struck about two hours later and measured magnitude 5.1.

The Afghan army has been deployed to help with rescue efforts, said Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

The U.S. military said it will provide humanitarian assistance
end

 Japan, US pledge $1 billion each to Pakistan
By ERIC TALMADGE – 6 hours ago 
Article Link

TOKYO (AP) — The U.S. and Japan pledged $1 billion each at an international donors' conference for Pakistan on Friday to help bolster the country's flagging economy and fight the war on terror.

Saudi Arabia pledged $700 million and the EU another $640 million.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said in a speech opening the one-day conference in Tokyo that the meeting was aimed at bolstering stability — in both Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan — by providing infrastructure and economic support.

"Stability in border areas is a key and I want to stress that the international community supports comprehensive strategies by the two nations," he said.

Aso announced Thursday that Japan would provide up to $1 billion in aid to support Pakistan's economic reforms and its fight against terrorism, while the U.S. issued a statement Friday that it will give $1 billion.

Both countries will make their contributions over the next two years, and neither represented a dramatic change from their current pattern of donations. The EU and Saudi pledges were also for the next two years.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was hoping for as much as $6 billion in pledges, but the meeting's Japanese hosts said they expected the figure to be closer to $4 billion.
More on link

 US seeks transit deal with Turkmenistan
21 hours ago
Article Link

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat says the United States hopes to reach an agreement with Turkmenistan on allowing the transit of non-lethal goods to neighboring Afghanistan.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher says he discussed the possibility of overland cargo transit and overflights in Wednesday's talks with President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov.

The United States has already managed to secure agreements on sending nonmilitary supplies overland through Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan also shares a border with Afghanistan. Worsening security on the Afghan border with Pakistan has forced NATO allies to seek safer transit routes.
More on link

 Battalion sent to Afghanistan after 2 weeks in Iraq
By Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY
Article Link

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — Welcome to Iraq. Now go to Afghanistan. 
That was the message delivered to the Army's 4th Engineer Battalion just two weeks after arriving in Baghdad for what was supposed to be a year-long tour. 

Despite the stress caused by the unusual change of plans last month, many of the unit's approximately 500 soldiers said they realized their specialty — clearing roads of bombs and other obstacles — is more needed in the area of southern Afghanistan, where they'll likely begin patrols in a few weeks.

"If we were in the frying pan, we're now heading directly into the fire," Capt. Heath Papkov, one of the unit's company commanders, said this week as the soldiers packed their gear to leave. 

Moving a unit directly from one theater of war to another on such short notice is very rare, said Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, the battalion's commander. Usually when troops are shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan, the change occurs between regular rotations abroad, after they spend several months at their home base.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Barack Obama | Afghanistan | Iraq | Baghdad | Army | Lexington Institute | Loren Thompson | Engineer Battalion 
The decision underscores how military commanders are scrambling to meet President Obama's orders to draw down the U.S. presence in Iraq while deploying an additional 21,000 troops to combat the growing insurgency in Afghanistan
More on link


----------



## GAP (17 Apr 2009)

Afghan minister survives suicide strike on home
Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:57pm BST  
(Adds quotes from minister, details from police chief)
Article Link

HERAT, Afghanistan, April 17 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's minister of refugees' resettlement survived an attack on his residence by two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests, the minister and other officials said.

"I am fine. Two suicide bombers tried to enter my house but were identified by policemen," the minister, Abdul Karim Brahawi, told Reuters.

Three civilians were killed and 16 wounded in the attack on his home in Zaranj, capital of Nimroz Province, he said.

Provincial Police Chief Jabar Purdeli said the first attacker was a man disguised as a woman in a burqa. He was intercepted by guards trying to enter the building and detonated his explosives during a shootout.

Police then chased the second attacker, who was wearing a military uniform. He exploded his bomb in crowd of bystanders, killing the three civilians.

Nimroz governor Gulam Dastagir Azaad also confirmed the attack.

Nimroz, a sparsely populated desert province in Afghanistan's southwest corner bordering on Pakistan and Iran, has seen insurgent attacks as well as criminal violence.

Brahawi is himself a former governor of the province and has held other posts in the central government in Kabul. (Reporting by Sharafuddin Sharafyar; writing by Peter Graff; editing by Jerry Norton and Valerie Lee)
More on link


----------



## greentoblue (17 Apr 2009)

Some Good News - Turning Tables, U.S. Troops Ambush Taliban With Swift and Lethal Results 

NY Times, 17 Apr 09

Extract:  "An American platoon surprised an armed Taliban column on a forested ridgeline at night, and killed at least 13 insurgents, and perhaps many more, with rifles, machine guns, Claymore mines, hand grenades and a knife."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/world/asia/17afghan.html?ref=world&pagewanted=all
----

The writer admits it won't change the war or even the struggle in the Korengal Valley by itself but as the Taliban themselves know, wars are won by countless small unit victories.


