# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread August 2009



## GAP (31 Jul 2009)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread August 2009  *               

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


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## GAP (1 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 1, 2009*


 Small unit left to fend for itself in Afghanistan  
Article Link
By HAL BERNTON and CHERYL PHILLIPS The Seattle Times

In the days before one of the fiercest battles in America's eight-year war in Afghanistan, Army Capt. Benjamin Pry argued for more surveillance flights to help his beleaguered unit of fewer than 50 soldiers.

Since moving into a new outpost on July 8, 2008, they had struggled with shortages of water, fuel, food and heavy machinery to help defend against an enemy attack that they believed would eventually come. Lacking excavating equipment, the troops dug fortifications by scraping the rocky soil with spades and bare hands.

Then on July 12, headquarters commanders diverted drones - remotely operated planes outfitted with cameras to spot enemy movements - to another area. Pry argued so hard to undo that decision that he said he breached professional etiquette. Still, he was unsuccessful.

"We had no support from brigade, division or theater level assets at the time," Pry told Army historians in a study obtained by The Seattle Times.

That study, written by historian Douglas Cubbison of the U.S. Army Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., documented missteps that preceded some of the bloodiest combat to date for American troops in the Afghanistan war.

Early in the morning of July 13, the outpost at the village of Wanat came under assault from some 200 enemy troops. The attack claimed the lives of nine Army soldiers - including Cpl. Jason Bogar, 25, of Seattle - and wounded 27 others, precipitating the withdrawal of U.S. troops from a valley in eastern Afghanistan.
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 Take back KBR bonuses, senators urge Pentagon  
updated 7:42 p.m. EDT, Fri July 31, 2009
Article Link

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two Democratic senators called on the Pentagon to take back more than $83 million in bonuses paid to military contractor KBR after a Defense Department report criticized its electrical work on U.S. bases overseas.

"I want them to tell us on what basis can they possibly continue to justify having paid $83 million of the taxpayers' money for shoddy work that resulted in risk to our soldiers," Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota told reporters Friday.

Dorgan said he and Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania are pressing Defense Department officials to reclaim $83.4 million in bonus payments it awarded KBR for its work in Iraq.

Based on the findings of a report issued Monday by the Defense Department's inspector general on the electrocution deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq, Casey said the Pentagon should fine KBR and "make it hurt and make it count."

"These are just absolutely stunning conclusions about failures by KBR as well as failures by our government," Casey said.

The Houston,Texas-based military contractor defended its performance, saying Friday that Dorgan and Casey "are wrong in their assertion that we have been derelict in our duties to protect the troops."

"The safety and security of all employees and those the company serves remains KBR's top priority," KBR spokeswoman Sarah Engdahl said in a statement.
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## CougarKing (1 Aug 2009)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090801/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan



> 1 French, 3 American troops killed in Afghanistan
> Fisnik Abrashi, Associated Press Writer – 35 mins ago
> KABUL – Three U.S. troops were killed Saturday when roadside bombs ripped through their patrol in southern Afghanistan, while a French soldier died in a gunbattle north of the capital, officials said.
> 
> ...


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## GAP (2 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 2, 2009*

 Afghanistan Goes Digital With Link to Internet
The Link to the Internet Will Bring More Opportunities, But Security Has Slowed Its Progress
By BEN ARNOLDY KABUL, Afghanistan, August 1, 2009  
Article Link

New underground wires in Afghanistan carry bits and bytes, not bomb blasts. The fiber-optic cables run to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, linking Afghanistan by land to the global Internet for the first time. 

Until last month, most Afghans could only surf the Web through satellite links to other nations. That's expensive, stunting Internet penetration to just 3 percent of the Afghan population. 

Afghan officials say the country's expanding fiber-optic network will drive down prices for Internet services dramatically, extending access to ordinary Afghans and potentially expanding business and educational opportunities in a country where both are in short supply. 
End

 UK in Afghanistan for decades, says our man in Washington
Diplomat's warning comes as MPs say Britain has lost sight of its original security objectives
By Brian Brady and Jane Merrick Sunday, 2 August 2009
Article Link

Britain must concentrate all its efforts on the military campaign to conquer the Taliban as its attempts to achieve a wide-ranging "rescue" of Afghanistan have failed miserably, an influential committee of MPs warns today.

A report on the Afghan campaign from the Foreign Affairs Committee claims that British politicians have allowed "mission creep" to interfere with the original objectives set eight years ago, but they have still failed to pull off wider goals including stamping out the opium trade. Instead, the MPs insist, the UK should target its resources on "one priority, namely security" and allow the international community to spearhead the broader effort to rebuild Afghanistan.

The dismal verdict on the UK's all-round performance in Afghanistan came as Britain's most senior diplomat warned that Britain's involvement in the country will last for "decades". Sir Nigel Sheinwald, British ambassador to Washington, painted a bleak future for British forces in the week that the Panther's Claw operation in Helmand was declared a success. In an intervention laying out the longest official timetable yet seen for Britain's commitment to Afghanistan, he predicted that the tide would turn against the Taliban "over the next year or so" rather than in a matter of weeks.
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 Dannatt called for Challenger tanks two years ago
By Andrew Johnson Sunday, 2 August 2009
Article Link

The head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, asked the Ministry of Defence to deploy Challenger Two tanks – acknowledged as one of the best weapons in Britain's armoury – in Afghanistan two years ago, military sources have claimed. Despite his request, the Government decided the terrain in Afghanistan was not suitable for the Challenger. 

It has also emerged that a scheme launched in March last year to provide more helicopters to Afghanistan will result in just three being sent to help hard-pushed British troops, but not until the end of this year.
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 Pashtun ethnic agenda at heart of Afghan war
By KATHY GANNON (AP) – 19 hours ago
Article Link

KABUL — In a recent debate leading up to the presidential elections here, the first question was not about terrorism, or violence, or even opium. It was about how candidates viewed a jagged line casually drawn on a map 115 years ago by British colonial rulers.

For the West, this border separates Afghanistan from Pakistan, and it is a source of great frustration that neither country seems able or even willing to enforce it. But for many Pashtuns, the most powerful ethnic tribe here, the line runs through what they call "Pashtunistan" and is no more legitimate than the border that once divided East and West Germany.

The Pashtuns and their ethnic agenda are in many ways at the center of the upcoming elections and the armed conflicts in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Like the Pashtun-dominated Taliban, many Pashtuns who have not taken up arms still share the dream of a united Pashtunistan. This dream grows stronger as the Pashtuns on both sides of the border get more disgruntled.

If the Pashtuns vote in large numbers in the Aug. 20 election, it will help current president Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun. If their turnout is low, possibly because of violence or Taliban threats, his rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, stands a better chance. Although half-Pashtun, Abdullah is identified with the ethnic Tajiks, and some analysts are concerned that Pashtuns would not accept his victory.
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## CougarKing (3 Aug 2009)

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090802/world/international_us_afghanistan



> Five foreign troops killed in Afghanistan
> 
> Sun Aug 2, 9:29 AM
> 
> ...


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## GAP (4 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 4, 2009*

 Rocket attacks on Afghan capital, a red alert for NATO   
 www.chinaview.cn  2009-08-04 20:05:21 by Abdul Haleem 
Article Link

    KABUL, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- After years of living in peace, the residents of Afghan capital Kabul were shocked in bed as seven rockets fired by militants hit residential areas early Tuesday morning. 

    The rockets, which according to Interior Ministry, wounded at least two civilians and were fired from Deh Sabz area, some 15 km north of capital city, speak of influencing Taliban clouting at the gates of war-torn capital while the country is going towards elections. 

    This is the first time after almost one year that the fortified Afghan capital came under rocket attacks reminding the bitter factional fighting decades ago. 

    Situated between Kabul and Bagram, the headquarters of U.S.-led Coalition forces in Afghanistan, Deh Sabz's muddy hilltops are often frequented by U.S. military convoys. 

    Bagram, 50 km north of Kabul, has several times come under Taliban attacks but Tuesday morning's rocket attacks can be interpreted as a warning shoot ahead of August 20 presidential election. 
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Uzbekistan Raps Plan For New Russia Military Base 
By REUTERS Filed at 3:29 a.m. ET  August 4, 2009
Article Link


ALMATY (Reuters) - Russia's plan to open a second military base in Kyrgyzstan would destabilise the wider Central Asian region, Uzbekistan said late on Monday, exposing fresh divisions between Moscow and its ex-Soviet allies.

Kyrgyzstan this month gave the go-ahead to Moscow's second base on its territory, close to the southern border with Uzbekistan. The country had earlier told the United States it could keep open its own military air base in the country.

"Uzbekistan sees no necessity... in implementing the plans to place an additional group of Russian military forces in Kyrgyzstan's south," Jahon news agency, run by Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry, wrote.

It said the Russian military presence could provoke further "militarisation" and ethnic conflicts. It could also lead to a resurgence of "radical extremist" forces who may destabilise the situation in the whole region, Jahon said.

In May, Uzbekistan blamed Islamist rebels for attacks in the town of Khanabad, close to the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border, that killed one policeman. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- which borders Afghanistan -- have also reported a string of gun fights with what they called militants linked to the Taliban.
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 Local pinup project aims to boost military morale
Photo shoots have been held in London, Chatham and Kitchener
By JOHN MINER
Article Link

The photographs of smiling women holding wrenches, rolling tires or showering with strategically located soap suds have already made it to the front lines with Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. 

Londoner Jennifer Merriam would like to send reinforcements. 

"It is supposed to be a morale booster for them," said Merriam. 

Two years ago, Merriam teamed up with Donna and Bryce Giroux to launch Pin Ups for Troops, an idea adapted from a Facebook project started by a woman in Alberta. 

The trio thought many soldiers wouldn't have access to the social networking site, so they created postcard-size photos that resemble pinup pictures popular in the Second World War. 

Photo shoots have been held in London, Chatham and Kitchener. The latest session in Kitchener was for male models only. 

"There are ladies in the troops, so we are trying to cover all the bases. We are not trying to be biased against anybody," said Donna Giroux. 

The group has shipped more than 3,000 postcards to troops in Afghanistan. They've received back photos of soldiers with the postcards on their helmets and armoured vehicles. 

To raise money so they can print and send more postcard packages, the London pinup project is holding a burlesque show Aug. 15 at Call the Office. Seven performers have signed up. 

