# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread February 2010



## GAP (31 Jan 2010)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread February 2010 *               

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


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## GAP (1 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 1, 2010*

 Plans not yet in place to protect Canadians left in Kandahar in 2011: ambassador
Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service  Published: Sunday, January 31, 2010
Article Link

Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan -- Canada's envoy to Afghanistan says Ottawa will only decide on security arrangements for Canadian diplomats, police mentors and aid workers in Kandahar after seeing what the security situation is like when its troops leave the war-torn province in 2011.

"I can't predict what the place will look like 18 months from now," William Crosbie told reporters Sunday.

The ambassador said he could not "extrapolate" on what security might be required to protect those Canadians who are slated to remain here after the soldiers cease combat operations in July, 2011, and leave the country by the end of that year.

The question about the safety of those workers and Canada's many, multimillion-dollar aid projects in Kandahar have arisen after Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in his strongest statement yet on the subject, said last month that except for a few embassy guards in Kabul, there will be no Canadian soldiers left in Afghanistan after 2011.

It was Mr. Harper's unequivocal stance that apparently led auditor general Sheila Fraser to say during a visit to Kandahar two weeks ago that she had serious concerns for the well-being of Canadians whose work was to continue after the troops departed.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2505971#ixzz0eLAsQoEv
The National Post is now on Facebook. Join our fan community today.
More on link

 Hope dim, but labourers still gather daily in Kandahar for crack at meagre wage
By Steve Rennie (CP) – 1 day ago
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The boy with the almond-shaped eyes and pants that don't quite reach his ankles fidgets with his wool sweater.

Older men stand around him. They wear the traditional baggy tunics and pants of Afghanistan. Cloth turbans cover their heads. Some clutch threadbare blankets around themselves like cloaks against the damp chill of the dawn.

They are huddled at this mud-slicked crossroads in Kandahar city, hoping to make a pittance as day labourers.

They are on display. Men with money will soon come to pick a few lucky ones for back-breaking work in the fields or at construction sites.

Every day the labourers walk into town to wait for this kind of work. And every day most of them walk home without it.

The boy with the short pants stands up straight, arms at his sides. His eyelids droop at this early hour.

A man arrives. He wears a light-brown shawl and has two days' of beard growth. He pushes his way into the middle of the crowd.

He wants the boy.

For the next eight or nine hours the boy will be doing brickwork, the man says. For this toil he will be paid the equivalent of five Canadian dollars.
More on link

 Pakistan's army chief seeks stable Afghanistan
Article Link
By Pamela Constable Tuesday, February 2, 2010

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- Pakistan's army chief said Monday that his country wants a "peaceful, stable and friendly" Afghanistan as its western neighbor and that achieving this goal would guarantee Pakistan the "strategic depth" it once sought by supporting the Islamist Taliban regime in Kabul.

Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, in a rare meeting with foreign journalists at army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, said that Pakistan is eager to help the elected government in Afghanistan become capable of defending the country and that his army would like to help the United States train recruits for the new Afghan National Army. 
More on link

State Department Admits No-Bid Contract 'Violates' Obama Campaign Pledges
By James Rosen  - FOXNews.com
Article Link

The recent awarding of a lucrative federal contract to a company owned by a financial contributor to the Obama presidential campaign -- without competitive bidding -- "violates" President Obama's many campaign pledges to crack down on the practice, a top State Department official told Fox News.

The recent awarding of a lucrative federal contract to a company owned by a financial contributor to the Obama presidential campaign -- without competitive bidding -- "violated" President Obama's many campaign pledges to crack down on the practice, a top State Department official told Fox News.

Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley, familiar to many Americans from his erudite delivery of the State Department's daily press briefings, made the admission in a telephone interview Saturday night.

Reminded of Obama's many pledges during the 2008 campaign to crack down on the use of no-bid contracts, and of the memorandum the president signed last March instructing the Office of Management and Budget to curb the practice, Crowley said: "You make a valid point. If you want to say this violates the basis on which this administration came into office and campaigned, fair enough."

The contract in question, worth more than $24.6 million, was awarded on Jan. 4 by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to Checchi and Company Consulting, a Washington, D.C.-based firm owned by economist and Democratic Party donor Vincent Checchi. The deal called for Checchi's firm to train lawyers and judges in Afghanistan and thereby strengthen the "rule of law" in the war-torn country.
More on link


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## GAP (3 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 3, 2010*

 NATO, Afghan forces brace for Taliban battle
Article Link
The Associated Press  Wednesday Feb. 3, 2010 6:02 AM ET

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — U.S. troops and their Afghan and NATO allies are planning their biggest joint offensive since the start of the Afghan war, targeting a town in the volatile south that is believed to be the biggest Taliban stronghold and a hub of the militants' lucrative opium trade, officers said Wednesday.

No date for the start of the offensive has been released due to security. But U.S. commanders have said they plan to capture the town of Marjah, 610 kilometres southwest of Kabul, this winter.

It will be the first major offensive since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, and many of the Marines set to participate arrived as part of the surge.

Up to 125,000 people are believed to live in the district around Marjah, an agricultural centre surrounded by a maze of irrigation canals built with American aid in the 1950s and 1960s. About 80,000 people live in or around the town itself.

Between 600 and 1,000 Taliban and foreign fighters are thought to operate in the area, U.S. officers say. NATO officials won't say how many NATO and Afghan troops have been earmarked for the offensive, but they are expected to vastly outumber the Taliban and their allies
More on link

 Taliban claim responsibility for deadly Pakistan blast
Article Link

Timergara, Pakistan — Reuters Published on Wednesday, Feb. 03, 2010 4:10AM EST Last updated on Wednesday, Feb. 03, 2010 8:52AM EST

Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for a bomb on Wednesday that killed three U.S. soldiers outside a girls school in the northwest of the country and threatened more attacks on Americans.

In scenes that have become familiar in the struggle between Taliban insurgents and the state, a young girl trapped below the stones of a collapsed wall cried out for help after the blast.

Three children and a Pakistani paramilitary soldier were also killed and 45 people were wounded in the blast near Swat Valley, where the government mounted a crackdown nearly a year ago it said had cleared out Taliban militants.

“We will continue such attacks on Americans,” Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
More on link


 U.S. military officers could face punishment over ambush in Afghanistan
Article Link
By Greg Jaffe Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A military investigation into an ambush that left nine Americans dead recommends that the Army consider taking disciplinary action against three U.S. commanders who oversaw the 2008 mission to send troops to the remote Afghan outpost, defense officials said Tuesday. 

The investigation into the bloody battle at Wanat, near the border with Pakistan, was undertaken last fall at the urging of Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Nine soldiers were killed and 27 wounded during the attack at the outpost, which raged for several hours. Among the dead was 1st Lt. Jonathan Brostrom, whose father, a retired Army colonel, pushed for more than a year to persuade the Pentagon to launch a probe of the battle.

The military's report, which spans almost 4,000 pages, has been sent to Gen. Charles Campbell, the head of U.S. Army Forces Command, to determine whether formal disciplinary action should be taken against any of the officers.

"We remain in close contact with the families of our fallen from this battle, and they will be invited to a comprehensive briefing on the investigation following General Campbell's actions," Army Secretary John McHugh said in a statement. Campbell could decide that none of the officers should be disciplined.

The investigators, led by a three-star Marine general, will release the report after Campbell has made his decision and the families of the deceased soldiers have been briefed on its contents. 
More on link

 Tories fight back over Afghan detainee controversy
Article Link
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Parliamentary Bureau Chief  2nd February 2010, 8:25pm

Conservatives are fighting back over the Afghan detainee controversy, accusing Liberals of questioning the actions of Canadian troops in a flyer that will arrive in mailboxes this week.

The householder — known as a 10-per-center — highlights quotes from Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and other Grit MPs — including one that suggests soldiers might have committed war crimes.

“The men and women of the Canadian Forces serve our country proudly each and every day. From Afghanistan to Haiti, our troops lead the way in helping to rebuild shattered societies and provide security. Sadly, Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party have questioned their actions in Afghanistan,” the flyer reads.

An internal Conservative memo obtained by QMI Agency said the householder aims to underscore a pattern of comments by senior Liberals that call into question the actions of Canadian soldiers. 
More on link

 With Raw Recruits, Afghan Police Buildup Falters 
Article Link

The NATO general in charge of training the Afghan police has some tongue-in-cheek career advice for the country’s recruits.
 “It’s better to join the Taliban; they pay more money,” said Brig. Gen. Carmelo Burgio, from Italy’s paramilitary Carabinieri force.