----------



## MarkOttawa (17 Apr 2009)

Afghanistan: defending women
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, April 17
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1239978204

Mark
Ottawa


----------



## MarkOttawa (18 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 18

2,000 British troops ready for Afghanistan mission
_The Times_, April 18
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6108730.ece



> Two thousand troops designated by army chiefs for possible deployment to Afghanistan to boost Britain’s military presence to 10,000 are on “high readiness for operations”.
> 
> The troops have just completed an intensive final training programme on Salisbury Plain and army sources warned that there were risks if the men had to wait around for a long period before being given a combat mission. “It’s a perishable set of skills,” one source said.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## MarkOttawa (20 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 20

U.S. troops train to advise Afghan forces
Reuters, April 19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041902086.html



> FORT POLK, Louisiana (Reuters) - When U.S. soldiers rolled into an Afghan security force base in their Humvee vehicles at dawn one cold morning, they came not to lead but to listen.
> 
> As a cigarette-smoking Afghan army officer explained how he planned to arrest an insurgent, using a rough layout of a nearby village sketched in the sand, the U.S. troops' commander asked questions instead of barking instructions.
> 
> ...



Afghanistan may double police force
Reuters, April 19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/19/AR2009041900678.html



> KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan may double its 82,000-strong police force and will train 15,000 new recruits in time for the presidential election on August 20, the interior minister said on Sunday.
> 
> More than 70,000 foreign troops are based in Afghanistan fighting a resurgent Taliban, mainly in the south and east.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


----------



## GAP (20 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 20, 2009*

 Jets target Pakistani militants   
By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Islamabad  
Article Link

Army jets and helicopters have launched air strikes on a number of militant sites in north-western Pakistan, officials say. 

The strikes in the Orakzai tribal region come a day after a suicide car bombing killed more than 20 soldiers in nearby Hangu district. 

A key deputy of leading militant warlord, Baitullah Mehsud, is said to be based in Orakzai. 

The deputy, Zulfiqar Mehsud, had said he carried out the Hangu attack. 

Supply route 

The casualties in the Orakzai strike are unclear. 

An army spokesman contacted by the BBC confirmed the strikes in the Afghan border region but had no details on casualties. 

An army official told the Reuters news agency at least 20 militants had been killed when jets and helicopter gunships hit their hideouts in the Ghaljo area of Orakzai. 

A suspected US drone also targeted Orakzai three weeks ago, killing more than 10 suspected militants. 

Zulfiqar Mehsud is reported to have been involved in disrupting supplies to Nato in Afghanistan from his bases in Orakzai. 
More on link

 Polish travel agency takes tourists to Afghanistan
The Associated Press Posted: 04/20/2009 10:26:01 AM PDT
Article Link

WARSAW, Poland—A Polish travel agency has offered a special package tour for the intrepid tourist—a trip to Afghanistan. Poland's Foreign Ministry promptly countered by issuing a travel warning. 
Poznan-based Logos Travel advertised the two-week tour, departing in May, as "only for those seeking bruises and adventure." It said the 12 places, costing up to $3,700 apiece, have all been booked. 

However, reports of the offer spurred Poland's Foreign Ministry to warn Poles against unnecessary travel to Afghanistan, where NATO forces are struggling to tame a relentless Taliban insurgency. 

The ministry said the country "remains a zone especially susceptible to terrorist attacks" and said Poles could be targets for kidnappers due to the presence of some 1,600 Polish troops in the NATO force. 

The agency's owner, Marek Sliwka, said he is aware of the dangers such a trip poses—but believes that, with security precautions such as armed guards who will accompany the group, it is safe enough for tourists. 
More on link

Soldier's 'lucky' bullet escape  
 20 April 2009 10:45 UK 
Article Link & Video

A soldier has been described as "the luckiest in the British Army" after a bullet hit his helmet, but missed his head by 2mm. 

Private Leon "Willy" Wilson, 32, a Territorial Army soldier from Manchester, was knocked over by the impact of the shot in Afghanistan. 

The father of three was back on duty within an hour of the near-miss
end

 US asks for elite NZ troops for Afghanistan war
1 day ago
Article Link

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The U.S. has formally asked New Zealand to send its elite Special Air Service combat troops back to Afghanistan for a fourth tour of duty, the foreign minister said Sunday.

The U.S. request was made following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington earlier this month, Murray McCully told TV One. While Clinton asked for troops, she did not specifically request the commando unit, he said.

The government is likely to agree to send the elite troops, which last served in the untamed southern portion of Afghanistan in 2006.

New Zealand has committed to help fight terror, posting troops in Afghanistan and providing navy ships and maritime surveillance airplanes to patrol the Gulf of Hormuz between Iraq and Iran.

McCully said the government would consider resource and capacity issues before making a decision on the U.S. request. The deployment also depends on other conflicts in the South Pacific, he said.

McCully said a detailed review of defense forces would be completed by August.

New Zealand already has 140 troops serving in a provincial reconstruction team in the Afghan province of Bamiyan, northeast of the capital, Kabul. The team has been there since 2003 and is to remain until at least September 2010.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (22 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 22

Military situation in Afghanistan will get worse, Petraeus says
Sees need for US to adapt strategy
_Boston Globe_, April 22
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2009/04/22/military_situation_in_afghanistan_will_get_worse_petraeus_says/



> CAMBRIDGE - General David Petraeus, architect of the US military surge credited with dramatically reducing violence in Iraq, told a forum at the John F. Kennedy School of Government yesterday that the military situation in Afghanistan will probably deteriorate in the near term.
> 
> "We do believe we can achieve progress, but it's going to get worse before it gets better," said Petraeus, the leader of US Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
> 
> ...