"We are looking at a traditional-style burlesque rather than more modern burlesque. More modern burlesque is just glorified strip-tease," said Bryce Giroux. 
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 Soldier court-martialled for Afghanistan refusal
(AFP) – 1 day ago
Article Link

LONDON — A soldier faced his court-martial Monday for refusing to return to Afghanistan as the armed forces minister insisted that the fight against the Taliban was improving Afghan lives.

Lance Corporal Joe Glenton, from the Royal Logistic Corps, is the first soldier to have very publicly deserted rather than take up arms again in Afghanistan.

His trial comes as the surging British death toll in Afghanistan raises questions about Britain's involvement in the conflict.

Glenton wore military fatigues for a preliminary hearing at a military court in Bulford Camp near Salisbury in southwest England. His lawyer indicated that he would plead not guilty.

Judge Advocate Alastair McGrigor adjourned the case for another preliminary hearing on September 4. Glenton faces a maximum of two years' imprisonment.

The lance corporal, who did not speak at the hearing, was to return to duties with his regiment.

The 27-year-old on Thursday handed in a letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office calling for troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan, saying Britain's mission there would fail.
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## The Bread Guy (5 Aug 2009)

Latest on allegations of civilian casualties:  he said:


> .... Angry residents brought the bodies to the provincial capital Kandahar, a heartland of insurgent activity, to show officials. The incident could stir instability two weeks before a presidential election.  Villagers identified the dead as civilians -- three boys and a man from one family killed late on Tuesday.  "They were civilians killed by the air strike while fast asleep," said Jan Mohammad, a village elder and one of the group who brought the bodies to Kandahar.... A Reuters correspondent who saw the bodies said two appeared to be teenage or pre-teen boys. Boys of that age sometimes accompany fighters in Afghanistan. The other two bodies were mutilated beyond recognition....



she said:


> .... At 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 5, International Security Assistance Forces identified four insurgents in the Arghandab District in Kandahar province. The insurgents were in open ground with no residential areas in the vicinity. The insurgents were carrying weapons and plastic jugs and were identified as possibly emplacing improvised explosive devices in an area known for IED attacks.  ISAF engaged the insurgents with rockets and small arms fire from a helicopter, killing the insurgents. A large secondary explosion was observed at the point of impact indicating explosive material was in the insurgent's possession. No bombs were dropped....


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## GAP (6 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 6, 2009*

 From fighting, to faith in the future 
Omar El Akkad Kandahar, Afghanistan Thursday, Aug. 06, 2009 12:06PM EDT
  Article Link

One day recently a Canadian military convoy showed up at Kandahar's water-treatment plant. The soldiers were supposedly there to talk about fixing a couple of ancient water trucks.

But that wasn't the only problem facing the decrepit, cobweb-laced plant.

Its director, Adbul Wahab Hamaras, received the soldiers from the Civil-Military Co-operation, or CIMIC, team in his office, shaded from the sun by plywood panels because the roof had caved in after militants bombed the provincial council building next door.

Sixty-three people are supposed to work at the plant, but salaries haven't come in from the Afghan government, so the number of staff is closer to 45. The engineer who was supposed to teach the staff how to chlorinate water is dead, and attempts to hire a geologist have been stymied by the worsening violence. As Mr. Hamaras put it: “They all like to live.”

Scenes such as this are the new reality of the Canadian mission in Kandahar. As the Canadian Forces and the Taliban both opt to do less face-to-face fighting, Canada's role is shifting towards a joint civil-military effort aimed at winning the hearts and minds of Afghans through the digging of wells, building of bridges and allocation of micro-grants.
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 Soldier Who Didn’t Obey Is Jailed  
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.Published: August 5, 2009 Associated Press
Article Link

HOUSTON — A soldier at Fort Hood who fought his deployment to Afghanistan and stopped obeying orders was sentenced to a month in jail and demoted to private in a military court on Wednesday morning. 

Victor Agosto, a 24-year-old signalman with the III Corps, ripped a patch showing his specialist rank off his uniform after an emotional hearing in front of an Army captain in which he had told the court he believed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan violated international law, his lawyer, James M. Branum, said. Later, about 20 antiwar protesters cheered Private Agosto as he was taken to jail, the lawyer said.

“He’s not opposed to all wars; he is opposed to this war, because it is not a war of self-defense,” Mr. Branum said. 

Under a plea agreement, Private Agosto will be discharged after he serves his time in jail in Belton, Tex., Mr. Branum said.
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 Most fighting with Taliban in Afghanistan 'could change sides'
Article Link

As many as two-thirds of those fighting with the Taliban could be persuaded to change sides, Mark Sedwill, Britain's ambassador to Afghanistan, said today.

He expressed cautious optimism about the conduct of the presidential elections later this month, saying that about 70% of the eligible population, even in Helmand, the most violent province, "will be able to vote".

However, he said the turnout was likely to be lower than in the last presidential election, in 2004, and British officials conceded that one of the problems was that it was difficult to know the number of potential voters in any given area, let alone the total population of the country.

Sedwill was speaking by video link from Kabul to a Foreign Office press conference at which he was asked about recent comments by the foreign secretary, David Miliband, that reconciliation could involve speaking to the "moderate" Taliban.
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 Armoured cars destined for Afghanistan held in Dubai 'due to secrecy'
• Lack of RAF transport planes kept Ridgback carriers in limbo
• MoD says delivery of new vehicles still on schedule
Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk, Thursday 6 August 2009 12.30 BST 
Article Link

The Viking vehicle, currently on operations in Afghanistan, has been criticised as too ineffective against mines and roadside bombs. Photograph: Andrew Linnett/MoD/PA

The secrecy surrounding the armour of new Ridgback armoured vehicles destined for British troops in Afghanistan prevented them from being deployed, defence officials said yesterday.

Nine of the armoured vehicles, designed to withstand mines and roadside bombs, have been held back at Dubai due to a lack of RAF C-17 transport planes to deliver them. Civilian aircraft could not be contracted because the Ridgback's armour plating is classified.

Of the nine which have been in Dubai since 16 July, six were flown to Afghanistan over the past few days, two left only yesterday, with the remaining vehicle to be delivered over the weekend, defence officials said.

An MoD spokesman said: "These vehicles were never destined for use by 19 Brigade, who do not have enough trained drivers to operate them. This is because the vehicles were only delivered to the army in May – a month after the brigade deployed."

He added: "They are being shipped in time for the arrival of their successor formation, 11 Light Brigade, which has spent all summer training on the new vehicles. Training is not discretionary. These are complex pieces of equipment that will operate in an extremely demanding and dangerous environment. We will not put lives at risk by asking soldiers to drive these vehicles without the necessary training."
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## GAP (7 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 7, 2009*

 Canada rejects NATO call to stay in Afghanistan past 2011
(AFP) – 15 hours ago
Article Link

OTTAWA — Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon reaffirmed Thursday Canada's 2011 exit from Afghanistan despite reported pleas from NATO's chief for an extension of Canada's deployment in the war-torn country.

"Our government is abiding by the motion passed in parliament in 2008 -- that is that our combat forces will leave by 2011," Cannon said.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen remarked while visiting a Canadian development project in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan, that he would like to see Canada stay beyond 2011.

"Of course I'm not going to interfere with the domestic politics in individual allied nations, but seen from an alliance point of view, I would strongly regret if that became the final outcome of the Canadian considerations," he was quoted as saying by public broadcaster CBC.

"I would like to take this opportunity to express my strong appreciation of the significant Canadian contribution to our mission in Afghanistan," he said.

"At the end of the day, it is a question of our own security. We cannot allow Afghanistan, once again, to become a safe haven for terrorists. And I also think it is in Canada's interest to ensure a peaceful and stable Afghanistan."
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 FACTBOX-Facts about Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud
Thu Aug 6, 2009 5:08pm EDT By Simon Cameron-Moore
Article Link

ISLAMABAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik says there is a strong likelihood that Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed along with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago.

Following are some details about Mehsud.

-- In late 2007, Mehsud proclaimed himself leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Movement of Taliban of Pakistan, grouping 13 factions. Pakistani Taliban leaders have sworn allegiance to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

-- Mehsud became Public Enemy Number One after launching suicide attacks in 2007 against the military and politicians.

-- The government of ex-president Pervez Musharraf and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency both saw Mehsud as chief suspect in the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud denied it.

-- The United States had offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to Mehsud's location or arrest. The Pakistan government has put a $615,000 bounty on his head.
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 Challenger seen as gaining ground on Karzai as Afghan presidential election nears
JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer  2:23 PM PDT, August 6, 2009 
Article Link

AYNAK, Afghanistan (AP) — The energetic crowd roared and chanted his name as a beaming Abdullah Abdullah blamed the incumbent for Afghanistan's woes.

The former foreign minister has emerged as President Hamid Karzai's top challenger in this month's presidential election, appearing to close at least part of the gap in a race once considered to be a walkover for Karzai.


Few outside Abdullah's camp are willing to predict that the former ophthalmologist will beat Karzai in the Aug. 20 contest, though he will likely qualify for a top-two runoff if Karzai fails to win a majority of the votes. The last poll released in Afghanistan was conducted in May and showed Abdullah with only 7 percent support — a figure most observers consider outdated.

Some of Abdullah's rallies outside Kabul have attracted thousands, including one in the capital of Samangan province Wednesday during which he was repeatedly mobbed by supporters. Throngs of fans greeted him in a farmer's field where his Afghan Air Corps Mi-17 helicopter landed, along the streets of Aynak and at the site of his speech.
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 Adviser: US has 2 more tough years in Afghanistan
By ANNE GEARAN (AP) – 15 hours ago
Article Link

WASHINGTON — An incoming adviser to the top U.S. general in Afghanistan predicted Thursday that the United States will see about two more years of heavy fighting and then either hand off to a much improved Afghan fighting force or "lose and go home."

David Kilcullen, a counterinsurgency expert who will assume a role as a senior adviser to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has been highly critical of the war's management to date. He outlined a "best-case scenario" for a decade of further U.S. and NATO involvement in Afghanistan during an appearance at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Under that timeline, the allied forces would turn the corner in those two years, followed by about three years of transition to a newly capable Afghan force and about five years of "overwatch."

"We'll fight for two years and then a successful transition, or we'll fight for two years and we'll lose and go home," Kilcullen said.