That sardonic view reflects a sobering reality. The attempts to build a credible Afghan police force are faltering badly even as officials acknowledge that the force will be a crucial piece of the effort to have Afghans manage their own security so American forces can begin leaving next year.

Though they have revamped the program recently and put it under new leadership, Afghan, NATO and American officials involved in the training effort list a daunting array of challenges, as familiar as they are intractable.

One in five recruits tests positive for drugs, while fewer than one in 10 can read and write — a rate even lower than the Afghan norm of 15 percent literacy. Many cannot even read a license plate number. Taliban infiltration is a constant worry; incompetence an even bigger one.
More on link

 Saudi Arabia wants Taliban to expel bin Laden
Article Link

By ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI
The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 2, 2010; 1:17 PM

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia said during a visit by Afghan President Hamid Karzai Tuesday that it will not get involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban stops providing shelter and severs all ties with Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida movement.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is visiting Saudi Arabia hoping for a active Saudi role in his plan to persuade Taliban militants to switch sides. He will meet with Saudi officials Wednesday after performing the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.

Saudi Arabia has a unique relationship with Taliban since it was one of the few countries to recognize the regime before it was ousted in 2001 and has acted as an intermediary before
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (5 Feb 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND FEB. 5

Afghanistan: how to win the war?
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Feb. 5
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1265389496

McChrystal Sees Signs of Progress in Push to Stabilize Afghanistan
_Wall St. Journal_, Feb. 5
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703357104575045513467374970.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLESecondNews



> ISTANBUL—Gen. Stanley McChrystal, head of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, said he no longer believes the battlefield situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating, the first time he has made such a determination since taking command in Kabul last summer.
> 
> Gen. McChrystal cautioned that he doesn't yet believe the U.S.-led coalition is winning or has "turned the corner." He also said that his conclusion is based more on anecdotal evidence than hard data.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (6 Feb 2010)

ARTICLE FOUND FEB. 6

Canadians pave way for Afghan offensive
Troops undertake helicopter missions into Helmand, mentoring Afghan brigade
Canwest News, Feb. 6, by Matthew Fisher
http://news.globaltv.com/world/story.html?id=2530739



> An Afghan army brigade commander said Friday that one of his battalions, which has Canadian military mentors working with it, had recently moved from Kandahar to Helmand to be part of what NATO has been loudly billing as the biggest offensive ever against the Taliban.
> 
> Brig.-Gen. Abdul Basir Salehzai of 1st Brigade, 205 Corps, confirmed that a battalion, Kandak 1, was about to take part in Operation Moshtarak, or Together, a joint operation involving thousands of British army and U.S. marine assault troops as well as several Afghan battalions.
> 
> ...



U.S. military equipment to go to allies
Nations with troops in Afghanistan stand to get armored vehicles and bomb detectors.

_LA Times_, Feb. 6
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-gates-nato6-2010feb06,0,5579866.story



> Reporting from Istanbul, Turkey - The United States on Friday promised allies armored vehicles and technology meant to protect against roadside bombs, an offer officials hope will entice those nations to step up their contributions to the war in Afghanistan.
> 
> Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the U.S. would provide heavily armored mine resistant ambush protected trucks, known as MRAPs, to allies conducting operations in violent areas of Afghanistan...
> 
> ...



Poland's presence in Afghanistan investment in future security: PM 
_People's Daily Online_, Jan. 26
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6878720.html


> ...
> Poland, responsible for security in Afghan Ghazni province, has deployed some 2,000 soldiers, part of the NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
> 
> Poland plans to *increase the size of its ISAF contingent to 2, 600 soldiers* [emphasis added] in April 2010...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (7 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 7, 2010*

 Soldiers at NATO base play hockey in desert
12:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 7, 2010 Christopher Torchia, The Associated Press
Article Link

KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – "Attack! Attack! Attack! Attack!"

No bombs or rockets – just a spectator yelling during a tight game of the Kandahar Ball Hockey League, played Monday through Friday nights at NATO's biggest military base in southern Afghanistan.

There's no ice and no puck, but no matter. Canadian troops still get their hockey fix – even in the middle of a war.

Occasional rocket attacks, sudden deployments and other military operations don't stop the league, which runs concurrently with the six-month stints of Canadian troops who share the base with forces from the United States, Britain and other nations.

"Canadians love their hockey," said James Stark, a Canadian goalie.

The five-a-side teams, including a goalie in helmet, leg pads, chest pads and gloves, battle with a rubber ball on a concrete-floored rink with wooden sidings – about two-thirds as big as a full-size one.

The rink sits in an open slab of desert surrounded by the Boardwalk, a walkway lined with stores, coffee shops and restaurants. It's a social scene, humming with commerce, where soldiers go to relax after a day on duty in the desert.

And maybe catch a little hockey.
More on link

 Battle to electrify Kandahar shows Afghan dilemma
Article Link
By HEIDI VOGT  The Associated Press Sunday, February 7, 2010; 2:39 PM

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- About 90 factories sit vacant in the economic capital of southern Afghanistan. They could fight militants in a way no army could, employing thousands of people and giving them a reason to shun the Taliban.

A lack of reliable electricity is what's keeping the factories silent and useless in the fight against insurgency. And it's the insurgency, in large part, that's keeping them that way.

The dilemma is the same throughout Afghanistan's ungoverned south, where NATO is gearing up for a major offensive: Development is needed to wrest people away from militants, but fighting regularly thwarts such projects - wasting millions in the process.

The main power source for Kandahar city should be the Kajaki Dam in neighboring Helmand province, but a six-year-old plan to repair it has been repeatedly delayed by fighting and the difficulty of securing roads long enough to get supplies in. 
More on link

 Taliban, NATO prepare for big Helmand offensive
Article Link
By Abdul Malek

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Taliban militants are digging in ahead of a major NATO operation in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, in one of the biggest offensives in the eight-year-old war.

U.S. Marines are set to launch an operation within days to take Marjah, an area of lush farmland criss-crossed by canals in the centre of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province.

The offensive will be the first major show of force since President Barack Obama ordered in 30,000 extra troops.

The operation has been flagged in advance in the hope militants will give up the fight in what commanders say is the last big Taliban enclave in the province.

"It has to do with letting people know what's coming in the hope that the hardcore Taliban, or a lot of the Taliban, will simply leave, and maybe there will be less of a fight," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Turkey on Saturday.
More on link

 NATO arrests Afghan police official accused of aiding insurgents
The man helped make and plant roadside bombs in Kapisa province, Western officials say. But local authorities say it could be a case of mistaken identity.
Article Link

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - NATO forces swooped down on the home of a senior Afghan police official, arrested him and accused him of helping insurgents make and plant roadside bombs, Western military officials said Sunday.

The incident, which took place last week in Kapisa province, east of the capital, Kabul, is likely to raise tensions between foreign forces and the national police. That partnership is considered a crucial element of plans by the Obama administration to pave the way for a drawdown of American forces starting next year.

Before any large-scale Western pullout occurs, Afghan security forces are supposed to take on more responsibility for safeguarding the country.

If the charges against the arrested official are borne out, the case would represent one of the most serious instances to date of complicity by a ranking Afghan security official with the Taliban or other militant groups.

But Afghan officials raised doubts about the man's guilt, and the Interior Ministry, which oversees the national police, said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had been asked for an explanation.
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 Pakistan says seizes Taliban base on Afghan border
Sun Feb 7, 2010 4:33am EST By Sahibzada Bahauddin
Article Link

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Pakistani forces have captured a stronghold of al Qaeda-backed militants near the Afghan border after days of clashes in which 60 militants were killed, the military said.

Pakistani security forces mounted a major offensive in the ethnic Pashtun Bajaur tribal region in 2008 and declared it largely cleared after months of clashes.

But militants, joined by comrades infiltrating from Afghanistan, staged a comeback in the region in recent weeks. Fourteen people were killed in a suicide bombing at a security checkpost in Bajaur late last month.

Backed by fighter jets and helicopter gunships, Pakistani security forces helped by members of a militia from the area launched a new push to clear parts of Bajaur on Jan. 27.

The military says it is now in control of the strategic Damadola area, about 12 km (7 miles) north of Bajaur's main town of Khar.
More on link

 What will deal with Taliban mean for Afghan women?
Women's rights would face challenges in a Western peace deal with the Taliban
Article Link
By Olivia Ward Foreign Affairs Reporter 

    Memo from the Taliban, 1996:

    Women: you should not step outside your residence.