Pakistan Faces Threat From Terrorism, Not India, Petraeus Says 
Bloomberg, April 22
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIiUxXbnM2wM&refer=home



> The greatest threat facing Pakistan comes from terrorism, not India, U.S. Army General David Petraeus said, as he called on the government in Islamabad to change its mindset toward its neighbor.
> 
> The shift in thinking that should take place in Pakistan is similar to what happened in the U.S. after the Cold War, Petraeus said in a speech at Harvard University yesterday, adding America had grown “comfortable” facing off against the Soviet Union.
> 
> ...



Pentagon Commander Visits Afghanistan
AP, April 22
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/22/world/AP-AS-Afghanistan.html



> FORWARD OPERATING BASE AIRBORNE, Afghanistan (AP) -- The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is reviewing a new community-based defense program recently started in an increasingly violent province on the doorstep of Kabul.
> 
> Adm. Mike Mullen visited Wardak province on Wednesday, where U.S. troops deployed for the first time this year. The program he's assessing draws volunteers from Afghan communities to defend their villages against militants.
> 
> ...



Afghan presidential candidates hope to conjure up Obama magic
Politicians are trying out his name and his Web-savvy tactics in their nascent campaigns
Globe and Mail, April 22
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090422.AFGHANOBAMA21ART2153/TPStory/International



> KANDAHAR -- On paper, the "Obama of Afghanistan" is not unlike the Obama of America: He advocates for change, for empowerment of the poor and exploited minorities, and for reformed democracy. Having been elected to government office once before, he has proven himself committed to serving his country and people.
> 
> The similarities pretty much end there, but that has not stopped presidential candidate Ramazan Bashardost from billing himself as "Afghanistan's Obama," attaching the U.S. President's name to his fledgling campaign.
> 
> ...



Obama to Host Talks With Afghan, Pakistani Presidents
_Washington Post_, April 22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/AR2009042103756.html?referrer=emailarticlepg



> The presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan will travel to Washington early next month for meetings with President Obama as the administration struggles against daunting hurdles to implement its new strategy for the region.
> 
> The visits, on May 6 and 7, will elevate to summit level a trilateral exchange begun by the administration with senior aides from each government in late February. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai will meet separately with Obama, and the three will also sit down together, officials said yesterday.
> 
> ...



Taliban claims victory near Islamabad
CNN, April 22
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/04/22/pakistan.taliban/index.html



> Taliban militants who implemented Islamic law in Pakistan's violence-plagued Swat Valley last week have now taken control of a neighboring district.
> 
> Control of the Buner district brings the Taliban closer to the capital, Islamabad, than they have been since they started their insurgency. Islamabad is 60 miles (96 km) from the district.
> 
> ...



Taliban flex muscles in Malakand Division
_The Long War Journal_, April 22, by Bill Roggio
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/04/taliban_flex_muscles.php



> Just one week after the Pakistani government agreed to implement sharia, or Islamic law in the vast Malakand Division, the Taliban are flaunting the peace agreement with the government and pushing into neighboring regions.
> 
> President Zardari signed the sharia legislation into law on April 13 as part of an effort to quell the brutal Taliban insurgency in Swat, which has been ongoing since the summer of 2007. The Pakistani military was defeated in its three offensives designed to oust the Taliban, led by Mullah Fazlullah, which prompted the government to promise the implementation of sharia and an end to military operations in exchange for peace.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (23 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 23

U.S. says nearing key moment in eastern Afghanistan
Reuters, April 22
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042202473.html



> U.S. and NATO forces are close to achieving "irreversible momentum" in their battle with insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, a senior commander said on Wednesday.
> 
> The Taliban and other insurgent groups have been strongest in eastern and southern Afghanistan but U.S. Army Major General Michael Tucker said security had improved this year in the east, where U.S. forces lead NATO troops.
> 
> ...



Clinton: Pakistan Poses A 'Mortal Threat' 
Pakistan's government "abdicated" to the Taliban by agreeing to Islamic law in part of the country, according to the US Secretary of State.
Sky News, April 23 (several related videos at link)
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Hillary-Clinton-Pakistan-Abdicated-To-Taliban-By-Agreeing-To-Sharia-Law-In-Swat-Valley/Article/200904415267600?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_2&lid=ARTICLE_15267600_Hillary_Clinton%3A_Pakistan_Abdicated_To_Taliban_By_Agreeing_To_Sharia_Law_In_Swat_Valley_



> Hillary Clinton added that the nuclear-armed nation posed a "mortal threat to the security and safety" of America and the rest of the world.
> 
> Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, under pressure from conservatives, signed a regulation earlier this month which imposed Sharia law in the Swat Valley.
> 
> ...