"I think we need to persist," he said, but with "some pretty significant limits on how much we're prepared to spend, how many troops we're prepared to send, how long we can do this for."
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 Afghans Pin Hopes on Mining As Taliban Attacks Intensify  
Article Link By DEVON MAYLIE 

Afghanistan's mining ministry, emboldened by its first copper tender and undeterred by escalating violence, is inviting more bids in hopes the industry can eventually drive economic growth and help bring security.

The rising number of attacks by Taliban insurgents around the country is already deterring investors with a high resistance to risk. In the latest in a series of incidents in which civilians were victims, roadside bombings in Southern and Western Afghanistan this week have killed at least 15 people. On Thursday, four U.S. service members were killed by a roadside bomb in the West, and five Afghan policemen were killed in the South.

For now, the government's focus is on the short term, and whether the country's Aug. 20 presidential election, which incumbent Hamid Karzai is expected to win, will bring about greater stability or heightened unrest. Afghanistan's economy is heavily reliant on foreign aid and, in addition to coping with violence, the country must deal with poppy cultivation and the opium trade, high unemployment, little infrastructure and corruption.

Yet it also has one of the largest untapped copper deposits in the world and substantial oil and gas deposits. "In five or six years we hope Afghanistan can stand on its own two feet through mineral reserves," said Minister of Mines and Industries Muhammad Ibrahim Adel, a Russian-educated engineer who was appointed by Mr. Karzai.

Mr. Adel's ministry has awarded one mining license so far -- in a Taliban stronghold.
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## GAP (9 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 9, 2009*

 British soldier killed in Afghanistan blast
(AFP) – 4 hours ago
Article Link

LONDON — A British soldier was killed by an explosion while on patrol in southern Afghanistan, defence officials in London confirmed Sunday.

The soldier died following a blast Saturday while on patrol east of Gereshk town in the restive Helmand Province.

In Kabul, the NATO alliance's International Security Assistance Force said the soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED), the main weapon of the Taliban insurgents.

"Each and every loss that we sustain in Helmand sends reverberations throughout the brigade," said Task Force Helmand spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wenham.

The deaths bring to 196 the number of British troops who have died since operations against the Taliban extremists began in October 2001. Of these, at least 165 were killed as a result of hostile action.

Twenty-seven British troops have been killed since the start of July and the spike in deaths has revived debate in Britain about its involvement in Afghanistan and the standard of equipment available to protect troops.
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 Les Boys at `Ground Zero' of Afghanistan struggle.
 By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceAugust 7, 2009
   Article Link

HOWZ-E-MADAD, Afghanistan - ``Les Boys,'' who man this strongpoint in what Canadian commanders sometimes call the Wild West, have probably seen more combat in recent months than any other troops in Kandahar.

And if the eight soldiers from Quebec and New Brunswick, who mentor about 50 Afghan soldiers at Howz-E-Madad are not at the epicentre of Canada's war in Afghanistan, fellow Canadian instructors from an operational mentoring liaison team based only three kilometres away at Lakhokel can stake a strong claim.

``This is Ground Zero. We're probably No. 1 for contact with the enemy. We're exposed to everything," Cpl. Eric Poirier of Dalhousie, N.B., says of Howz-E-Madad, where the Taliban, in a tree line 600 metres away, shoot almost every day at the small walled compound the Canadians and Afghans share.

The Taliban have also lobbed more than 30 hand grenades over the compound walls, have set ambushes just to the west of where they live and spark firefights every second day or so.

Canada's Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT) and their Afghan National Army allies have also found about 30 improvised explosive devices before they could do damage to the soldiers or civilians living in Zhari District.
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 As vote nears, Team Karzai finally kicks into high gear
 TheStar.com - August 08, 2009 Rosie DiManno
Article Link

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN—The early-morning rally for Afghan President Hamid Karzai is still going on but hundreds are already trying to leave National Stadium, streaming toward a single gate.

It's hot. They've been here for several hours. The sound system is so bad that no one can make out a word being spoken from the podium. And it's Friday, so most are anxious to attend mosque as well.

Tempers are fraying. Bottles of water that had been distributed to the crowd are now whizzing through the air, aimed at the heads of cameramen positioned in front of the stage and thus blocking the view. Some of the plastic projectiles, now empty, hit the dignitaries sitting around Karzai.

Shoving and snarling ensue and laughter, too – Afghans equally amused and agitated by gathering anarchy – as those in the rear of the stadium bowl push forward. Campaign wardens, many of them female, wield picket sticks torn off election placards to settle down the masses, flicking at ankles and shoulders.

There is something in the Afghan constitution that turns instinctively to disciplinary brutishness as remedy for disorder, escalating rather than neutralizing the situation. Perhaps that is what comes of a society drenched in violence, with little vestigial memory of peace and calm.
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 Opium addictions grip families in Afghanistan’s remote villages
Article Link

SARAB, Afghanistan - Open the door to Islam Beg’s house and the thick opium smoke rushes out into the cold mountain air, like steam from a bathhouse. It’s just past 8 a.m. and the family of six - including a 1-year-old baby boy - is already curled up at the lip of the opium pipe.

Beg, 65, breathes in and exhales a cloud of smoke. He passes the pipe to his wife. She passes it to their daughter. The daughter blows the opium smoke into the baby’s tiny mouth. The baby’s eyes roll back into his head.

Their faces are gaunt. Their hair is matted. They smell.

In dozens of mountain hamlets in this remote corner of Afghanistan, opium addiction has become so entrenched that whole families - from toddlers to old men - are addicts. Cut off from the rest of the world by glacial streams, the addiction moves from house to house, infecting entire communities. From just one family years ago, at least half the people of Sarab, population 1,850, are now addicts.

Afghanistan supplies nearly all the world’s opium, the raw ingredient used to make heroin, and while most of the deadly crop is exported, enough is left behind to create a vicious cycle of addiction. There are at least 200,000 opium and heroin addicts in Afghanistan - 50,000 more than in the much bigger, wealthier United States, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services and a 2005 survey by the United Nations. A new survey is expected to show even higher rates of addiction, a window into the human toll of Afghanistan’s back-to-back wars and desperate poverty.
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 Bombs made in Afghanistan more lethal than those in Iraq
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times
Article Link

Although the bombs manufactured by insurgents in Afghanistan tend to be more rudimentary than the ones in Iraq, they are more likely to injure and kill U.S. forces and their allies, military figures show. 

This is in part because they are so easy to make and difficult to detect, senior U.S. officers say. Afghan insurgents also use the devices to stage complicated ambushes involving teams of bombers and gunmen. 

A military task force dedicated to countering improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, calculates that a casualty results from more than one of every four bombs troops encounter in Afghanistan. In Iraq, where the ratio was once 1-to-1, about six bombs are detonated or cleared per casualty. 

Homemade bombs traditionally have not been the weapon of choice in Afghanistan, according to members of the military's Joint IED Defeat Organization. Schooled in the Cold War-era guerrilla war against the country's former Soviet occupiers, Afghan militants typically ambushed their adversaries with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 fire, or fired rockets and mortar rounds from a distance. 

But faced with a growing U.S. and NATO force, the militants appear to be taking a leaf from the Iraqi insurgent handbook, using bombs at least as often as any other type of attack, members say. 
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 NATO Friendly Fire Wounds at Least 5 Afghan Police   
By VOA News  08 August 2009
   Article Link

NATO and Afghan officials say at least five Afghan police officers were wounded early Saturday, when NATO helicopters mistakenly fired on them.

NATO says its forces were responding to small arms fire from insurgents in Ghazni province, when two of its Apache helicopters fired on police by mistake.

The alliance says at least one Afghan police officer was in critical condition. Afghan officials confirmed the incident and said at least six police were wounded.

NATO says it is conducting an investigation.

The alliance says it is also investigating reports that two Afghan civilians were mistakenly killed in neighboring Uruzgan province Friday, while troops fired mortars at insurgents.
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 Pakistan's two-faced game
National Post  Published: Saturday, August 08, 2009 
Article Link

If anything has been proven by the reported killing on Wednesday of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, it is that Pakistan is fully capable of liquidating Islamist terrorists operating on its soil -- when it wants to. Unfortunately, Pakistan targets only those murderers who, like Mehsud, threaten the regime in Islamabad -- not those who seek to wage jihad in neighbouring India or Afghanistan.

The Pakistanis have long been playing a two-faced game. They pretend to be partners in the War on Terror when it suits their own purposes, then pretend not to know what is going on in their own tribal provinces when they would rather not be drawn into the war against radical Islam.

Why did they co-operate in the killing of Mehsud? Because he is believed to have been behind the 2007 bomb attack that killed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto's widower, Asif Ali Zardari, is now Pakistan's President. Revenge was almost certainly a motive for Islamabad's teamwork.

Pacification of the Taliban within Pakistan -- which at one point this year seemed almost poised to march on Islamabad --is another likely explanation.
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 In Afghanistan, a US protection racket strategy may help
By Christopher Dickey Saturday, August 08, 2009
Article Link

Long ago and far away in the wars of Central America, I learned from a Guatemalan general (who had been trained by the French in Algeria and coached by the Israelis) that a war against guerrillas is essentially a protection racket. Civilians are helpless and indecisive, caught between the government forces and the insurgents, and thus unreliable. They might help you in the morning, then help your enemy in the evening. So the message the government has to send is as clear as it is cruel: We can protect you from the guerrillas, but the guerrillas cannot protect you from us – and you’ve got to choose.

If you listen to American generals talking about Afghanistan today, you’ll hear them emphasizing the protection part of that message, but ignoring – even denying – the punishment. Essentially they’re saying, “We can protect you civilians from the Taliban (we hope), but the Taliban don’t have to protect you from us because we are nice guys who are going to help you build your country, and in fact we’re worried about protecting you from us, too, because there’s so much ‘collateral damage’ these days.” The whole effect is almost as confusing for the troops as it is for Afghan civilians, and every effort at clarification creates more mystification.

Thus US General Stanley McChrystal, the hard-driving American commander who took over a few weeks ago, went so far as to tell his troops at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan on June 25 that they have to make a “cultural shift.” This war isn’t about killing the enemy and accepting collateral damage as inevitable. “When you do anything that harms the people you just have a huge chance of alienating the population,” he said. A few days after McChrystal’s remarks, in a widely reported incident, Marines trapped Taliban fighters in a residential compound, then allowed them to send out the women and children – only to discover the fighters had slipped on burqas and walked out as well.
More on link


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## GAP (10 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 10, 2009*

 NZ to deploy SAS to Afghanistan  
Article Link

New Zealand is to send a contingent of elite troops to Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Key has announced. 