    We request all family elders to keep tight control over their families and avoid social problems. Otherwise these women will be threatened, investigated, and severely punished as well as the family elders, by the religious police.

    Music and dancing are prohibited in wedding parties. 
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 Afghan force faces crucial test in Marja
As doubts increase about the Afghan security force's ability to take over security next year, soldiers' participation in a Marine offensive in Helmand will serve as a measure of readiness.
Article Link
 By Laura King and Tony Perry February 7, 2010

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan -- The effectiveness of the alliance between the U.S. military and Afghanistan's security force rests on a particularly delicate question: Will sufficient numbers of Afghans put up a good fight against the Taliban -- starting very soon?

Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's strategy to reduce the U.S. role in Afghanistan includes increasing the training of the Afghan force, doubling its size and enhancing its capabilities. How realistic that strategy is remains to be seen, particularly in light of President Obama's preference that the United States begin withdrawing troops in mid-2011.

An offensive expected soon to seize the Taliban stronghold of Marja -- an insurgent haven and a hub of the narcotics trade in violent Helmand province -- would serve as a strong boost to Western efforts to create a robust national security force, if Afghan troops demonstrate competence and courage in the field.

But such a deliberate effort to showcase the Afghan force's role in a high-profile assault carries heavy risks as well. A lackluster showing in Marja by the Afghans would be a propaganda coup for the Taliban and a blow to hopes that a Western military drawdown can begin next year.
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Taliban force kids to plant bombs
Desperate tactics to stop British Army snipers from hitting back 
Article Link
By Paul McNamara, 07/02/2010

BRAVE British troops taking part today in the biggest airborne assault since World War Two will face the cowardly Taliban's latest 'weapon' - innocent CHILDREN.

For evil Afghan warlords are preparing to hide behind terrified youngsters as more than 15,000 allied soldiers take to the skies to clear insurgents from former no-go zones in Helmand province.

Already they have started using children as young as 12 to plant deadly roadside bombs - knowing our soldiers won't open fire on them.

Now Army commanders are terrified children will be used by the Taliban as troops fly in to take insurgent strongholds in the province's Nad Ali district.

The News of the World can reveal that horrified snipers from 3 Rifles watched this week as crazed fundamentalists forced children to plant bombs near British bases.

Sharpshooters in Sangin, Northern Helmand, had been slaying a bomber a day until the past few days... when insurgents started using kids.

A senior Army source said: "These are the worst form of cowards. 
More on link


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## GAP (9 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 9, 2010*

 Travers: Sleepwalking away from Afghanistan
Article Link

If there's a constant in the Afghanistan mission, it's Canada's habitual sleepwalking. After fighting there for the best part of a decade, losing 139 soldiers and spending a projected $20 billion, this country is preparing to pull out with no more grasp of the consequences than preceded the deployment.

Relieved to be leaving behind a losing battle, federal party leaders are easing into the past the most testing engagement since Korea. Here in the national capital there is silent acceptance where there should be a roiling debate on how best to turn the blood and money sunk into Afghanistan into an investment.
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 More Than 64 Feared Dead In Afghan Avalanches
Article Link

KABUL (Reuters) - At least 24 bodies have been recovered and 40 other people are feared dead after avalanches swept vehicles into a ravine and trapped cars in a mountain pass overnight, Afghanistan's Interior Minister said on Tuesday.

Hanif Atmar told a news conference that 2 km of road had so far been cleared but more people remained trapped after the avalanches, which shut the Salang Pass and blocked a 2.6 km (1.6 mile) tunnel through the Hindu Kush mountains.
More on link

 Gates quietly draws more allied troops for Afghanistan effort
The U.S. Defense secretary emphasizes training and tones down his approach.
Article Link

Reporting from Paris - In many ways, it was a familiar scene: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in Europe, meeting with U.S. allies about the war in Afghanistan.

But something was missing. Gates, during a weeklong tour, did not plead with his European counterparts to send more troops.

The shift in Gates' approach reflects both the significant growth in U.S. and allied troop levels in the last year as well as the changing strategy of the American-led effort.

Rather than twisting arms for more forces, Gates' mission has become more subtle, aimed at fine-tuning the mix of allied troops and emphasizing the need for trainers to upgrade Afghanistan's security forces.
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 Canadian 'mentors' may join Helmand offensive
 By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 6, 2010
Article Link

An Afghan army brigade commander said that one of his battalions, which has Canadian military mentors working with it, had recently moved from Kandahar to Helmand to be part of what NATO has been loudly billing as the biggest offensive ever against the Taliban.

Brig.-Gen. Abdul Basir Salehzai of 1st Brigade, 205 Corps confirmed that a battalion known as Kandak 1 was about to take part in Operation Moshtarak or Together, which is a joint operation involving thousands of British army and U.S. Marine assault troops as well as several Afghan battalions.

While not confirming that Canadians from the Operational Mentor and Liaison Team had gone to Helmand for Op Moshtarak, Maj. Daryl Morrell of Task Force Kandahar said that about 30 Canadians from the team were in the province as mentors with Kandak 1 "in support of ongoing operations. . . . The Canadians and those they mentor had been moved from Zhari District to Helmand in early January."

Citing operational security reasons, "the duration of the operation cannot be released," Morrell said. "But once it is completed, the Canadian troops will return to Zhari to continue their mission in Kandahar alongside other Canadian OMLT soldiers."
More on link

 In southern Afghanistan, even the small gains get noticed
Joshua Partlow Washington Post Foreign Service Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Article Link


ZARI, AFGHANISTAN -- Four of the Army's hulking mine-resistant armored vehicles had just been bombed into submission. 

They stood immobilized off of Highway 1, southern Afghanistan's most important thoroughfare, at the point where an earlier bomb had blown out the asphalt, forcing traffic to bypass through the dirt. At the same time, Taliban fighters were reeling a wire used to detonate bombs into a mud-walled compound.

But right at the top of Lt. Col. Jeffrey French's list of concerns that perilous day, when 14 bombs either exploded or were found in the same area, was the row of Afghan cargo trucks waiting to get past this complicated mess.

"I don't want to be piling up massive amounts of coalition force vehicles," French radioed to his soldiers before leading his convoy out of the congestion. 
More on link

 Marines focus on civilian safety in Afghanistan
Preparing for battle in a Taliban stronghold, the Marines are warning civilians to flee the area, and they plan restraint in their use of artillery and air power.
Article Link

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan -- Heading into battle to seize a Taliban stronghold, U.S. Marines are keenly aware of one factor that could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory: Afghan civilian casualties.

Deaths of noncombatants in clashes involving Western troops and insurgents are one of the bitterest points of contention between President Hamid Karzai and his foreign allies. So in the weeks leading up to the imminent offensive to take the Helmand River Valley town of Marja in southern Afghanistan, the Marines' commander, Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, sat with dozens of Afghan tribal elders, drinking endless cups of sweet tea and offering reassurances that his top priority will be the safety of Afghan civilians.

"In counterinsurgency, the people are the prize," Nicholson said in an interview at Camp Leatherneck, the U.S. base in central Helmand province that is the main staging ground for the offensive.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (10 Feb 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND FEB. 10

Uruzgan - stay or go? The Dutch debate
Radio Netherlands, Feb. 10
http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/uruzgan-stay-or-go-dutch-debate



> *The Netherlands is under growing pressure to remain in Afghanistan, despite the coalition government's original decision that Dutch forces would leave the troubled province of Uruzgan this year.*
> 
> On Tuesday, the Dutch government informed parliament that NATO has asked the Netherlands for a smaller and time-limited mission in Afghanistan, focused on training Afghan security forces and on "transferring responsibilities to the Afghan authorities". This would mean the Netherlands keeping its Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Uruzgan.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## The Bread Guy (11 Feb 2010)

*Floods affect thousands in (Kandahar,) Helmand and Uruzgan*
UNAMA news feature, 11 Feb 10
_Article link_

The recent torrential rains and floods have inflicted heavy losses to humans and to property in Kandahar, Helmand and Uruzgan.

This is the heaviest rain seen in the area for half a century and has affected hundreds of people and caused devastation to property, livestock and agriculture farms.