Pakistan bid to stop Taleban push
The Pakistan government has sent troops to tackle Taleban militants who have advanced into a region just 100km (67 miles) from the capital, Islamabad.
BBC, April 23
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8014167.stm



> Officials say the forces will protect government buildings in Buner district, where insurgents have begun patrolling the streets and mounting checkpoints.
> 
> As the troops moved into the region, insurgents launched an attack on their convoy, killing at least one soldier.
> 
> ...



G.I.’s to Fill Civilian Gap to Rebuild Afghanistan 
_NY Times_, April 22
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/world/asia/23military.html?ref=todayspaper



> The Obama administration is finding that it must turn to military personnel to fill hundreds of posts in Afghanistan that had been intended for civilian experts, senior officials said Wednesday.
> 
> In announcing a new strategy last month, President Obama promised “a dramatic increase in our civilian effort” in Afghanistan, including “agricultural specialists and educators, engineers and lawyers” to augment the additional troops he is sending.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (24 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 24, 2009*

 Afghanistan opens its first national park
Thursday, 23 April 2009, 16:39 CDT 
Article Link

The Afghanistan National Environmental Protection Agency says it has established that country's first internationally recognized national park.

The United States Agency for International Development provided key funding for the park's creation, while the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York conducted preliminary wildlife surveys and helped identify and delineate the park's boundaries.

Known as Band-e-Amir, the park will protect one of Afghanistan's best-known natural areas -- a series of six deep blue lakes separated by natural dams made of travertine, a mineral deposit. Travertine systems are found in only a few places around the world, virtually all of which are major international tourist attractions.

At its core, Band-e-Amir is an Afghan initiative supported by the international community. It is a park created for Afghans, by Afghans, for the new Afghanistan, said Steven Sanderson, president and chief executive officer of the WCS. Band-e-Amir will be Afghanistan's first national park and sets the precedent for a future national park system.

Though much of the park's wildlife has been lost, recent surveys indicate it still contains ibex, a species of wild goat, and urial, a type of wild sheep, along with wolves, foxes, smaller mammals, fish and various bird species including the Afghan snow finch, which is believed to be the only bird found exclusively in Afghanistan.
More on link

 INTERVIEW-Pakistan diplomat faults U.S. strategy
Fri Apr 24, 2009 By Adrian Croft
Article Link

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Pakistan's top diplomat in Britain has criticised the new U.S. strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan and defended his government's agreement to impose Islamic law in the northwestern Swat valley.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's High Commissioner (ambassador) in London, said his personal view was that U.S. President Barack Obama's plan for fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, which broadens the focus to Pakistan, was the "wrong strategy".

"Pakistan is a semi-developed country and Afghanistan is not at all developed. They have never had any rule of law in their country," he told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday.

"You can't club the two countries (together)," he said.

Washington views Pakistan as crucial to its efforts to stabilise Afghanistan, where a Taliban insurgency has intensified. Surging militant violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has also raised fears about its future.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Pakistan's government on Wednesday of abdicating to the Taliban by agreeing to impose Islamic law in the Swat valley and said the country now posed a "mortal threat" to the world.

Hasan said Clinton was "rather overstretching the issue."
More on link

Why textbooks we paid for never reached Afghanistan  
By Marjorie Kehe  04.24.09
Article Link

About 45 million books – a total value of $15.4 million, paid for by the United Nations and the aid agencies of the US and Danish governments – were scheduled to arrive before classes started in Afghanistan last March. But according to the AP, millions of those books have still not been delivered.

About 500,000 books are in sitting in shipping containers in Pakistan awaiting customs clearance by the Afghan government, says the AP, while another 20 million books are said to be sitting in a warehouse in Kabul awaiting a distribution plan.

Overall, about a third of the school books ordered for 2008 were never delivered to the provinces, the AP learned from Afghan provincial officials and Education Ministry records.

Distribution within Afghanistan, of course, is anything but easy. There are safety concerns, mind-boggling transportation problems, and, in some cases, funding for book transit is non-existent. (That’s why, according to a US military liaison, there’s a school in Afghanistan that currently cannot be used for classes – it’s full to the brim with textbooks.)

Meanwhile, there have also been printing problems. Some of the printers contracted to do the work have either not completed it or done it so poorly that pages fall out or have been incorrectly collated into the wrong books.

The good news, however, is that where the books did arrive they were received with joy.

“Despite all the complaints,”  the AP reported, “teachers emphasize how happy they are to receive books at all. In the past, some said, there were only three books for a class of 30 or 40 students, so youngsters had to copy down the lesson.”

Students in Afghanistan are thirsty for education, an Afghan Education Ministry spokesman told the AP.
More on link

 The sad, unlamented end of UN peacekeeping
Thursday, April 23, 2009 | 6:32 PM ET Brian Stewart CBC News 
Article Link

Many Canadians look forward to the day this country can leave the war in Afghanistan behind and return to the softer challenges of blue-helmeted peacekeeping.

There is still a dogged belief that UN-sponsored peacekeeping, a term introduced by then secretary of state for external affairs Lester Pearson in 1956, is our true national vocation.