About 70 members of the Special Air Service (SAS) will be deployed in three rotations covering 18 months, he said. 

"We're deploying our elite military there to try and stabilise the position," Mr Key said. 

Meanwhile, the number of regular troops in New Zealand's 140-member provincial reconstruction team based in Bamiyan province is to be reduced. 

An increased civilian effort is to be made there, with a focus on agriculture, health and education. 

Mr Key said the provincial reconstruction team would also work on building up the Afghan National Police with a view to transfer control of security in Bamiyan province to them. 

The government would also appoint a diplomatic representative to Afghanistan, instead of having New Zealand represented from neighbouring Iran, he said. 

New Zealand's SAS has already had three tours in Afghanistan, the last in 2006, and the US had requested their return. Mr Key did not say where the SAS troops would be serving. 
More on link

 Taliban kill five police in attack south of Kabul
Mon Aug 10, 2009
Article Link

LOGAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers killed five police in an attack on Afghan government buildings south of the capital on Monday, officials and residents said, the latest in a series of brazen assaults in a growing insurgency.

With violence surging across Afghanistan ahead of an August 20 presidential poll, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said six fighters wearing vests packed with explosives had attacked key buildings in Pule Alam, the provincial capital of Logar and an hour's drive south of Kabul.

Their targets included the governor's office, police and election offices, he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Unofficial police reports in Pule Alam said at least three of the suicide bombers may have been killed and two detained.
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 The West's futile effort  
By Kris Kotarski, For The Calgary HeraldAugust 10, 2009 6:38 AM
Article Link
   
Late last week, amid reports the Obama administration was having trouble coming up with appropriate markers for progress in Afghanistan, Associated Press reported five farmers were killed by an air strike while loading cucumbers into a taxi in Zhari district, near Kandahar. Lt.-Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker said the U. S. military believes it was a group of militants loading munitions into a van. An Afghan police chief disagrees.

Coming after the bloodiest month for NATO and the U. S. during an almost eight-year war, this episode encapsulates what is wrong with the war and the mind-set of politicians who pursue it on our behalf.

Sidenstricker says the U. S. will review footage from the Apache helicopter's camera to determine what happened, just as Barack Obama, Stephen Harper and other leaders invested in Afghanistan continue to review our policy while insisting progress is being made. Yet, whether the video footage shows fleshy green fruit or cold hard lead, the futility of this exercise is difficult to miss.

On one side, there is a fighting force equipped with the best weapons and training that modern society can afford. On the other, irregular militias, local insurgents, freedom fighters, terrorists or Mujahideen, depending on the slant taken by the journalists who have covered the war. When measured in terms of firepower and fighting capabilities, it seems a terrible mismatch, but outcomes in wars are seldom measured in firepower alone. War is politics, and while one side has its goals in place and the political equation pretty well worked out, the U. S. and NATO continue to search for "appropriate markers" as pilots and drones search for the bullets amid the cucumbers.
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 U.S. to Hunt Down Afghan Drug Lords Tied to Taliban  
Article Link

WASHINGTON — Fifty Afghans believed to be drug traffickers with ties to the Taliban have been placed on a Pentagon target list to be captured or killed, reflecting a major shift in American counternarcotics strategy in Afghanistan, according to a Congressional study to be released this week. 

United States military commanders have told Congress that they are convinced that the policy is legal under the military’s rules of engagement and international law. They also said the move is an essential part of their new plan to disrupt the flow of drug money that is helping finance the Taliban insurgency.

In interviews with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is releasing the report, two American generals serving in Afghanistan said that major traffickers with proven links to the insurgency have been put on the “joint integrated prioritized target list.” That means they have been given the same target status as insurgent leaders, and can be captured or killed at any time.

The generals told Senate staff members that two credible sources and substantial additional evidence were required before a trafficker was placed on the list, and only those providing support to the insurgency would be made targets. 
More on link

 China says plane diverted to Afghanistan by threat
By GILLIAN WONG and AMIR SHAH (AP) – 18 hours ago
Article Link

BEIJING — An Afghan plane bound for the restive western Chinese region of Xinjiang was sent back to Afghanistan after a bomb threat, Chinese media said Sunday.

Kam Air deputy chief Feda Mohammad Fedawi told The Associated Press that the plane, carrying 160 passengers, left Kabul and was crossing Kyrgyzstan on its way to the Xinjiang capital, Urumqi, when it was told to turn back.

The Xinhua News Agency said there had been a bomb threat and Urumqi airport authorities had been told not to let the plane land.

Kyrgyz authorities told the crew that Chinese authorities would not allow them into their airspace, Fedawi said. The plane could not return to the Afghan capital because of windy weather and was diverted to the southern city of Kandahar, Fedawi said.

He said there had been no bomb threat.

There was no immediate way to explain the differing accounts.

Urumqi was the scene of China's worst ethnic violence in China in decades when rioting last month killed 197 people and injured more than 1,700, according to official count.

Fedawi said the plane's passengers and crew were fine and it was expected to return to Kabul on Monday morning.
More on link


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## GAP (11 Aug 2009)

Secretive Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Emerges in Power Struggle
Pakistani Taliban Faces Mafia-Like Power Struggle
By NICK SCHIFRIN ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 11, 2009 — 
Article Link

The Pakistani Taliban today is like a mafia family whose don has just been whacked -- leaderless, with blood flowing in the streets between rival factions. 

U.S. and Pakistani officials now predict that the consiglieres who will stabilize the region's strongest terrorist network are the very people the U.S. has been fighting since 9/11: al Qaeda and Mullah Omar, the head of the Afghan Taliban. 

Pakistani Taliban commanders have been bickering since a CIA drone strike killed their charismatic leader, Baitullah Mehsud, who over the last year and a half managed to pull together at least 13 fractious Taliban factions into a network blamed for the deaths of more than 1,200 people. 

Their bickering turned violent over the weekend when Mehsud's most likely successors shot at each other during a meeting to pick the next Pakistani Taliban chief. 

In response, Mullah Omar and his allies in North Waziristan, according to people who have spoken with Pakistani intelligence agents there, called a meeting with leading Taliban commanders to try and stop the infighting. A successor to Mehsud could emerge from that meeting in the coming days. 

For continuous and complete coverage of Afghanistan in the run-up to the presidential election next week, click here. 

Mullah Omar was deposed as the leader of Afghanistan in 2001 when U.S. special forces troops invaded and helped rebel Afghan forces route the Taliban. The attack was in retaliation for Mullah Omar harboring Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda in the years before the 9/11 attacks. 
More on link

 China says separatists threatened Afghan flight
(AP) – 13 hours ago
Article Link

BEIJING — China refused an Afghan airliner permission to land after intelligence indicated a possible threat from separatists seeking independence for the restive western region of Xinjiang, an official Communist Party newspaper said Tuesday.

The Global Times said authorities in Xinjiang received a report Sunday that a Kam Air flight that evening to Urumqi, the regional capital, could "possibly be threatened" by a group or groups seeking independence for the region, known as East Turkestan by the separatists.

Following takeoff, separate officials in Urumqi received further information claiming a bomb was on board, prompting them to refuse permission for it to land, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified regional official.

The flight — the private airline's first on its new route from Kabul to Urumqi — was diverted to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Afghanistan's counterterrorism chief, Abdul Manan Farahi, said there was no bomb on the plane.

Chinese authorities have provided no further details about the nature of the alleged threat, and civil and police authorities refused to comment on the incident.

Officials and state media routinely level accusations against purported separatists while offering little or no evidence to back them up.
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 Afghanistan's presidential election campaign an exercise in peril
By Laura King August 11, 2009 
Article Link

The security problems exacerbate the logistical challenges in a country where road conditions are so poor and districts so remote that a 3,000-strong donkey corps is helping deliver ballots.

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan -- Presidential candidate Ramazan Bashardost was on a routine campaign stop in the eastern Afghan city of Khowst one day last month when he heard a thunderous explosion. Then another. And another.

"It was very loud, and pretty close, and I of course understood right away what was happening," said Bashardost, one of nearly 40 contenders in the Aug. 20 presidential vote.


On that day, insurgents had attacked Khowst's provincial police headquarters and several other sites, triggering hours of chaotic street fighting. Like most people in town, Bashardost was forced to lie low for the rest of the afternoon. He finally slipped away at nightfall.

In this wartime election season, having Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers as campaign trail companions isn't particularly unusual. Assassination fears, insurgent threats, travel dangers, intimidation of candidates, especially the female ones -- all conspire to make the vote an exercise in peril.
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 Potent Bombs Slow Marine Offensive
Troops in Afghanistan Must Be Cautious on Long Stretches of Road Filled With Explosives
By Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, August 11, 2009 
Article Link & Video

MIANPOSHTEH, Afghanistan -- In this harsh and unforgiving part of southern Afghanistan, where thousands of U.S. Marines are battling the Taliban this summer, the growing prevalence of roadside bombs means that even a small mishap can have deadly consequences. 
More on link


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## GAP (12 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 12, 2009*

 Canadian Troops Wrap Up Operation in Afghanistan
Josh Pringle Tuesday, August 11, 2009 
Article Link

Canadian soldiers have wrapped up a four-day operation aimed at harassing the Taliban out of a key area of southern Afghanistan. 

"Operation Constrictor" netted a cache of weapons and bomb-making materials in the Panjwaii district. 

Chief Operations Officer for Canada's Task Force Kandahar, Lt.-Col. Mike Patrick called the operation a milestone for the Afghan National Army. 

Patrick added "there is a substantial Taliban influence in this area that hasn't been touched in a focused manner for a number of years." 

The Canadian Military says the area is along the "rat line" used by insurgents to travel from Taliban strongholds into Kandahar City. 
end

 Marines assault Taliban-held town in Afghanistan
Updated Wed. Aug. 12 2009 7:33 AM ET The Associated Press
Article Link

DAHANEH, Afghanistan -- Helicopter-borne U.S. Marines backed by Harrier jets stormed a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan before dawn Wednesday in an operation to secure the country ahead of presidential elections. 

The troops exchanged heavy fire with insurgents, killing at least seven. Associated Press journalists travelling with the first wave said militants fired small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades after helicopters dropped the troops over Taliban lines. Fighting lasted more than eight hours, as Harrier jets streaked overhead and dropped flares in a show of force. 