Zulmai Ayoubi, spokesperson for the Governor of Kandahar, told UNAMA that hundreds of mud houses were destroyed due to recent heavy rains and floods. Mr Ayoubi said that around 1,000 livestock were killed in different parts of Kandahar and dozens of people were stranded by flood water in Dand district.

Mr Ayoubi added that the bodies of 15 victims, who drowned in Shah Wali Kot district, have been recovered; however, three persons are still missing. The 250 families, who were stranded by flood waters in Khake Shefa, a village located in Dand district of Kandahar, were rescued by the Afghan National Army with the help of helicopters.

The Public Works Department and a private company used their resources to remove the blockage of water-flow and clear culverts in various parts of Kandahar with the help of locals.

Mr Ayoubi further said that Kandahar’s Rural Rehabilitation and Development Department, (RRD), the Afghan Red Crescent Society and some private businessmen provided assistance to the affected families, including food to over 100 families in Kandahar ....
*More on link*


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## MarkOttawa (11 Feb 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND FEB. 11

Afghanistan record another stunning victory
Fourteen-run win over Scotland follows shock triumph over Ireland in ICC World Twenty20 qualifiers 
_Gulf News_, Feb. 11
http://gulfnews.com/sport/cricket/afghanistan-record-another-stunning-victory-1.581198

U.S. Meets Afghanistan in World Twenty20 Cricket Qualifying 
Bloomberg News, Feb. 11
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aLuLHrZq2Su4

Afghans thrash US
Pajhwok Afghan News, Feb. 11
http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=89481

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (12 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 12, 2010*

 Afghan elders plea for quick attack on Marjah
Article Link

The Associated Press

Date: Friday Feb. 12, 2010 10:57 AM ET

NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan — U.S. and Afghan troops fought back small-scale attacks by Taliban fighters Friday on the northern outskirts of Marjah, as tribal elders pleaded for NATO to finish its planned attack on the Taliban stronghold quickly and carefully to protect civilians.

No casualties were reported in the series of skirmishes throughout the day. In one clash, Marines fought off an ambush against one of their convoys with 50-caliber machine guns and grenade launchers. Reporters with the U.S. 5th Stryker Brigade heard a large explosion, which troops said was from a missile attack against a Taliban compound.

Thousands of U.S. and Afghan troops are taking part in the operation to wrest control of Marjah, 610 kilometres southwest of Kabul, away from the Taliban and restore government authority over the town, a major supply base of the insurgents and a center of their opium-poppy business. The British are mounting a parallel operation to the north.

NATO hopes to rush in public services after the Taliban leave and undermine support for the militants among the estmated 80,000 people in the town. The population of the town and the surrounding area is estimated at about 125,000.

On Friday, a group of 34 elders said in a letter to provincial officials that their people are frightened and worried they won't be watched after, according to Abdul Hai Agha, an elder from Marjah.

"We said in this letter that if you are doing this operation in Marjah, do it quickly," Agha told The Associated Press by phone from nearby Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. They also urged the troops to do their best to avoid civilian casualties during the assault and have food and shelter ready in nearby towns for refugees. 
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 Single mom discharged, Army says
Article Link

A single mother who chose taking care of her infant over deploying to Afghanistan has been discharged, the Army said in a statement.

When her unit deployed to Afghanistan in November, Alexis Hutchinson was missing from the plane. Her lawyer said she refused to go because there was no one to take care of her then 10-month-old son, Kamani, and she feared he would be placed in foster care.

But the Army contended that the young mother and now former Army specialist had plenty of time to sort out family issues and said she could face court-martial.

The issue was resolved this week, the Army said in a statement Thursday from Fort Stewart in Georgia, where Hutchinson was training.

"The soldier will not be tried by court-martial and therefore is not at risk of receiving a federal conviction," the statement said. " She is, however, reduced to the lowest enlisted rank, private, and subject to losing other military benefits from the Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs to which soldiers who serve honorably are entitled."

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 Bound, gagged bodies of women found in Afghanistan
February 12, 2010
Article Link

Four bodies, including two bound and gagged women, were found in a compound in southeast Afghanistan, officials said Friday.

The bodies of the two women and two men -- who were not bound and gagged --were found during a joint operation between Afghan and NATO forces in Paktia province Thursday.

The troops were fired at as they approached the compound during the operation, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force. A gunbattle ensued, and many men and women fled the compound. The troops searched the compound and found the bodies hidden in a room.

Eight men were detained for questioning and ISAF and Afghan forces were investigating.

ISAF originally said that the bodies of three women had been found.
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 Forces Strain to Hire Afghan Allies 
Article Link

Capt. Jeremiah Ellis is a man with a problem: how to spend a million dollars.

American troops under his command moved late last year into this town of 12,000 people, a Taliban stronghold just west of Kandahar. Now, armed with more than $1 million in coalition funds, Capt. Ellis is trying to dent the insurgents' lingering power by jump-starting development projects.

Yet, the only construction work here so far has been the hammering of U.S. Navy Seabees, or construction troops, erecting a vast American base overlooking Senjaray. The town's unemployed men prefer to stay home, for fear of Taliban retribution.

"You can have all the money in the world, but no one will pick up a shovel until they feel secure," says Capt. Ellis, who commands the Dog Company of the 1st Battalion of the U.S. Army's 12th Infantry Regiment.
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 Marines roll out Assault Breacher Vehicles for Marjah Afghanistan offensive
Article Link
When Marines rumble into the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Helmand province for one of the largest offensives of the Afghanistan war, they'll be battle-testing a powerful new weapon, the Assault Breacher Vehicle. 

When the the Marines currently stacked up in Afghanistan's Helmand province waiting for a long-planned offensive against the Taliban finally make their move, they'll be coming with a powerful new weapon that looks like a cross between a tank and hell's own backhoe.

The Assault Breacher Vehicle, or ABV, has been in the works since the late 1990s, and it combines the brawn of an Abram's tank and its 1,500 horsepower engine with a specially designed 15-foot wide plow to safely clear the minefields and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that the Taliban have laid around Marjah in preparation for the assault. The heavily armored breacher barely shudders when a typical mine detonates on its plow, and when the plow isn't sufficient for the job, the breachers also carry over 5,000 pounds of specially designed explosives that can be fired into mine fields and safely detonate their deadly contents at a distance.
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 Suicide Bombers Attack Police Compound in Pakistan 
Article Link

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Two suicide bombers attacked police officers in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing 15 people and wounding 20 others in the second attack on Pakistani police officers in as many days, the authorities said.

A local security official said the bombers — one in a vehicle and one on foot — attacked a police complex in the center of Bannu, in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province, and a police station nearby. News reports indicated that the second bomber struck as the authorities responded to the first explosion at the police compound.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (12 Feb 2010)

Afghanistan: Clear, Hold Build in Helmand

Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Feb. 12
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1266001813

Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (12 Feb 2010)

Governance at Forefront of Operation Moshtarak 
ISAF, Feb. 12
http://www.isaf.nato.int/en/article/news/governance-at-forefront-of-operation-moshtarak.html

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (17 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 17, 2010*

 Afghan Suicide Attacks Seen as Less Effective
By ROD NORDLAND Published: February 15, 2010
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban’s suicide bombers have been selling their lives cheaply of late.
 From Jan. 24 to Feb. 14, a total of 17 suicide bombers took aim at one coalition member after another but failed to kill any of them, according to a compilation of reports from Afghan police and military officials, and from the American-led International Security Assistance Force.

The latest failures were three suicide bombers who attacked an Afghan headquarters outside Marja on Sunday; local people reported them to the authorities, who shot them before they could set off their explosives, according to a spokesman for the Helmand Province governor.
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 Surging smartly: The Marines are rising to a risky challenge in Afghanistan
Editorials Wednesday, February 17th 2010
Article Link

In sere and savage southern Afghanistan, U.S. Marines have taken a remarkable step toward reclaiming the countryside from Taliban fighters.

The linkup of units of the 1st Battalion of the 6th Marines in the town of Marja was doubly impressive in that the military is going to extraordinary lengths to safeguard civilian lives while combatting an enemy that doesn't scruple at any bloody trick.

Deadly subterfuges and plentiful mines be damned, the Marines appear on the verge of securing the strategic heart of Helmand Province, a Taliban stronghold along the Pakistan border.

The struggle is not just for territory or to destroy enemy assets. U.S. strategy calls for creation of a viable government infrastructure that will protect ordinary citizens from the return of tyranny.