In 1990, fully 10 per cent of all UN missions were staffed by Canadians and the image of blue-helmeted Canadian soldiers policing the world's flashpoints — from Cyprus and Sinai to Kashmir — became almost as iconic as the beaver.

But those days are gone. It's time to face the harsh reality.
More on link

 Clinton: Pakistan realizing threat from insurgents
By ROBERT BURNS – 1 day ago 
Article Link

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pakistan is beginning to recognize the severity of the threat posed by an extremist insurgency that is encroaching on key urban areas, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday.

Clinton told a House appropriations subcommittee that the Obama administration is working to persuade the Pakistani government that its traditional focus on India as a threat has to shift to the Islamic extremists.

"Changing paradigms and mind-sets is not easy, but I do believe there is an increasing awareness of not just the Pakistani government but the Pakistani people that this insurgency coming closer and closer to major cities does pose such a threat."

On Wednesday, Clinton told another House committee that in her view the Pakistani government is "basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists."

She said Thursday that the administration's special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, has had "painful, specific" conversations with a wide range of Pakistanis about the need to act more effectively against the insurgents.

"There is a significant opportunity here for us working in collaboration with the Pakistani government to help them get the support they need to make that mind-set change and act more vigorously against this threat," she said, adding, "There are no promises. They have to do it."

One measure of progress in Pakistan, she said, is the extent to which the Pakistani military is shifting its troops from the Indian border to the Afghan border, where the Taliban threat has been expanding.

Clinton was appearing before the appropriations panel that is reviewing the administration's request for $7.1 billion in additional funds for the State Department this budget year.

Clinton said that local job creation is a key purpose of the $980 million in extra funds the State Department is requesting for its work in Afghanistan.

She told the panel that a main goal is to improve security at the local level in Afghanistan by putting more people to work. And she said the Obama administration believes that many in the Taliban insurgency who are fighting against American and Afghan forces are motivated more by money than by ideology.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (24 Apr 2009)

Afghanistan: threats in Pakistan
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, April 24
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1240581563

Britain 'cannot afford to send more troops to Afghanistan' because of the recession
Britain cannot afford to send more troops to Afghanistan because of the mounting costs of dealing with the recession, military commanders have been told.
_Daily Telegraph_, April 24
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5208925/Britain-cannot-afford-to-send-more-troops-to-Afghanistan-because-of-the-recession.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5208925/Britain-cannot-afford-to-send-more-troops-to-Afghanistan-because-of-the-recession.html



> The Daily Telegraph has learned that the Treasury is blocking Ministry of Defence plans to match a US troop surge with thousands more British soldiers on financial grounds.
> 
> Alistair Darling announced in his Budget on Wednesday that the Government will have to borrow £700 billion over the next five years as tax revenues fall and spending on items like welfare payments soar.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (26 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 26

Taliban retains grip on Pakistan district 
Many have left Buner, but many are still patrolling the streets and broadcasting their messages despite warnings from the government.
_LA Times_, April 26
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-buner-scene26-2009apr26,0,1895987.story



> Although recent headlines suggest that the Taliban has left Buner district, only 60 miles from the Pakistani capital, the facts Saturday told another story.
> 
> Throughout the day, militants in black turbans with cloths over their faces could be seen brandishing automatic weapons in vehicles around the bazaars and on the main roads. Their stereos blared religious songs, and their presence was particularly evident at strategic locations such as key intersections...



In Pakistan, Guile Helps Taliban Gain
_NY Times_, April 25
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/world/asia/26buner.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper



> Initially, Buner was a hard place for the Taliban to crack. When they attacked a police station in the valley district last year, the resistance was fearless. Local people picked up rifles, pistols and daggers, hunted down the militants and killed six of them.
> 
> But it was not to last. In short order this past week the Taliban captured Buner, a strategically vital district just 60 miles northwest of the capital, Islamabad. The militants flooded in by the hundreds, startling Pakistani and American officials with the speed of their advance.
> 
> ...



My Country, Caving to the Taliban
_Washington Post_, April 26, by Mohammed Hanif
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042402315.html?sid=ST2009042403173


> ...
> As a Taliban insurgency gains strength in Pakistan, my country seems to be preparing to surrender. In areas where the Taliban formally hold sway, such as Swat, people have bowed to their guns. And in the heartland, in Punjab and other regions, there is a disquieting acceptance of the inevitability of the Taliban's rise to power.
> 
> Over the past two years, Pakistani civil society has driven a military dictator from power and managed to force an elected government to restore our top judges to the bench. But when it comes to the Taliban, it seems incapable of speaking with one voice.
> ...



Disarray on Pakistan Taleban threat
The Pakistani government and army seem incapable or unwilling to tackle the Taleban threat in the north-west, argues guest columnist Ahmed Rashid.
BBC, April 24
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8016485.stm



> Unprecedented political and military disarray in Pakistan and a growing public feeling of helplessness is helping fuel the rapid expansion of the Taleban across northern Pakistan, bringing them closer to paralysing state institutions in their bid to seize total power.
> 
> Even though most Pakistanis agree that the Pakistani Taleban and their extremist allies now pose the biggest threat to the Pakistani state since its creation, both the army and the government appear to be in denial of reality and the facts.
> 
> ...