The Taliban put up such fierce resistance that Marines said they suspected the militants knew the assault was coming. 

Other Marines met heavy resistance as they fought to seize control of the mountains surrounding Dahaneh in the southern province of Helmand. Another convoy of Marines rolled into the town despite roadside bomb attacks and gunfire. 

It was the first time NATO troops had entered Dahaneh, which has been under Taliban control for years. 
More on link

 Court upholds CIA contractor's detainee abuse conviction
(AFP) – 14 hours ago
Article Link

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of David Passaro, the first US civilian found guilty of abusing a detainee in Afghanistan, according to a copy of the ruling obtained by AFP Tuesday.

A three-judge panel from the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia on Monday found that, contrary to Passaro's argument, federal courts have jurisdiction over assaults committed by US citizens abroad in countries where the United States conducts military missions.

The panel also ordered a new sentencing due to "sentencing errors" that landed Passaro a prison term of eight years and four months, longer than suggested by federal guidelines.

A CIA civilian contractor, Passaro was convicted in the southeastern state of North Carolina in 2006 for having hit Afghan detainee Abdul Wali with a flashlight and kicked him in the groin during a marathon 48-hour "interrogation." Wali died from his injuries.

The interrogation, the court recalled, "involved Passaro's brutal attacks on Wali, which included repeatedly throwing Wali to the ground, striking him open handed, hitting him on the arms and on the legs with a heavy Maglite-type flashlight measuring over a foot long, and while wearing combat boots, kicking Wali in the groin with enough force to lift him off the ground."

During eight days of trial in 2006, Passaro, now 43, claimed he was not guilty and instead had followed the orders of his superiors, a charge the commanders denied.
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 Afghanistan hires 10,000 tribesmen to secure polls
By RAHIM FAIEZ (AP) – 23 hours ago
Article Link

KABUL — Authorities have hired some 10,000 Afghan tribesmen to protect this month's presidential election, an Afghan official said Tuesday, raising the possibility that village militias could be enlisted to fight against the Taliban.

The hired guns highlight attempts by authorities to bolster security in Afghanistan's insurgency-hit provinces but also underscore a renewed focus on raising tribal militias to deal with the growing Taliban threat just as Sunni Arab militias were engaged to help reduce violence in Iraq.

The new force will initially help secure polling centers in 21 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces during the Aug. 20 election, said Arif Noorzai, the head of the Independent Directorate for the Protection of Public Properties and Highways by Tribal Support.

"We are trying to provide security for the polling centers and pave the way for the people to participate in the elections," Noorzai said. "They are filling the places where there are no police or the government has a shortage of security forces."
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 Taliban kill police chief in northern Afghanistan
Reuters Wednesday, August 12, 2009 1:18 AM 
Article Link

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban fighters stormed a district police headquarters in once-quiet northern Afghanistan overnight, killing the police chief and two of his men, an official said, as violence spreads into once safe areas. 

The attack, which led to a four-hour gunbattle into the early hours of Wednesday in Kunduz, is the latest in a wave of rising violence a week before an August 20 election which militants have vowed to disrupt. 

The attackers struck with small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades under cover of darkness, said Sheikh Saduddin, administrator of the Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province. 

The province, north of the Hindu Kush mountains and far from the southern war zone, has been largely quiet since Taliban militants were driven from power in 2001, but has seen escalating attacks in recent months. 

This week the overall commander of NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan said militants were advancing from their traditional bastions in the south and east into previously quieter areas in the north and west. 

After several hours of fighting, the militants abandoned the building following police reinforcement, Saduddin said. 

"They (Taliban) killed the police chief and two other officers. Three more police were wounded," he said, giving no information about Taliban casualties. 
More on link

 Two AP journalists wounded in Afghanistan bombing
(AP) – 6 hours ago
Article Link

KABUL — A roadside bombing has wounded two Associated Press journalists embedded with the U.S. military in southern Afghanistan.

Photographer Emilio Morenatti and AP Television News videographer Andi Jatmiko were traveling with the military when their vehicle was struck by the bomb Tuesday.

Both were immediately taken to a military hospital in Kandahar. Jatmiko suffered leg injuries and two broken ribs. Morenatti, badly wounded in the leg, underwent an operation that resulted in the loss of his foot.

Morenatti, 40, a Spaniard, is an award-winning photographer based in Islamabad who has worked for the AP in Afghanistan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. He was named Newspaper Photographer of the Year in 2009 by Pictures of the Year International.

Jatmiko, 44, of Indonesia, has reported for the AP from throughout Asia for more than 10 years.
More on link

 Canadian presence aids Afghans
Published: August 11, 2009 11:00 PM 
Article Link

NOW BACK home after one year of working with Afghan police officers, a local RCMP officer says he’s seen progress there.

Corpl. Lothar Bretfeld spent his time mentoring Afghan police officers at the Canadian Forces Forward Operating Base Wilson in Kandahar Province, Zhari District Afghanistan along with officers from around Canada.

Afghanistan is about the size of Alberta but has seven to eight million people living there, with one million people in Kandahar, he said. 

Kandahar is 28 km from the Pakistan border where most “bad guys” come across into Afghanistan, said Bretfeld.

Bretfeld noticed that the Afghan police work very differently from Canadians, adding that Afghan officers would work for two to three hours and take constant breaks and then would peter out. 

“Our concept of an eight hour day, they never do that,” he said.
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 Afghan police find weapons cache 
Sonia Verma Kandahar — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009 03:26AM EDT
  Article Link

There was nothing especially remarkable about the weapons cache – a suicide vest, some walkie-talkies, medical kits and the makings of explosives. What was extraordinary, at least to Canadian Forces Captain Alain Aubé, who was speaking to reporters during a briefing here, was who found it: The Afghan National Police.

“This is very significant for them,” Capt. Aubé said Tuesday, referring to the discovery by Afghan officers during Operation Constrictor, a four-day sweep of a violent cluster of villages in the Panjwai district, just west of Kandahar City.

As Afghanistan girds for elections on Aug. 20, the briefing underscored broader efforts to bolster confidence in the Afghan forces, notoriously corrupt and ineffective, that are responsible for securing polling stations across the country.

In some ways, the Afghan Police have come to represent NATO's greatest ambitions and frustrations in Afghanistan, particularly in the south, where the insurgency rages.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (12 Aug 2009)

Canadians pick up pace to keep Taliban off-stride
Canwest News, Aug. 11, by Matthew Fisher
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Somnia/1882118/story.html



> Canadian troops have moved into several villages to the southwest of Kandahar City in the past few days to live among the population and be much closer to the heart of the Taliban insurgency.
> 
> The move to have troops dwell in small communities, such as Zhalakhan and Baladay, coincides with orders by U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, the new commander of all NATO forces in Afghanistan appointed by President Barack Obama, to focus on populated areas in order to separate the Taliban from the people.
> 
> ...



US Army brigade retools for new Afghan mission
AP, Aug. 11
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/11/retooling-afghanistan-081109/?military&zIndex=147515



> KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — More than 100 soldiers in the brigade studied Arabic for 10 months. Their officers boned up on Iraq by reading dozens of books.
> 
> Then, five months ago, the 5,000 troops of the U.S. Army's 5th Stryker Brigade were told they were headed to Afghanistan instead.
> 
> ...



U.S. Ambassador Seeks More Money for Afghanistan
Funds Requested For Development
_Washington Post_, Aug. 12
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/11/AR2009081103341.html



> The United States will not meet its goals in Afghanistan without a major increase in planned spending on development and civilian reconstruction next year, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul has told the State Department.
> 
> In a cable sent to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry said an additional $2.5 billion in nonmilitary spending will be needed for 2010, about 60 percent more than the amount President Obama has requested from Congress. The increase is needed "if we are to show progress in the next 14 months," Eikenberry wrote in the cable, according to sources who have seen it.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (13 Aug 2009)

In Afghanistan, A Test of Tactics
Under Strict Rules to Protect Civilians, Marines Face More Complex Missions
Washington Post, Aug. 13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203198.html?sid=ST2009081203205



> MIANPOSHTEH, Afghanistan -- The new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, as articulated in military headquarters and congressional hearing rooms, puts the emphasis not on killing Taliban fighters but on winning over the local people. But in this highly contested swath of Helmand province, Sgt. Anibal Paz's squad is likely to be ambushed before he has time to sit down for tea.
> 
> The sergeants' war that Paz fights is often craftier and more complex than the war mapped out by generals, and it's always dirtier and bloodier. Young Americans and Afghans set out to taunt and lure their foes, then try to outsmart or outgun them. The running clashes that result send villagers fleeing their fields, hampering the U.S. Marines' overarching mission of making the local population feel secure.
> 
> ...



Video:

Firefights Erupt as Troops Flush Out Taliban Fighters
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2009/08/06/VI2009080602763.html



> These scenes show three separate firefights in southern Afghanistan, where Marines have been clashing regularly with Taliban forces. British troops and Afghan National Army are also fighting in the area.



New Army Handbook Teaches Afghanistan Lessons
NY Times, Aug. 12
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/asia/13military.html?_r=1



> More than a year has passed since an Afghan police commander turned on coalition forces and helped insurgents carry out a surprise attack that killed nine Americans, wounded more than 30 United States and Afghan troops and nearly resulted in the loss of an allied outpost in one of the deadliest engagements of the war.
> 
> Within days of the attack, Army historians and tactical analysts arrived in eastern Afghanistan to review the debacle near Wanat, interviewing soldiers who survived the intense battle, in which outnumbered Americans exchanged gunfire for more than four hours with insurgents, often at distances closer than 50 feet.
> 
> ...



Send more troops 'to remain key US ally'
_New Zealand Herald_, Aug. 13
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10590432



> CANBERRA - Australia has been advised to increase its military commitment to Afghanistan as it slips below Washington's horizon in the new priorities of President Barack Obama's Democrat Administration.
> 
> Reflecting similar United States messages that saw New Zealand agree to send the SAS back to the deepening war against the Taleban, Canberra has been told that it is not pulling its weight and should do more.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (13 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 13, 2009*

 Canada's expanded aid to Pakistan to help fight terrorism
Campbell Clark  Ottawa Globe and Mail  Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 10:10AM EDT
  Article Link

Canada will expand aid to Pakistan, notably to bolster the weak public school system that has left a void to be filled by fundamentalist madrassas, as Ottawa increasingly views the country's stability as key to success in Afghanistan. 