U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal has spoken of "government in a box," ready to be unpacked as a replacement for terrorist rule.
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 Afghanistan Taliban 'using human shields' - general 
Article Link

Taliban militants are increasingly using civilians as "human shields" as they battle against a joint Afghan-Nato offensive, an Afghan general has said.

Gen Mohiudin Ghori said his soldiers had seen Taliban fighters placing women and children on the roofs of buildings and firing from behind them.

The joint offensive in southern Helmand province has entered its fifth day.

US Marines fighting to take the Taliban haven of Marjah have had to call in air support as they come under heavy fire.

They have faced sustained machine-gun fire from fighters hiding in bunkers and in buildings including homes and mosques. 
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 A look at NATO combat rules in Afghanistan
By The Associated Press (AP) – 1 hour ago
Article Link
The basics on NATO rules of engagement for combat in Afghanistan:

___

THE RULES: Under new guidelines, NATO troops are not allowed to fire at the enemy without making a "positive identification" and seeing evidence "of hostile intent." In practice, that means they can't shoot if they don't see the enemy physically carrying a gun or they personally see him drop one.

Some troops say it handicaps their ability to fight because an insurgent firing from inside a house could then lay down his weapon and walk out unarmed without being shot at.

WHY THEY WERE CHANGED: It was public outrage in Afghanistan over civilian deaths that prompted the top NATO commander, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, last year to tighten the rules, including curbs on the use of airstrikes and other weaponry if civilians are at risk.
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 Taliban armory: Rocks, potshots and drawings
Article Link
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA (AP) – 12 hours ago

BADULA QULP, Afghanistan — The bullet made a zipping, or fizzing sound. American soldiers, relaxing beside their vehicles and backpacks without body armor or helmets, looked around, bewildered. A moment passed. Then another zip, fizz. And another.

"They're shooting at us," a soldier said incredulously. Laughing, giddy almost, they moved behind an armored vehicle that shielded them from the fields to the west. Somewhere out there, a sniper was trying to kill them. He was far enough away for the gunshot to be inaudible, or he may have been using a silencer.

The fight in southern Afghanistan between insurgents and NATO troops, along with Afghan forces still learning on the job, is not a conventional war. A lot of it is harassment, the deadly kind. The Taliban shoot, drop their weapons and walk off. They plant roadside bombs and disappear. They know that they will lose a head-on clash with Western firepower.

"We have all this great technology and everything," said U.S. Army Capt. Michael Kovalsky of Fords, New Jersey. "We overlook the little things like a piece of garbage in a tree," which is sometimes used by insurgents to mark the location of a bomb.

As U.S. Marines press the Taliban in a five-day-old offensive against their stronghold of Marjah, insurgents are resorting to tactics that worked for them against the Soviet Army in the 1980s. Or much further back. Alexander the Great, the British Empire — Afghanistan has known many invaders throughout history.
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 Canadians to be 'tip of the spear' in Kandahar
Article Link

By late spring or early summer, Canada will be at “the tip of the spear” of NATO's efforts in Afghanistan, leading a massive push in Kandahar province on the scale of this month's attacks in nearby Helmand, a top coalition soldier says.

Canadian Brigadier-General Craig King, the coalition's director of future plans in Afghanistan's volatile south, said allied forces and government agencies are preparing for an attack that will take place in the coming months, and draw largely from the playbook of this month's assault on Marjah and Nad Ali in Helmand in a bid to push the Taliban from restive pockets in Kandahar province.

“I think we need to be prepared that there's going to be an increase in activity in and around Kandahar. The Canadians are going to be very actively engaged in that, just as the marines and the British are right now in central Helmand,” said Gen. King, himself a Canadian.

“We are going to be, come the summer, the tip of the spear for Afghanistan here. [Fighting] is going to shift to Kandahar, and the Canadians are going to be, along with our American allies, right at the forefront of that spear.”
More on link


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## GAP (19 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 19, 2010*

 U.S. Marines airdropped into Taliban-held territory
Article Link

Elite Marine recon teams were dropped behind Taliban lines by helicopter Friday as the U.S.-led force stepped up operations to break resistance in the besieged insurgent stronghold of Marjah.

About two dozen Marines were inserted before dawn into an area where skilled Taliban marksmen are known to operate, an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

Other squads of Marines and Afghans, marching south in a bid to link up with Marine outposts there and expand their territory, came under sniper fire and rocket attacks by midday. The rattle of machine-gun fire and the thud of mortars echoed nearby.

The Marjah offensive, now in its seventh day, is the biggest since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and a test of President Barack Obama's strategy for reversing the rise of the Taliban while protecting civilians.

A NATO statement said troops were still meeting "some resistance" from insurgents who engage them in firefights, but homemade bombs remain the key threat to allied and Afghan forces.

Six coalition troops were killed Thursday, NATO said, making it the deadliest day since the offensive began. The death toll so far is 11 NATO troops and one Afghan soldier. Britain's Defense Ministry said two British soldiers were among those killed Thursday. 
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 Missile Kills Militant Commander’s Brother in Pakistan 
Article Link

A missile believed to have been fired Thursday from an American drone killed the younger brother of a top militant commander in the North Waziristan tribal area, according to several Pakistani security and intelligence officials, residents in Waziristan and a friend of the commander’s family.

The apparent target of the attack was Sirajuddin Haqqani, who the Americans say operates from his base in North Waziristan. He took over major responsibilities for the family’s militant network in recent months from his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who has been reported to be ill. The Americans blame the Haqqani network for helping plan the suicide bombing against the C.I.A. base in Afghanistan’s Khost Province last December, in which several C.I.A. operatives and a Jordanian intelligence officer were killed.

The brother, Mohammad Haqqani, was killed along with three others when their white station wagon was hit by a missile in Dande Darpakhel village of North Waziristan bordering Afghanistan. Americans believe that the commander, Sirajuddin Haqqani, is closely affiliated with Al Qaeda and that his force is the most potent one working against international forces in eastern and central Afghanistan. 
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 Military operation continues, reconstruction starts in southern Afghanistan
Article Link

The Operation Mashtarak, which means together in local language, which was launched to clear Marjah district in southern Helmand province of Taliban militants, entered its seventh day Friday while reconstruction have started.

The 15,000-strong Afghan-NATO joint forces have been meeting Tabiban resistance in Marjah, as improvised explosive devices (IED) remain the main threat to the combined force and intense small- arms engagements occur.

Afghan and British forces are pressing on with clearing operations in neighboring Nad Ali and South Bolan Desert districts, while Afghan and U.S. forces are clearing Marjah, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Friday in a press release.

The Afghan-U.S. joint force is reportedly meeting determined pockets of resistance in both the northern and eastern parts of Marjah town.
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 Weapons cache recovered in NE Afghanistan
Article Link

An Afghan-international patrol has seized a weapons cache in the country's northeastern Nuristan province, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Friday.

The NATO force said in a press release that the cache, which was recovered in Nurgaram district of the province late on Thursday, consisted of 12 107mm rockets and two rocket-propelled grenades.

On Thursday, a civilian informed an Afghan-NATO joint patrol of another weapons cache buried in a field in Garm Ser district of the southern Helmand province.

The patrol recovered the cache containing 22 mortar rounds. 
end

 In Afghanistan, Marines handling detainees by the book
Article Link

The three men were blindfolded, their hands bound in front of them with plastic flex cuffs, and each was in the firm grip of a Marine. Their loose-fitting clothes were faded and dusty, their thick beards beginning to show gray.

They had been spotted outside the town of Marja in southern Afghanistan carrying a shovel near a spot where a roadside bomb had been planted. They had a suspiciously large amount of cash, and two of them had tested positive for explosive material on their hands.

So the Marines brought them to this outpost of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. From here, the men will be taken to battalion headquarters.

It's a common scene throughout Helmand province: Marines, a bit like cops on the beat, returning from patrol with detainees to be questioned and possibly transferred to the Afghan national police or the holding area at the battalion headquarters, Forward Operating Base Geronimo.

The Marines have been warned: Any rough treatment or even harsh language aimed at a detainee is forbidden. When making an arrest, they are instructed to ask their subject if he will voluntarily go with them.

"We don't want any of our Marines to make a scene," said Capt. Yuri Paredes, commander of the battalion's Alpha Company. "People will think we're degrading them."
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 The conversion of Gen. Jim Jones
Article Link

Every day seems to bring new reports of U.S.-Pakistani success in the war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and the degree of cooperation is converting skeptics within the Obama administration who had doubted Pakistan’s commitment as an ally.