Pakistan must shore up security on border with Afghanistan:defence minister
CP, April 25
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jh-gXCMdqM4qYldgw8c3Q6oPkMsg



> EDMONTON — The mission in Afghanistan could "rise or fall," depending on whether the government of Pakistan can stem the flow of insurgents and weapons along its borders, Canada's defence minister said Saturday.
> 
> Speaking at a symposium on the war in Afghanistan, Peter MacKay suggested Pakistan's border with Afghanistan is like an imaginary line drawn on a map, and that lax security there is a threat to Canadian soldiers.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (28 Apr 2009)

*Articles found April 28, 2009*

 Terror Threat Forces Afghanistan to Cancel Holiday Ceremonies
By Pamela Constable Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, April 28, 2009 11:11 AM 
Article Link

KABUL, April 28 -- The streets of the Afghan capital were deserted Tuesday in a tense, silent observance of an annual holiday that evokes an era of patriotic heroism for some Afghans and a period of brutal, devastating civil war for others. 

For the first time in 16 years, there was no military parade through city streets and no cheering throngs of retired mujaheddin donning pie-shaped pakul hats and faded combat jackets in memory of their triumphant guerrilla fight against Soviet occupation forces during the 1980s. 

The national stadium and mosque were prepared for the occasion with multi-colored banners and posters of the Afghan holy war's fallen heroes, but the public ceremony was abruptly canceled in favor of a small private remembrance held inside the heavily guarded presidential compound. 

Although the government said it changed plans because it preferred to use the parade funds to help victims of a recent earthquake, it was widely assumed that officials were concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack. The area around the empty stadium was patrolled by hundreds of police and NATO troops. 

Last year's ceremony erupted in mayhem when heavily armed attackers, hiding on a nearby rooftop, opened fire on the reviewing stand where President Hamid Karzai and other dignitaries were singing the national anthem. One member of parliament and two other people were killed, and Karzai was hurried to safety. 
More on link

 SAS to increase in size to counter Taliban in Afghanistan  
Special forces are to be increased in order to meet the growing demands of the conflict in Afghanistan, John Hutton, the Defence Secretary, has said. 
 By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent Last Updated: 5:20PM BST 28 Apr 2009
Article Link

But Mr Hutton told the defence select committee that they would not compromise with "quantity over quality" in getting more recruits into the SAS and other elite regiments. 

Mr Hutton also did not rule out an increase in the size of the Army in order to create a bigger pool of recruits for special forces. 

With the Taliban insurgency increasing in Helmand, defence planners have opted to spread the roles of specialist troops operating covertly on the ground. 

In addition to targeting Taliban leaders they will use "soft power" in expanded roles in which they will address medical and other needs of the population in remote locations. 

Asked about an increase in the size of special forces Mr Hutton said: "I don't think we should compromise on quality as we look to do this. These are the sort of issues that we have to make decisions on in the future." 
More on link

 Britain to send more troops to Afghanistan  
Britain is preparing to send an extra 1,700 soldiers to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, the head of the Army has indicated. 
 By Matthew Moore Last Updated: 10:47AM GMT 27 Mar 2009
Article Link

The troops from 12 Mechanised Brigade will help support the US-led surge in the country to be announced by President Barack Obama today. 

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of the General Staff, yesterday said that a portion of the 4,000-strong brigade – which had previously been training for deployment in Iraq – had now been "earmarked for Afghanistan". 

In an interview with The Times he said that the instability of the country could only be addressed "by having more boots on the ground", but Britain could not spare an entire brigade. 

"If we were to send another 4,000... there would be a risk of replicating the pressures on the Army that we are trying to avoid," he said. 
More on link

 Pakistan extremism troubling to Mullen
Published: April 27, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Article Link

WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is concerned with the escalating extremism threat in Pakistan, his spokesman says.

Mullen spokesman Capt. John Kirby said the Joint Chiefs chairman is particularly concerned with militant movement in Pakistan's Swat valley despite the presence of a peace treaty in the region, CNN reported Monday.

Kirby credited Mullen's early April visit to Pakistan with Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, for the chairman's increased interest in the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan. The Islamabad visit by Mullen marked his second Pakistan visit in three weeks.

The Mullen spokesman also told CNN the U.S. military feels confident Pakistan's nuclear weapons will not fall into militant hands, despite a claim from an unidentified senior U.S. military official that parts of northwest Pakistan appear to have fallen under militant control. 
More on link

SPINNING JOBS
 Investors shun a once-thriving mill, the largest yarn and fabrics factory in Afghanistan due to poor security 
By Brian Hutchinson, National PostApril 27, 2009
Article Link

KANDAHAR CITY, Afghanistan — Muhammad Mohsin returns for duty each morning to Kandahar Textile Mill, the largest yarn and fabrics factory in Afghanistan. He walks into his office, sits down at his desk, and waits for something — anything — to happen.