In Pakistan Wednesday, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda pledged $25-million for food, water and emergency shelter for refugees who fled a Pakistani military offensive against Taliban insurgents four months ago. 

Many of the more than 2 million people who left their homes in the Swat Valley in April are returning. But the huge numbers of refugees have placed a strain on local resources, and reconstruction efforts will be costly. 

“They're rebuilding police stations, judiciary, making sure that power is available, water is available, gas is available,” said Ms. Oda, who visited the Jalozai Internally Displaced Persons camp Tuesday. 
More on link

Marines battle for control of strategic town in Afghanistan
BY ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU ASSOCIATED PRESS  Aug. 13, 2009 
Article Link

DAHANEH, Afghanistan -- U.S. Marines battled Taliban fighters Wednesday for control of a strategic southern town in an operation to cut militant supply lines and allow Afghan residents to vote in next week's presidential election.

The Taliban fired rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and missiles from the back of a truck at the Marines. Officers predicted a couple of days of intense combat before Dahaneh could be secured.

"Based on the violence with which they've been fighting back against us, I think it indicates the Taliban are trying to make a stand here," said Capt. Zachary Martin, commander of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines.

The operation was launched Wednesday with 400 Marines and 100 Afghan troops.

It was the third major push by U.S. and British forces this summer into Taliban-controlled areas of Helmand province, center of Afghanistan's lucrative opium business and scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the Afghan war.

The Marines are part of the 21,000 additional forces President Barack Obama deployed to Afghanistan to stop the Taliban's violent momentum.

U.S. and British troops hope to break the Taliban's grip on the province, sever smuggling routes and protect the civilian population from Taliban reprisals so Afghans can vote during the Aug. 20 election. The Taliban has threatened to ruin the election.

It was the first time in years that U.S. or NATO troops had entered Dahaneh, a squalid town of about 2,000 people. Marines say the town is key to controlling the area -- a major Taliban staging area and site of a large opium market.
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 Karzai Offers Gov't Jobs to Presidential Rivals  
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS August 13, 2009  
Article Link

KABUL (AP) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday he will win next week's presidential election and will offer government positions to his top two challengers.

Karzai's announcement seemed designed to offer a pre-election deal to his main rivals and head off any tension after the vote at a time when large parts of Afghanistan are embroiled in an insurgency.

Afghans vote next Thursday for president, their second-ever direct presidential election. More than 100,000 international troops and 175,000 Afghan forces are deployed to provide security.

Karzai is the leading candidate in a crowded field of three dozen contenders hoping to win a five-year term. He is trailed by his former foreign and finance ministers, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani.

Karzai said that if he wins, ''I will invite Dr. Abdullah, I will invite Ashraf Ghani, give them food and tea and give them jobs, as I did last time.''

A spokesman for Abdullah's campaign said the people, not Karzai, will decide who wins and forms the government.
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 Pakistan Helicopter Gunships Kill 11 Taliban 
By REUTERS August 13, 2009 
Article Link

Skip to next paragraph  WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani gunship helicopters attacked Taliban bases on Thursday, killing 11 militants and keeping up pressure after the reported death of the Pakistani Taliban leader in a U.S. missile strike last week.

The U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said on Wednesday said there were signs of disarray within the group following the apparent death of Baitullah Mehsud.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan's efforts to suppress Islamist militants on its side of the border are vital for a U.S.-led bid to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan, where Taliban have threatened to disrupt the August 20 presidential election.

Pakistani and U.S. officials are almost certain that Mehsud was killed along with his second wife and some bodyguards in a strike on his father-in-law's house in South Waziristan near the Afghan border on August 5.

But Mehsud's aides insist he is alive.
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 Best Afghanistan defense: MRAPs + locals  
By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
Article Link

SURKHROOD, Afghanistan — As roadside bombs go, it was a medium-size one: 30 pounds of homemade explosives, stuffed into a culvert on a busy road across a barren plain of rocks and dirt in far eastern Afghanistan.
Army Capt. Aaron Poe, whose team of experts was working to defuse the bomb, said Americans weren't the likely target. He and other U.S. servicemembers traveling along this road tend to do so in the giant, armored fortress-like vehicles known as Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs).

"A bomb like that wouldn't do anything to us in an MRAP," said Poe, 27. He said the intended target was probably Afghan police, who travel in unarmored, forest green Ford Ranger pickups that can be shredded in a blast. "It (would) kill all of them," Poe said.

At a time when U.S. troops are dying at a record pace in Afghanistan, military commanders are trying to balance the security the MRAP provides servicemembers such as Poe with the vehicle's shortcomings. The MRAP has protected its occupants better than any other vehicle in Afghanistan, but its imposing size and tiny windows make it relatively difficult for troops traveling inside to interact with Afghan locals and win their trust — which Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the new U.S. commander here, has defined as the top priority.

The MRAPs are "dramatically safer" than other, more accessible vehicles such as the Humvee, McChrystal said in a recent interview with USA TODAY. But he added that MRAPs are "somewhat ponderous vehicles, and they can't get everywhere they need to go."

McChrystal said that protective items — "whether they be ... vehicles or even things like body armor or sunglasses" — tend to create additional barriers between U.S. troops and locals. That, in turn, makes Afghans less likely to report intelligence tips and turn their back on the Taliban insurgency, which McChrystal says is necessary to turn the tide of an increasingly difficult war.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (13 Aug 2009)

Afghanistan: Canada's post-2011 commitment?
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Aug. 13
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1250192048

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (14 Aug 2009)

Taking the fight back to Kandahar city
 TheStar.com - Canada - Taking the fight back to Kandahar city
Rosie Dimanno COLUMNIST
Article Link

KABUL—This time, they think they've got it, they've really got it: A plan, a strategy, a clear objective, a hope in hell.

And they're no longer alone, essentially on their own to pacify the great swath of insurgency that is Kandahar province, spiritual home of the Taliban.

The Americans have come, 4,000 Stryker Brigade troops, nearly double the Canadian component that has been stretched so pitifully, if valiantly, thin these past five years. 

With that incoming surge, halving the battle space, the Canadian contingent can set tangible goals and dramatically shift the thrust of operations to a combination of offence and defence: Attack and protect.

That it took the lives of 127 Canadian soldiers to get here – a tipping point perchance leaning in their favour – is for others to debate and retroactively analyze.

For soldiers and their commanders on the ground, there is at least now, with this rotation, some clarity and well-defined goals, more narrowly but also more sensibly drawn on the mission map: To secure Kandahar city and the radiating communities of that heavily populated area; to move into a satellite of outskirt villages, basically living among the citizenry; and to plant themselves in the heart of the Taliban insurgency rather than chase inconsequential fighter cells hither and yon across complicated terrain that favours the opposition.

"The Americans are taking over what is a large but sparsely populated area of the province in the west and northern regions," Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance, commander of Task Force Afghanistan, explained to the Star in an interview from Kandahar Airfield last night. 
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (14 Aug 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND AUG. 14

Taliban mortar team cut down by Canadians (with slideshow, usual copyright disclaimer)
_Stars and Stripes_, Aug. 13
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64141



> RELATED STORY: Canadian forces take ‘ink spot’ approach
> http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64143
> 
> ZALAKHAN, Afghanistan — Dusk was closing fast on a patrol of Canadian soldiers as they cleared a sector of this bombed-out, abandoned village. Suddenly, the puttering of a motorbike was heard in the distance.
> ...



Gates: No Troop Request In Afghanistan Review
_Washington Post_, Aug. 14
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/13/AR2009081303763.html



> The U.S. commander in Afghanistan will not make a specific request for more troops when he submits a review of the situation there in the coming weeks, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday.
> 
> Instead, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal will assess conditions on the ground and make recommendations based on whether the mix and number of forces he has been allotted -- 68,000 by the end of the year -- is sufficient to execute U.S. strategy there, Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing held with Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. James Cartwright.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (15 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 15, 2009*

 Taking on Afghanistan's patriarchy
 TheStar.com August 15, 2009 Rosie DiManno
Article Link

One is rumoured to have murdered her husband and daughter, a juicy bit of slanderous scuttlebutt that's all the rage hereabouts.

The other is the widow of a politician who was beaten, stabbed and then thrown out of a plane – an ironic dénouement for the minister of aviation, in a country which has no air force to speak of.

Shahla Ata and Frozan Fana are sorority oddballs and an ill fit within Afghanistan's patriarchal establishment, a brace of women who are running for the presidency in next week's national elections. Neither has a remote chance of winning more than a single-digit percentage of the vote. Both insist that's not the point. And each, it is assumed, has a distinct agenda.

For Ata, a trained psychologist who spent 18 years living in the United States, working as a registered nurse, the prize would be appointment as women's minister in the next government.

It's the only cabinet position currently held by a female, and on her "watch'' President Hamid Karzai almost rammed through legislation that would have legalized rape against minority Shiite women and condemned them to their homes unless accompanied by a male family member – Taliban redux.

Fana is a physician, born into a politically active family from Herat, and potentially a minister of health – especially if main challenger Abdullah Abdullah manages to defeat Karzai. The way Fana has been loudly accusing a government cabal of murdering her husband seven years ago, she's unlikely to have much of a fan in the incumbent. That was his team, even if Fana carefully excuses Karzai from the plot. "I've never said him. But some people from his government who were afraid my husband might be a future president of Afghanistan.''

Afghan politics are byzantine at the best of times and these exemplify that, a mosh-pit of nearly 40 candidates vying for top job against the backdrop of a broadening insurgency and slapstick corruption. It's all gossip and smear tactics, with no slack cut the two ladies on account of their gender. Indeed, they've been particularly and exceptionally targeted for slime tactics because of their sex, hence the hysterical rumour-mill.
More on link

 Vote leaders take campaigns across Afghanistan
By Bronwen Roberts (AFP) – 21 hours ago
Article Link

KABUL — The top candidates in the Afghan presidential race jetted across the nation Friday to win support for next week's polls as an official claimed some Taliban commanders would allow voting in their areas.

An eager crowd of around 10,000 welcomed President Hamid Karzai, frontrunner in the August 20 elections, after he flew into Herat for his first rally in the western city in a nearly two-month campaign, an AFP reporter said.