A measure of the administration’s growing confidence in Pakistan is the attitude of national security adviser James Jones. Three months ago, Jones remained uncertain about Pakistan’s willingness to collaborate fully. This concern was reflected in a tough letter from President Obama to the Pakistani leadership in November, warning that its links with insurgent groups operating in Afghanistan “cannot continue.” The letter named five extremist groups with which the U.S. believed the Pakistanis had maintained intelligence links in the past.

But after returning from a three-day trip to Pakistan last week, Jones appears convinced that the military and civilian leadership in Islamabad has turned a corner. “I came back encouraged,” Jones said in a telephone interview. “The degree of trust and confidence between the Pakistani government and military and the United States is changing in a favorable way.”

Jones traveled widely in Pakistan on his trip, visiting Pakistani army units that fought the Taliban last year in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan. He also visited the Frontier Corps, a constabulary force being trained by U.S. Special Forces at a base near Peshawar, which is a key part of Pakistan’s strategy for maintaining future security in the tribal areas. These visits convinced him that the Pakistanis are fighting aggressively and pushing the limits of their capabilities. 
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 Dutch Parliament Debates Afghanistan 
Article Link

An election promise to pull Dutch troops out of Afghanistan by the end of 2010 threatens to topple the Netherlands' coalition government and undermine the U.S. mission as the Pentagon steps up operations against the Taliban.

Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos, leader of the left-leaning Labor Party, campaigned in 2007 on a pledge to bring home Dutch forces and on Thursday he reaffirmed that promise, putting him at odds with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and with the prime and foreign ministers of his own three-party ruling coalition. A Dutch withdrawal would be a blow to the Obama administration which has worked hard to persuade European nations to maintain—and ideally expand—their troop commitments to Afghanistan.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan–Peter Balkenende and Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, whose Christian Democrat Party is to the right of Mr. Bos, have staked their political future on a position that the troops must stay, even if in a reduced role.

Since the start of Dutch operations there in 2006, 21 of their soldiers have died, watering down public support for the mission. Recent opinion polls, as well as the Dutch Parliament, favor withdrawal.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen sent the Dutch government a formal letter on Feb. 10 asking that Dutch troops be assigned to a mission to train security forces in an area called Uruzghan, in central Afghanistan, until August 2011. Mr. Rasmussen's request was meant as a peace offering to mollify Dutch public opinion, say NATO officials. He sent letters to most of the NATO coalition's 43 partners, they say. At the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, the Dutch force of roughly 1,550 is regarded as a small, yet key, asset. 
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## George Wallace (21 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 20, 2010*

 Afghan war debate brings down Dutch government
CTV.ca News 

Article Link

*A parliamentary dispute about the future of the mission in Afghanistan has led to the collapse of the Dutch government, leaving its 1,600 troops in the war-torn country with an uncertain future.*

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said Saturday that the second-biggest member of his uneasy, three-party coalition had backed out. 

"Where there is no trust, it is difficult to work together. There is no road along which this cabinet can go further," Balkenende said.

Until an election, Balkenende's centre-right Christian Democratic Alliance party will hold only 47 seats out of 150. 

It plans to operate as a caretaker government in the interim and an election could take place as early as May. 

Before an election can be set, the ministers must formally resign to Queen Beatrix, who is the formal Dutch head of state. It is expected the resignation will occur when Beatrix returns from a ski holiday in Austria.

If the Dutch leave Afghanistan, it would come as NATO struggles to fill a quota of 10,000 additional troops. The troop increase from NATO follows a surge of 30,000 U.S. soldiers.

However, the Dutch collapse could be a harbinger for other European countries, who have been grappling with both economic uncertainty and a drop in public support for the war effort.

Still, NATO had hoped that the Dutch would remain in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, where they have been stationed since 2006.

Their initial two-year mission was extended to next August. Twenty-one Dutch troops have died since rotations began.

Balkenende had been pushing for a small force to stay in the country after the withdrawal deadline, but his Labour partners demanded that the government stick to its initial plan to leave in 2011.

"A plan was agreed to when our soldiers went to Afghanistan," said Labor Party leader Wouter Bos. "Our partners in the government didn't want to stick to that plan, and on the basis of their refusal, we have decided to resign."

Balkenende and Bos, who is the finance minister, had been at odds for weeks about the deployment. The prime minister said that pulling out of Afghanistan would damage the country's reputation and soften the resolve of other NATO nations.

Canada also plans to pull its 2,800 troops out of Afghanistan by the end of next year.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been pushing for a longer commitment from the Dutch.

In particular, he had hoped that the nation would maintain a reconstruction and transition team to help the local forces assume command.

Polls have suggested that support for the Afghan war in the Netherlands continues to plummet.


With files from The Associated Press


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## GAP (22 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 22, 2010*

Dutch government collapse: Will other European troops now leave Afghanistan?
Article Link

The collapse of the Dutch government this weekend, largely over keeping Dutch troops in Afghanistan, threatens to undermine the NATO mission in the central Asian nation. And, it may signal tougher political climes ahead for other European leaders supporting a troop presence in Afghanistan.

The Dutch pullout, scheduled for August, comes at a time when NATO is undertaking a key offensive in Marjah and implementing a “hearts and minds” plan coordinated by the US administration.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende met today with Queen Beatrix at the Hague, following the collapse Saturday of his ruling coalition. The government – Mr. Balkenende's fourth – broke up after the liberals would not accept Dutch troops in Afghanistan beyond an August deadline. Now, the 2,000-strong Dutch contingent of troops will withdraw as scheduled from Afghanistan's Uruzgan region.

The Dutch collapse brings concern of a domino effect: Can European leaders, who have been out in front of their publics on Afghanistan, continue anteing up – or will this withdrawal further sap a flagging political will across Europe for the mission?
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 Dutch to leave Kandahar vulnerable
Article Link

With the collapse of the Dutch government this weekend, its 1,600 soldiers are set to be withdrawn from the Taliban-ridden Afghan south shortly before Canada's 2,800 troops leave, creating a dangerous military vacuum there, the Prime Minister warned.

Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, said the collapse of his conservative-social democrat coalition government over the issue of Afghan troop withdrawals means that Dutch troops will begin withdrawing from Uruzgan province in August.

That had been the promised departure date, agreed upon by Mr. Balkenende's conservative Christian Democrats and their coalition partners, the left-leaning Labour Party, when they formed a government together in 2007. But his desire to keep some troops in place longer, in a reduced fighting capacity, put him at odds with his partners who are committed to withdrawal, leading to the government's fall in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The crisis began when North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen formally asked the Netherlands to consider a later date, apparently at the bidding of Mr. Balkenende. A disagreement over the response led to an all-night parliamentary debate, the withdrawal of Labour from the government and its collapse, requiring new elections before May.
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 Petraeus foresees heavy casualties in Afghanistan war
Article Link
Monday, February 22, 2010 AFGHANISTAN WAR 
Petraeus foresees heavy casualties

Predicting that the level of U.S. casualties in the fight to win control of the southern Afghan town of Marja will be "tough" to bear, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said Sunday that the assault is just the beginning of a 12-to-18-month campaign to wipe out havens for the Taliban and other Islamist militants.

"These types of efforts are hard, and they're hard all the time," Petraeus said. "I don't use words like 'optimist' or 'pessimist.' I use 'realist.' . . . We're in Afghanistan to ensure it cannot once again be a sanctuary for the kinds of attacks that were carried out on 9/11." 
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 General Stanley McChrystal puts focus on Afghan province of Kandahar
Article Link

The volatile Afghan province of Kandahar will be the next focus of the new, more sensitive approach to fighting the Taleban, the top US commander in the country has said.

US and British forces are implementing an Afghan-led strategy in an offensive launched ten days ago in neighbouring Helmand province, according to General Stanley McChrystal. He told reporters that those tactics would form the basic model for future operations.

Asked where the future trouble spots would lie in a country in which Taleban influence remains a threat, he said: “We are going to go to where significant parts of the population are at risk — and Kandahar is clearly very, very important, not just to the south but to the nation.”

Kandahar City, the capital of the province, was once the Taleban’s centre of power and it maintains a grip on key districts around the city.
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 Petraeus: Troops may not care if gay ban repealed
By ANNE GEARAN The Associated Press Sunday, February 21, 2010; 10:23 AM
Article Link

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. commander overseeing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan says he's not sure that troops in the field care about the sexual orientation of fellow service members.