Two years ago, the mill was a going concern, one of this battle-exhausted city's biggest civilian employers with 500 workers and the potential for 5,500 more. Then the lights went out, literally overnight.

The machinery stopped.

The mill's owner, the Afghanistan government, put the entire 37-hectare site and all of its spinning, weaving and dying equipment on the auction block, part of a nation-wide industrial privatization scheme.

There have been no takers, which isn't surprising, since security around Kandahar is woeful. Insurgents and criminals run at large, murdering local civilians, Afghan troops and police officers, and attacking NATO soldiers.

"Who would want to buy the mill and bring in foreign (staff) to Kandahar with all the violence going on around us?" asks Mohsin, stabbing out a cigarette and leaning back in his office chair. "We've had people come to look, from the U.S., from Germany, from Japan, but they aren't potential purchasers. They come from aid agencies. They come once and then we never see them again."
More on link

 No evidence of abuse to Afghan prisoners: military complaints commission  
Last Updated: Monday, April 27, 2009 | 12:47 PM ET CBC News 
Article Link

Three Afghan prisoners were not abused while in custody of Canadian soldiers in 2006, the civilian-run agency that probes military complaints has concluded.

Peter A. Tinsley, chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC), on Monday released his findings into a complaint launched by an Ottawa law professor two years ago.

Dr. Amir Attaran alleged three Afghan prisoners were abused while in the custody of Canadian military police near Kandahar.

However, the commission said its probe, which reviewed 5,500 documents and interviewed 34 people, found no evidence of abuse.

"The commission found that the MPs treated the detainees humanely. There was no evidence of anything inappropriate towards the detainees during their time in the custody of MPs at [Kandahar Air Field]," the final report concluded.

Detainees received "timely and appropriate medical attention" when they arrived at the military base, said the report, adding it found no evidence of a cover-up.

The report did criticize the military police for failing to further investigate the cause of head injuries to one of the detainees, which they are required to do by the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal (CFPM), who sets out military rules and policies.

The report says there is a "surprising lack of awareness" among military police of their duties and responsibilities when it comes to injured detainees.

It recommends further study into the "status and role" of the military police to develop a more complete command and control structure.

The CFPM has accepted the report's recommendations, says the report.

Injuries to faces, heads
Attaran, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, based his allegations on Department of National Defence documents obtained under the Access to Information Act.

Attaran said the three documents were handwritten reports from Canadian military police in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
More on link

 Van Doos commander has a message for Canadians: the threat is real
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The commander of the Royal 22e Regiment in Afghanistan says Canadians need to be reminded of why their soldiers are fighting in the war-torn country.

"People shouldn't think that what's happening in Afghanistan can't affect them in some way," Lt.-Col. Jocelyn Paul recently told The Canadian Press.

A Canadian Press-Harris Decima poll in early April suggested that only 40 per cent of Canadians supported the presence of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Of the 1,000 people polled, 55 per cent opposed the mission. In Quebec, home to the Royal 22e Regiment, 71 per cent opposed the mission.

"It's a bit naive to think that we're safe," Paul said. "Thinking that North America is some kind of an island on the other side of the ocean and that whatever goes on in the rest of the world won't come to us is an excessively naive vision of the world.

"Somehow, I have the impression that we have very quickly forgotten that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks happened in New York state, which is a neighbour (of Quebec)," said Paul, who will lead the troops of the 2nd Battalion tactical group for the next six months.

"We've forgotten that Canadians lost their lives in these attacks. Canadians were among the victims in Mumbai (India) in December."

When asked how to better communicate the value of the Canadian mission, he referred to globalization, which he says affects not only goods and services but ideas as well.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (29 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 29

Expect more Afghanistan deaths says Kevin Rudd as force boosted to 1550
THE federal Government will boost troop levels in the Afghan conflict from 1100 to 1550 soldiers in a war Kevin Rudd acknowledges is getting more unpopular with Australians and will result in more combat deaths.
_The Australian_, April 30
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25406863-5013871,00.html



> Announcing the modest increase yesterday, the Prime Minister said the main focus of Australia's military effort in southern Oruzgan would be training Afghan security forces and not combat operations.
> 
> A sharper diplomatic focus would be provided by the appointment of career diplomat and former defence chief Ric Smith as Australia's new special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan mimicking similar diplomatic moves by the US and Britain.
> 
> ...



Increase in troop numbers will not satisfy defence chiefs
Despite today's announcement that the UK is sending 700 more troops to Afghanistan, chiefs of staff believe British forces will still be spread too thinly on the ground in Helmand
_The Guardian_, April 29
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/29/uk-troops-in-afghanistan



> Gordon Brown confirmed today what he announced at the recent Nato summit – that Britain will send 700 extra troops to southern Afghanistan for a limited period covering the presidential elections in August. The army will also send an extra 200 bomb disposal experts, increasing Britain's long-term commitment to 8,300 troops.
> 
> What he did not tell MPs is that he has seen off pressure from senior military advisers to send thousands more troops to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.
> 
> The chiefs of staff believe a significant increase of at least 2,000 extra troops is needed to provide better security for the British forces there. This despite the imminent arrival of US reinforcements – which will mean there be almost as many American troops in Helmand as British – and the mantra of both defence chiefs and ministers that the battle against the Taliban and other insurgents cannot be won by military force alone...