In an address, Karzai repeated a pledge to draw the Taliban into talks to end their insurgency and presented his inclusion of former warlords in his election bid as proof that he brought unity to ethnically diverse Afghanistan.

"We're working for peace across the country, it's a matter of pride for us that national unity is established in Afghanistan," he said, standing alongside Herat strongman and powerful Soviet resistance commander Ismail Khan.

Karzai said his country was growing in stature and would be able to prevent "foreigners" from jailing Afghans, an apparent reference to US forces who have arrested locals in counter-terrorism sweeps.
More on link

Canada's Afghan tactics lay ground for stability, top soldier says  
Article Link

Sonia Verma

Kandahar — From Saturday's Globe and Mail 
Last updated on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009 04:09AM EDT


Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance, the country's top commander in Afghanistan, says Canada's combat mission here will end just as crucial momentum is building toward a lasting victory against the Taliban. 

New Canadian efforts, which echo counterinsurgency tactics used in Iraq, are laying the groundwork for lasting stability. Canadian combat troops, however, won't be around to see it with Ottawa's current exit strategy for 2011, he said. 

“By 2011, there will still be insurgency in Kandahar province. For sure,” Brig.-Gen. Vance said Friday in a frank, hour-long interview with The Globe and Mail in his office at Kandahar Air Field. 
More on link

 US Marines to help train Georgian troops
(AP) – 19 hours ago
Article Link

TBILISI, Georgia — A group of U.S. Marines will arrive in Georgia to help train its troops for a mission alongside coalition forces in Afghanistan, the U.S. Embassy said Friday.

The move is likely to vex neighboring Russia, which has strongly spoken out against U.S. military assistance to Georgia.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement that the training will focus on skills necessary for the troops to operate in Afghanistan. It said that a Georgian battalion is set to deploy to Afghanistan next spring.

The Embassy described Georgia's offer to send troops to Afghanistan as "a vital contribution to the mission of bringing stability and security to Afghanistan."

The training program will start Sept. 1 and no weapons will be provided to the Georgians as part of the training, it said.
More on link

 Pakistan's tribal areas to get parliamentary reps
By CHRIS BRUMMITT (AP) – 1 day ago
Article Link

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan lifted a ban on political activities in its tribal regions on Friday, granting the areas close to Afghan border parliamentary representation for the first time in the hopes it would reduce the grip of the Taliban there.

Pakistan's seven semiautonomous agencies have never been politically and administratively integrated into the rest of the country — a vacuum that observers say has allowed lawlessness and an al-Qaida- and Taliban-led militancy to thrive there.

"This breaks the monopoly of clerics to play politics from the pulpit of the mosque to the exclusion of major secular political parties," said Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari "It empowers the locals and weakens the extremists."

Since the days of British colonial rule, the region's 4 million people have been ruled by government-appointed agents in concert with tribal leaders. They are subject to tribal laws that allow for detention without trial and communal punishment among other unpopular measures.

Babar said Friday's announcement did not reduce the powers of the political agent or modify the laws, but would mean that political parties could campaign there and represent the region in the national parliament after the next elections in 2013.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (16 Aug 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND APRIL 16

U.S. Plans a Mission Against Taliban’s Propaganda 
_NY Times_, Aug. 15
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/world/asia/16policy.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper



> WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is establishing a new unit within the State Department for countering militant propaganda in Afghanistan and Pakistan, engaging more fully than ever in a war of words and ideas that it acknowledges the United States has been losing.
> 
> Proposals are being considered to give the team up to $150 million a year to spend on local FM radio stations, to counter illegal militant broadcasting, and on expanded cellphone service across Afghanistan and Pakistan. The project would step up the training of local journalists and help produce audio and video programming, as well as pamphlets, posters and CDs denigrating militants and their messages.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (17 Aug 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND AUGUST 17

Canada hands off part of Kandahar province to U.S.
_Stars and Stripes_, Aug. 17 
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64232



> Canada has handed over about half of its battle space in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province to newly arrived U.S. soldiers, allowing Canadian forces to concentrate on counterinsurgency and reconstruction efforts in the provincial capital, according to a senior officer.
> 
> The move also effectively doubles the size of NATO-led combat forces within Kandahar province, birthplace of the Taliban movement, *from two to four battalions* [emphasis added, see below], although they will operate under separate U.S. and Canadian commands.
> 
> ...



Pentagon Worries Led to Command Change
McKiernan's Ouster Reflected New Realities in Afghanistan -- and Washington (long article, excerpts focused on NATO)
_Washington Post_, Aug. 17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/16/AR2009081602304.html?sid=ST2009081700748



> ...
> [Defense secretary] Gates and [Joint Chiefs chairman] Mullen had been having doubts about McKiernan since the beginning of the year. They regarded him as too languid, too old-school and too removed from Washington. He lacked the charisma and political savvy that Gen. David H. Petraeus brought to the Iraq war.
> 
> McKiernan's answers that day were the tipping point for Mullen. Soon after, he discussed the matter with Gates, who had come to the same conclusion.
> ...



Afghanistan’s Tyranny of the Minority
_NY Times_, Aug. 16
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/opinion/17harrison.html?th&emc=th



> AS the debate intensifies within the Obama administration over how to stabilize Afghanistan, one major problem is conspicuously missing from the discussion: the growing alienation of the country’s largest ethnic group, the Pashtun tribes, who make up an estimated 42 percent of the population of 33 million. One of the basic reasons many Pashtuns support the Taliban insurgency is that their historic rivals, ethnic Tajiks, hold most of the key levers of power in the government.
> 
> Tajiks constitute only about 24 percent of the population, yet they largely control the armed forces and the intelligence and secret police agencies that loom over the daily lives of the Pashtuns. Little wonder that in the run-up to Thursday’s presidential election, much of the Taliban propaganda has focused on the fact that President Hamid Karzai’s top running mate is a hated symbol of Tajik power: the former defense minister Muhammad Fahim.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## MarkOttawa (17 Aug 2009)

German Mission Is a 'Disaster'
_Spiegel Online_, Aug. 17



> Germany's involvement in Afghanistan is a delicate issue. In a SPIEGEL interview, former German Defense Minister Volker Rühe speaks in bold terms about how politicians in Berlin have failed and why Germany needs to use all of its military might in the country...
> 
> SPIEGEL: What would you recommend?
> 
> ...



More on Afstan from _Spiegel_ here:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,k-6948,00.html

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (17 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 17, 2009*

 Afghanistan: New law says husbands can starve wives who refuse sex
By Matthew Schofield, Kansas City Star Editorial Board columnist
Article Link

The repressive family law that just went into effect in Afghanistan, at least, should make us pause to consider whether there is a good outcome in that nation.

The law, a tamer version of one that caused an international outcry earlier this year, allows men to withhold food from a wife who refuses to have sex. For as long as he sees fit. That's right, husbands have been given the option of starving their wives to death.

The law also leaves a woman's right to work solely in the hands of her husband. And this is the compromise law?

The fact is, it has the tacit, at least, support of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. This is the man Afghanis Congress applauded wildly five years ago. He's also the guy Afghanis are almost certain to re-elect later this week as President.

It's been said he controls Kabul, and little else. It's also been said his support for this family law is an attempt to gain some support among the conservative Shi'ite population that pushed it.
More on link

Afghan Air Force Flies Hard
August 15, 2009
Article Link

The Afghan Air Force currently has 24 helicopters (15 Mi-17 transports and nine Mi-35 gunships) and five twin engine transports (five AN-32s and one AN-26). In June, these aircraft flew 665 sorties (about 21 per aircraft). They carried 8,640 passengers and 58.8 tons of cargo. These aircraft are not operating at the same tempo as American aircraft, mainly because the Afghans still have shortages of maintenance personnel. In a nation with only a 30 percent literacy rate, it's difficult for the military to get technical personnel (and those it trains, are quickly lost to better paying, and safer, civilian firms).

Seven years ago, as the post-Taliban Afghan government began planning their new armed forces, it was believed that the Afghan air force would probably consist of a few dozen transports and armed trainer aircraft, plus a few dozen transport helicopters (some of them armed). Russia would be a likely donor (or seller, at attractive prices) of the equipment as the Afghans have been using Russian air force equipment for more than 30 years. Eventually, Afghanistan would want jet fighters, but foreign aid donors would resist spending any money on these. Russia could donate some older combat aircraft (currently in storage and wasting away anyway), but even the Afghan government would probably prefer to use the native pilots they have for transports and helicopters, which would be of more use in the next few years. 
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 Bomb on passenger truck kills 7 in NW Pakistan
By RIAZ KHAN (AP) – 7 hours ago
Article Link

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A bomb exploded on a truck at a fuel station in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing seven people, police said, while the Taliban claimed responsibility for two weekend suicide attacks in a valley recently retaken by the army.

Gunmen also assassinated the leader of a feared Sunni sectarian group, triggering rioting in three southern cities.

Pakistan is battling al-Qaida and Taliban militants seeking to topple its secular, pro-Western government. It has been bracing for possible revenge attacks following the reported death of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in a CIA missile strike Aug. 5 close to the northwestern border with Afghanistan.

Three children were among the dead in Monday's truck bombing, which wounded at least 15. Television footage showed bloodstained clothes and sandals scattered around the station in Charsada district, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) outside the main northwestern city of Peshawar, a militant hub with roads that lead into Mehsud territory.

Police officer Sifwat Ghayur said a timed explosive device fashioned from a mortar had been loaded onto the truck in a package marked "medicine" without the driver's knowledge.
More on link

 U.S. considers funding Pakistan energy projects
Mon Aug 17, 2009 By Adam Entous
Article Link

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's special envoy said Monday the United States was considering funding projects to upgrade Pakistan's antiquated power sector, but played down the speed at which assistance would materialize and crippling electricity shortages would end.

Pakistan's finance minister, Shaukat Tarin, said the government would rent electricity-generating plants over the next three to five years to fill the gap until large-scale energy projects come online.

He said Washington could help by providing financial guarantees to encourage private investment in the sector.

Obama's envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, offered few details about the kinds of projects Washington would sponsor.

"This problem's been building for 25 years. We need time to work out what makes sense," he said, adding that U.S. commitments "don't mean electricity in Karachi next week."
More on link

Three months on the frontline with troops in Afghanistan

As the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan reaches 204, award-winning Guardian photographer Sean Smith tells of his time with UK and US troops
Sean Smith The Guardian, Monday 17 August 2009
Article Link & Video

In almost three weeks that I spent with the Black Watch in Babaji, one of the most lawless Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan, I saw only one body.