Gen. David Petraeus (peh-TRAY'-uhs) says he's served alongside gays and lesbians, and what matters are someone's skills and smarts.

Petraeus tells NBC's "Meet The Press" that he supports Defense Secretary Robert Gates' plan to study how the ban could be repealed. Advocates for a quick repeal have said the yearlong review is a stalling tactic. But Petraeus says it's a good idea to look at potential problems. 
More on link


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## GAP (23 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 23, 2010*

 Afghan Warlord With Many Enemies, and Possibly One Notorious Ally, Killed by Suicide Bomber 
Article Link

Hajji Zaman Ghamsharik, the Afghan warlord accused of helping Osama bin Laden escape from the Americans at Tora Bora, had so many enemies that his assassination on Monday came as no particular surprise.

 What was a surprise was the manner of Hajji Zaman’s death: by a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest, who killed him and 14 others as they gathered at a ceremony to distribute land to returning refugees at a village in his tribal stomping grounds near the eastern city of Jalalabad.

His enemies were not just the ideological kind. There was also a blood feud between him and the family of another warlord, which blamed Hajji Zaman for his assassination in 2002. There were rivals to his large and powerful Khugiani tribe in Nangahar Province, and rivals within the tribe. And there were furious American Special Forces and C.I.A. operatives who believed he was a mercenary who took money to join the fight against Al Qaeda but then helping arrange Mr. bin Laden’s escape.
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 10 killed in attacks in Afghanistan
February 23, 2010
Article Link

en people were killed in separate motorcycle bomb attacks in Afghanistan Tuesday morning, government officials said.

One bombing occurred in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor. The explosive device, that was concealed on a bicycle, exploded in a bus station. A woman and child were among the eight killed and 16 wounded, Ahmadi said.

The attack occurred in the same province where NATO troops have launched an offensive against the Taliban. Ahmadi said the attack could have been related to military offensive in Marjah, about 15 miles to the southwest of Lashkar Gah.

"The enemy want to distract attention away from Marjah where they have been defeated," the governor's spokesman said.
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 Post-Afghanistan armed forces will need new roles -- and money
 By Don Martin, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 23, 2010
Article Link

Thousands of Canadian soldiers now simulating Kandahar combat in the California desert have had their fresh meals reduced to twice daily while bottled water is replaced by tanker truck fill-ups.

This is not to experience civilian life in poverty-stricken Afghanistan.

It is, at least partially, military conditioning for an oncoming budget squeeze.

Now, before images jump to mind of malnourished soldiers weakly staggering around the airfield pleading for boxed rations, they still have access to plenty of snack food. And phasing out bottled water has as much to do with environmental considerations -- plastic bottles, very bad -- as it does cost savings.

But a military that enjoyed a 57 -per-cent surge in funding over five years is suddenly preparing to fight against restraint as the government's $56-billion deficit-elimination project moves onto the Conservative agenda.
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 NATO commander apologizes to Afghans for air strike
Article Link

CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Tuesday Feb. 23, 2010 8:18 AM ET

The top NATO commander in Afghanistan has apologized to Afghans for a deadly air strike that claimed civilian lives, the latest sign that coalition forces are committed to winning the trust of the Afghan people as well as the war on the ground.

U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal has released a video apology to the Afghan people in which he promises to win back their confidence and to institute changes to prevent such unintended fatalities in the future.

"I pledge to strengthen our efforts to regain your trust to build a brighter future for all Afghans," McChrystal said in the video released through a NATO website on Tuesday.

"I have instituted a thorough investigation to prevent this from happening again," he added.

The air strike took place in Uruzgan province on Sunday, when NATO jets attacked a convoy of cars thought to be a group of insurgents. According to Afghan Interior Ministry spokesperson Zemeri Bashsary, the NATO attack hit three minibuses that were travelling along a road that is situated near the border between Uruzgan and Day Kundi provinces. Afghan officials say at least 21 people died in the attack, though the Afghan cabinet had reported that 27 people had been killed.

It was the deadliest NATO incident involving civilians since a German-ordered air strike killed dozens near the northern town of Kunduz last September. 
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 Gates: Europe's demilitarization has gone too far
Article Link

By ROBERT BURNS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, February 23, 2010; 8:48 AM

WASHINGTON -- Europeans' aversion to military force is limiting NATO's ability to fight wars effectively, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday.

In remarks to a forum on rewriting the basic mission plan for the NATO alliance, Gates called for far-reaching reforms in an organization that was created 61 years ago as a political and military bulwark against the former Soviet Union and its Red Army.

The early successes of NATO in averting post-World War II eruptions of European conflict have led to a new set of concerns, Gates said.

"The demilitarization of Europe - where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it - has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st," he told an audience filled with uniformed military officers from many of NATO's 28 member countries. 
More on link


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## GAP (24 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 24, 2010*

 NATO to Add to Police and Army Trainers in Afghanistan
Article Link
NATO spokesman says the alliance hopes to secure pledges of 2,000 or more personnel to train the Afghan army and police
Lisa Bryant | Paris 23 February 2010 

NATO members and allies are meeting in the Belgium town of Mons to try to boost the number of police and army trainers in Afghanistan.  

The meeting in Mons, Belgium is being held as NATO forces are involved in a key operation in the southern Afghanistan Taliban stronghold of Marjah, trying to rout out the insurgency and establish a local government.  

But the NATO operation is deeply unpopular among the European public. On Saturday, the Netherlands government fell over the issue of extending the presence in Afghanistan of roughly 2,000 Dutch troops.

NATO spokesman Colonel Gregory Julian says during the one-day meeting in Mons the alliance hopes to secure pledges of 2,000 or more personnel to train the Afghan army and police.  

"It is an individual decision of each of the nations and we have been very pleased with all the contributions," Julian said. "And we are still encouraging additional contributions and that is what this process is all about."
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 Despite Taliban activity in Helmand, NATO won't alter Kandahar plans 
Article Link
Josh Wingrove

Kandahar, Afghanistan — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 7:22PM EST Last updated on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 9:25AM EST

Although the publicity-heavy military strategy NATO adopted ahead of its ongoing offensive in Helmand province allowed the Taliban time to plant “hundreds” of makeshift bombs that are slowing troop progress, a similar operation planned in Canadian-led Kandahar province will largely use the same tactic, its commander says.

The Canadian commander of the coalition's Task Force Kandahar, Brigadier-General Daniel Ménard, said troops in Helmand have come across about 400 or 500 of the improvised explosive devices in 10 days since the start of the big attack, dubbed Operation Moshtarak.

“The IED capability of the insurgents remains very real,” Brig.-Gen. Ménard said, hours after the coalition declared in a statement that the improvise explosive devices “remain the greatest threat to security forces.”

Asked about comments from another regional commander, who said last week that IED finds were only in the “dozens,” Brig.-Gen. Ménard said they were “for sure” in the hundreds. The result was not unexpected, and has not swayed Brig-Gen. Ménard, who suggested the soldiers in Kandahar – including the bulk of the Canadian troops in the country – will be able to learn from what their peers have seen in Helmand.
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 Afghan: US bomb squad on the frontlines
Article Link

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 24, 2010; 12:49 AM

BADULA QULP, Afghanistan -- Staff. Sgt. Joshua Rickert hasn't just seen "The Hurt Locker," the award-winning film about an American bomb disposal squad in Iraq. He's living it - in Afghanistan.

Rickert and his team work for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal, or EOD, unit of the U.S. Air Force. Soldiers summon these men by radio when they find concealed bombs, a deadly threat to NATO forces fighting the Taliban. On Tuesday, Rickert's metal detector squealed when he ran it over a patch of earth at a chokepoint between two mud walls, a natural avenue where troops on patrol might choose to walk.

It was an IED, or improvised explosive device. Rickert saw parts of it poking above the soil. 
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 Soldiers back from Haiti to train for Afghanistan
Article Link
 By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 24, 2010

Soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment will have only two weeks before they have to switch their focus from providing emergency relief in Haiti to intensive combat training for a tour in Afghanistan, the commander of all Canadian troops overseas says.

"There are not exact day-to-day timelines, but unless there is direction from the government through the chief of defence staff, we are leaving Haiti," Lt.-Gen. Marc Lessard said Tuesday at the end of a brief visit with troops in Kandahar.

The returning soldiers will have "two good weeks of leave" in Canada in April before they begin preparing for their deployment to the south Asia country where 140 Canadian soldiers have died since 2002.