Poppies a Target in Fight Against Taliban 
_NY Times_, April 28
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/world/asia/29afghan.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper



> ZANGABAD, Afghanistan — American commanders are planning to cut off the Taliban’s main source of money, the country’s multimillion-dollar opium crop, by pouring thousands of troops into the three provinces that bankroll much of the group’s operations.
> 
> The plan to send 20,000 Marines and soldiers into Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul Provinces this summer promises weeks and perhaps months of heavy fighting, since American officers expect the Taliban to vigorously defend what makes up the economic engine for the insurgency. The additional troops, the centerpiece of President Obama’s effort to reverse the course of the seven-year war, will roughly double the number already in southern Afghanistan. The troops already fighting there are universally seen as overwhelmed. In many cases, the Americans will be pushing into areas where few or no troops have been before...
> 
> ...



Taliban Advance in Pakistan Prompts Shift by U.S.
_Washington Post_, April 29
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/28/AR2009042803795.html



> The Pakistani government's inability to stem Taliban advances has forced the Obama administration to recalibrate its Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy a month after unveiling it.
> 
> What was planned as a step-by-step process of greater military and economic engagement with Pakistan -- as immediate attention focused on Afghanistan -- has been rapidly overtaken by the worsening situation on the ground. Nearly nonstop discussions over the past two days included a White House meeting Monday between Obama and senior national security officials and a full National Security Council session on Pakistan yesterday.
> 
> ...



U.S. training of Pakistan army to grow
Fearing Islamabad is ill equipped to battle militants, Washington aims to bolster the nation's anti-insurgency efforts.
_LA Times_, April 29
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-us-pakistan29-2009apr29,0,3805869.story



> The Pakistani government has agreed to allow the U.S. a greater role in training its military, part of an accord that will also send counterinsurgency equipment to help Islamabad step up its offensive against militants.
> 
> Washington has been watching with growing alarm as Taliban forces have made military gains in Pakistan and U.S. officials have stepped up pressure on Islamabad to do more.
> 
> ...



Pakistan wrests control of town from Taliban
But militants have taken over a police station and dozens of officers are hostage. The military actions are an effort to push the Taliban back into its base in the Swat Valley.
_LA Times_, April 30
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan-fighting30-2009apr30,0,6695106.story



> Pakistani commandos dropped from helicopters today into an area behind Taliban lines some 80 miles from Islamabad, the capital, and regained control of a key town, the army said. But authorities faced a fresh challenge after militants seized a police station, holding dozens of officers hostage.
> 
> Helicopters dropped troops before 8 a.m. near Daggar, the main town in the Buner district, the army said. The area has seen fighting between the military and Taliban forces for several days [more here].
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (30 Apr 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 30

Mentors in Afghanistan
Marines lead by example
_Washington Times_, April 30
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/30/mentors-in-afghanistan/



> President Obama recently announced his new strategy for stabilizing Afghanistan, the centerpiece of which is sending additional troops to fight the Taliban and train the Afghan forces. Yet a successful strategy has been in place in Afghanistan for more than a year - it is Muscular Mentoring, and it has been practiced by the Marines.
> 
> Last year, Marine Col. Jeffrey Haynes commanded Embedded Training Team (ETT) 3-5, a part of the Regional Corps Advisory Command-Central (RCAC-C) [more here, with photos].
> http://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/mar09-afghanistan-nusbaumer.asp
> ...



'The German Military is in Afghanistan to Secure the Country'
_Spiegel Online_, April 30
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,622191,00.html#ref=nlint



> _In the wake of Wednesday's Taliban attack on German forces, commentators are losing patience with Berlin's unwillingness to commit more soldiers to Afghanistan. The Taliban's advance in Pakistan also has them worried._
> 
> A few hours after German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier landed in Kabul on Wednesday [April 29] for a surprise visit, Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan killed one German soldier and wounded nine others in two separate attacks. Steinmeier is in the Afghan capital for two days to talk with President Hamid Karzai and Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, mainly about Germany's controversial involvement in the NATO mission to quell the Taliban.
> 
> ...



Pakistan and the Taliban
A real offensive, or a phoney war?
As the Pakistani army launches a new assault on the Taliban, America hopes it is now more serious about defeating the militants
_The Economist_, April 30 (good maps)
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13576371



> WHEN Barack Obama unveiled his new policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan in March, he gave a warning that al-Qaeda, the Taliban and other jihadist gangs were “killing Pakistan from within”. The generals who guard Pakistan’s national security had shown only “mixed results” in combating the threat, he said. They would no longer enjoy a “blank cheque”; they must show that they are fighting in good faith.
> 
> On April 26th, Pakistan gave a glimpse of this: by launching an attack on the Pakistan Taliban in parts of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) recently overrun by the militants. It began with an assault in Lower Dir, near the border with Afghanistan, in which the army claims to have killed 70 militants and lost ten soldiers, and which displaced some 30,000 people.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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