Although most soldiers in Haiti will be leaving over the next few weeks, there is no specific timeline because their departure is linked to the arrival of non-governmental organizations to run what is now a military field hospital.
end

 Tough road ahead once Afghan assault over
Article Link
By Sardar Ahmad (AFP) – 12 hours ago

QARI SAHEB, Afghanistan — Until 10 days ago Afghan farmer Mohammad Omar lived a simple life under the Taliban and says he had no complaints about security as his poppy fields flourished.

Now his village has been overrun by foreign and Afghan troops who are waging a major assault against Taliban insurgents in one of their last bastions in the opium-producing southern province of Helmand. And Omar is worried.

The turbaned farmer, aged in his 40s, said that with the departure of the militants, who for two years ran this corner of the central Helmand River valley, his future and that of his illicit crop is uncertain.

"The Taliban spent two years in our village," he told AFP as he stood in the wintery sun of Qari Saheb village in Nad Ali.

"Security was perfect under the Taliban. No one could steal and if they did the Taliban would punish him right away."

What alternative does the Afghan government have to offer, he wonders.

As 15,000 US, NATO and Afghan troops fight to consolidate control over Marjah and Nad Ali in their largest offensive in the more than eight years of war, the bigger battle will be for the trust of residents.

"This operation is not about killing so many Taliban," Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said as the offensive was launched on February 13.

"It's to separate the people from insurgents, expand governance and provide the grounds for reconstruction projects."
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (25 Feb 2010)

ARTICLES FOUND FEB. 25

Flag Raised, Marjah Reaches Tipping Point 
_Wall St. Journal_, Feb. 25
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704479404575087130438369098.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEADNewsCollection



> MARJAH, Afghanistan—Afghan officials unfurled the country's green, red and black flag over the new government offices, further evidence that U.S. and Afghan troops have reached a tipping point in the 13-day-old offensive to reclaim this town from the Taliban.
> 
> Ghulab Mangal, governor of restive Helmand Province, and Brig. Gen. Shir Mohammed Zarzai, commander of the Afghan army's 205th Corps, described Thursday's flag-raising as symbolizing the Kabul government's return to Marjah – and its promise to rule more honestly than it did before the Taliban took control two years ago.
> 
> ...



Mark

Ottawa


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## GAP (26 Feb 2010)

*Articles found February 26, 2010*

 Afghan mission and broader role for military divide Germany
By Marcus Klöckner, Stars and Stripes
Online Edition, Friday, February 26, 2010
Article Link

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — When Germany first agreed to send soldiers to Afghanistan in 2002, politicians called it a “stabilization mission.”

After the first German soldiers died in the fighting, they started calling it a “robust stabilization mission.”

And after German officers ordered a U.S. airstrike in northern Afghanistan last September that killed at least 140 people, including civilians, the defense minister offered yet another description of the conflict: a “warlike situation.”

For Germany, Afghanistan is a war by any other name. And the nation’s participation in the conflict is prompting soul-searching by a people who are perpetually repenting for having launched two world wars.

“We are dealing with a society that lost two big wars,” said Hans-Georg Ehrhart, an analyst with the Institute for Peace and Security Studies, a think tank in Hamburg. “We are dealing with a society that in the aftermath of World War II was re-educated, a society that was told over and over again how bad a war is, and now this society [is being told it] should greatly approve if their soldiers get involved in combat situations,”

Germany has the third-largest foreign presence in Afghanistan. A total of 34 German soldiers have died in combat.

On Friday, the German parliament approved Chancellor Angela Merkel’s request for 850 more soldiers, raising the maximum number allowed to serve in Afghanistan from 4,500 to 5,350.

But the proceedings were not without drama; the Left party protested, holding up placards with the names of people killed in the Kunduz bombing.

Party members were initially sent out of the debate before being allowed to return and cast their votes.
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 Deadly Attacks in Kabul Strike at Foreigners in Guesthouses
Article Link

KABUL, Afghanistan — At least 18 people, including French, Italian, Afghan and many Indian nationals, were killed on Friday in suicide and car bomb attacks on two guesthouses popular with foreigners in the center of Kabul, police officials said.

In a telephone interview, a Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attacks, which coincided with a major offensive by American-led coalition forces against militants in the southern province of Helmand, a central element in President Obama’s strategy in rural Afghanistan.

In one attack, a car bomb exploded outside a guesthouse popular with Indians, while suicide bombers were among a team that stormed another guesthouse frequented by Westerners, starting a firefight with security forces that lasted more than 90 minutes.

In New Delhi, India’s Ministry of External Affairs, citing preliminary information from the Afghan authorities, said “up to nine Indians,” including government officials, had been killed. More than 30 people were reported to have been wounded.

The ministry called the assault a “heinous terrorist attack” following two other attacks on Indians in Kabul in the past 20 months. 
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 Can Afghanistan Taliban absorb blow to Quetta Shura?
Article Link
By Anand Gopal Correspondent / February 25, 2010 Kabul, Afghanistan

The Afghanistan Taliban is under pressure with 7 of 15 members of its top leadership council, the Quetta Shura, recently arrested. But still in place are senior leaders who might step up and other senior Taliban councils responsible for different parts of the country.

 The Afghan Taliban now faces what may be its biggest test in recent years, with 7 of 15 members of its leadership council, the Quetta Shura, recently captured by Pakistani authorities. 

From its perch in Pakistan, the Quetta Shura is said to act as a nerve center for all of the Afghan Taliban’s operations, formulating military and political strategy, appointing field commanders, and managing a shadow government.

Yet still in tact are a roster of experienced leaders who can take their arrested comrades’ place as well as several subcommittees that each oversee sections of the country.

This report on the Taliban’s leadership structure is based on interviews with two Taliban figures who claim to belong to the council and with Afghan intelligence officials.
A wide-reaching organization

The Quetta Shura is described as assigning and replacing field commanders in Afghanistan, overseeing the Taliban’s parallel government in Afghanistan, and fielding complaints from Taliban members. In some cases the Taliban’s control over some parts of Afghanistan is so strong that nongovernmental organizations working there – such as the United Nation’s World Food Program – have first sought permission from the Quetta Shura to enter the region. 
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 Officials: Taliban leader killed by missile strike
Article Link

By ROHAN SULLIVAN
The Associated Press
Thursday, February 25, 2010; 1:39 PM

ISLAMABAD -- A Taliban commander wanted in the deadly 2006 bombing of the U.S. consulate in Karachi was killed in a suspected CIA missile strike in northwest Pakistan, officials said Thursday - the latest blow in a crackdown on militants in the region.

Mohammed Qari Zafar was among at least 13 people killed Wednesday when three missiles slammed into a compound and a vehicle in the Dargah Mandi area of the North Waziristan tribal region on the border with Afghanistan, two Pakistani intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

It was the latest strike in an intensified U.S. campaign to take out Taliban and al-Qaida leaders believed to be sheltering in the lawless border region with missiles fired from unmanned drone aircraft. At the same time, Pakistani intelligence forces have cracked down on Afghan Taliban in the country, arresting more than a dozen top leaders in the past few weeks.

The increased pressure on the Taliban in Pakistan comes as U.S.-led forces are fighting their biggest offensive of the eight-year-old war in neighboring Afghanistan in what Western official are hoping will be a turning point in the conflict. 
More on link

 Life-saving Labrador awarded medal
Article Link

A black Labrador which sniffed out bombs in southern Afghanistan has been awarded the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross - called the Dickin medal.

The eight-year-old 'Treo' twice found hidden bombs while on tour in Afghanistan with the 104 Military Working Dog Support Unit.

He is now retired and living with his handler, Sergeant David Heyhoe.

Owen Bennett-Jones asked him if Treo might have preferred a hot steak to a medal?

So why do people award medals to animals?

Clinical psychologist Oliver James says human beings have a powerful desire to bestow human attributes on animals.
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## MarkOttawa (26 Feb 2010)

Afghan army improving, not ready to go it alone
AP, Feb. 25
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225/ap_on_re_as/as_afghan_army



> MARJAH, Afghanistan – When U.S. Marines find suspicious powder that could be made into a bomb, they probe it with sophisticated tests. Afghan soldiers have their own method — they taste it.
> 
> The operation against the Taliban in Marjah has been a major trial for the Afghan military, showing the army is still far from capable of operating on its own. But its soldiers appear to be improving — even if they don't always do things by the book.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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