We were coming under fire every day, sometimes for much of the day – bursts of small arms fire or the occasional rocket-propelled grenade aimed at the abandoned compound that hundreds of British soldiers had made their forward operating base.

As the soldiers were setting up a second small base less than half a kilometre away at the junction of two canals, they were taking fire from several different positions, one of them a small building on the other side of one of the deep waterways.
More on link

 Mountie on mend after Afghan bomb attack.
 By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceAugust 16, 2009
Article Link

A Mountie injured in a suicide car bombing near NATO headquarters in Kabul over the weekend has "a heart as big as a football," according to the top member of Canada's national police force serving in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Brian Kelly of Ottawa was hit in the leg by shrapnel when a car bomb exploded about 75 metres away as he walked through the entrance to the alliance headquarters, Assistant Commissioner Graham Muir said.

Kelly's injuries were described as "non-life threatening" in a statement released Sunday by the RCMP.

On Saturday, the Department of Foreign Affairs would only say that a Canadian civilian had been wounded in the bombing.

With the shrapnel successfully removed at a NATO hospital at Kabul Airport, Kelly was to be flown to a U.S. military facility in Germany for further treatment, Muir said.
More on link


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## GAP (18 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 18, 2009*

 Bribes and backroom deals: Inside the Afghan election 
Sonia Verma 
Article Link

Kabul — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009 04:47AM EDT

A few months ago, a dozen leaders from Kandahar's most influential Pashtun tribes called a meeting to decide whom to support in this presidential election.

They did not waver: Fed up with years of violence and corruption under Hamid Karzai's government, they chose to throw their support behind Abdullah Abdullah, the former foreign minister of mixed descent, who has emerged as a serious contender.

In Kandahar, it proved a difficult decision. The Karzai family wields enormous power in this Pashtun heartland, which is effectively ruled by his half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who heads its provincial council.

So the tribal leaders travelled to Kabul for a secret meeting with Dr. Abdullah, who, pleasantly surprised, gave them $15,000 to open a campaign office in a small rented house in Kandahar city. A few weeks later it was shut down.

“Wali called them to his compound,” a tribal leader with intimate knowledge of the meeting told The Globe and Mail.

“He gave them $20,000 and said, ‘change sides,' so they did.”

Such is the state of affairs in Kandahar province, which has emerged as the key to Thursday's presidential election.

Seeking a second term, Mr. Karzai was counting on his ethnic affiliations in Kandahar to deliver a victory.

For months Wali, acting as his brother's de facto campaign manager, has been courting Kandahari tribal leaders' support, paying for cars and security to shuttle them from remote villages to the city, where, over a traditional Afghan meal, he seeks a promise of votes.
More on link

 Rocket hits Afghan presidential compound
Article Link

 KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A rocket struck the compound of the presidential palace in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, two days before national elections, a palace official said Tuesday.

One person was injured in the attack, in which two rockets were launched, the official said.

The attack comes as Afghan and U.S. military forces are scrambling to provide security for the August 20 presidential and provincial council elections.

On Saturday a suicide bombing killed seven people and injured 91 in Kabul. The bombing occurred near the main gate of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, wounding several coalition troops.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack, which heightened security concerns about the election. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the voting
More on link

 Two Pakistani Taliban leaders captured
Article Link

 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- In what is seen a blow to the Pakistani Taliban, two top figures from the militant group have been seized by security forces, Pakistani officials said.

The two are Commander Saif Ullah, described by a senior police official in Islamabad as the right-hand man of Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, and Maulvi Umar, the high-profile spokesman for the group, were captured, officials said.

Ullah was wounded in a drone attack near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and was brought to Islamabad for treatment, the police official told CNN on Monday. The official did not say when the drone attack took place or when the arrest was made.

 Ullah was in charge of terrorist activities in southern Punjab and worked to recruit suicide bombers and facilitate suicide attacks, the official said.

Intelligence officials said Tuesday that Umar was arrested Monday night in Mohmand Agency, one of seven semiautonomous tribal agencies along the porous 1,500-mile border that Pakistan shares with Afghanistan.

Intelligence officials say the region is rife with Islamic extremists who have launched attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
More on link

 Pakistan needs "months" for Waziristan push-general
Tue Aug 18, 2009 
Article Link

SLAMABAD, Aug 18 (Reuters) - The Pakistani army needs months to prepare an offensive against the Taliban in their South Waziristan stronghold on the Afghan border, an army commander said on Tuesday.

"It's going to take months," Lieutenant-General Nadeem Ahmed told reporters after briefing visiting U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke.

Ahmed said the army was short of "the right kind of equipment" and helicopters were being used in an offensive against militants in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, and they needed maintainance.
end

 Edmonton-based soldiers practise defusing IEDS in Gibbons
 By Karen Kleiss, August 17, 2009
Article Link

GIBBONS - Afghanistan-bound troops from Edmonton started a weeklong training exercise in Gibbons on Monday to prepare them to defuse bombs in urban settings.

Forty soldiers from 1 Combat Engineer Regiment will be trained in handling improvised explosive devices, homemade bombs that have killed 80 per cent of the 127 Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan. Their skills will be crucial

After the bomb is defused, the soldier walks back to his crew. “It’s exhausting,” says one soldier. Then he lights up a smoke and jokes around. A second soldier says you need a sense of humour if you’re going to defuse homemade bombs for a living.

“You have lots of confidence in your team as well,” says a third, who operated a remote-control bomb-handling robot with two joysticks while he talked. “Before going, you have a plan together. There’s no real ego in this.”

The soldiers will leave for Afghanistan in September with 2,500 other troops as part of the 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade.
More on link

 U.S. Intelligence and Afghan Narcotics
Article Link
 Walter Pincus Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Afghanistan Intelligence Fusion Center, begun in 2004 and run by an American contractor under U.S. Air Force direction, is based at the offices of the Afghan counternarcotics police in Kabul. It produces "time-sensitive, counter-narco terrorism intelligence" that is critical for "compilation of actionable target packages" for U.S. and coalition forces, according to a recent Air Force notice on expanding the operation.

The Aug. 6 announcement said that the Air Force's 350th Electronic Systems Group, based at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, will award a six-month "bridge" contract to Virginia-based Cambridge Communications Systems this Friday to allow that company to continue operating and maintaining the fusion center through Feb. 22, 2010. Meanwhile, a broader new long-term contract will be opened for bidding.

As U.S., Afghan and coalition forces increase their focus on breaking up Afghan drug rings that help finance the insurgents, more support is being given to gathering and processing intelligence on drug operations. Years ago, the Air Force was designated as the lead service for drug detection and monitoring under the deputy assistant secretary of defense for counternarcotics. That's why an Air Force unit is in charge of the contract. 
More on link


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## GAP (19 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 19, 2009*

 Robbers killed in gunbattle at Kabul bank
Article Link

ABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Police stormed a bank and killed three armed robbers Wednesday in Afghanistan's capital after their robbery attempt had escalated into a gun battle with security officers.

The bank robbery attempt comes one day before Afghanistan's pivotal national elections. This week, the Taliban said it plans to disrupt the elections with continued attacks and threatened to kill Afghans who vote.

Local media identified the robbers as Taliban members.

Officers had surrounded the bank, and the exchange of gunfire went on for some time before the robbers were killed, according to an Interior Ministry spokesman.

Afghan and NATO commanders are fielding some 300,000 troops to protect voters on Thursday, according to NATO officials in charge of election security.
More on link

 Kabul battens down for elections 
Article Link
Sonia Verma Kabul — Globe and Mail Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009 03:33AM EDT

Tariqaziz Muhib runs a small travel agency from a sleek shop on the first floor of an air-conditioned shopping mall in the heart of Kabul.

The 19-year-old Afghan is educated, ambitious, and cares deeply about the future of his country. Yet, on Thursday's historic presidential election day, Mr. Muhib will be poolside at a four-star hotel in Dubai.

“I value my life more than my vote,” he said.

In a grim reminder of those risks, insurgents launched twin attacks in the capital Tuesday, killing eight and wounding more than 50, including a rocket assault on the presidential palace and the targeting of a NATO convoy by a suicide car bomber.

Mr. Muhib is not alone in his fears over the potential for violence. The gold and electronics dealers beside his agency have closed early, clearing their shelves of stock after the manager of the mall – until a few days ago considered an oasis of safety in Kabul – circulated a letter warning of election-day looting.

The ATM by the front door has been removed, and banks were hoarding cash, issuing Mr. Muhib just $1,000 (U.S.) before he left for a self-imposed week-long getaway with his parents first thing this morning. 
More on link
  
 Backgrounder: Basic facts about political system in Afghanistan
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-19 
Article Link

    BEIJING, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Voters will cast ballots on Thursday in the second presidential election in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban regime, with incumbent President Hamid Karzai, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, along with other 30 candidates, vying for the presidency.

    The following are basic facts about the evolution of Afghanistan's political system.

    Afghanistan, covering an area of 650,000 square kilometers, is strategically important due to its geographical location.

    Since 400 BC, the country had been invaded by other ethnic groups and finally was under the rule of the Persian Empire for centuries.

    In 1747, the Persian governance was toppled and the flourishing Afghan Empire was founded. Since the 19th century, with the decline of the Afghan Empire, Britain and Russia competed to exert influence over it. 
More on link

 Afghanistan Imposes Censorship on Election Day 
Article Link
By CARLOTTA GALL Published: August 18, 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban and the Afghan government escalated a war of attrition and propaganda on Tuesday, two days before the presidential election, with the Taliban unleashing suicide bombings and a rocket assault at the presidential palace and the government barring news organizations from reporting on election day violence. 

The attacks, aimed at the heart of the capital and the workplace of President Hamid Karzai, provided yet another indication of the insurgents’ determination to keep people away from the polls and undermine Thursday’s election, which has become a critical test for the Afghan government and its foreign backers.

Early Wednesday, gunmen seized control of a bank in downtown Kabul. The police said three were killed in a shootout. Officers at the scene said it was unclear who they were, but said the intensity of the fighting indicated they were more than common robbers.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (19 Aug 2009)

The Bundeswehr's Afghan Nightmare
How the Taliban Are Taking Control of Kunduz
_Spiegel Online_, Aug. 19



> _Six years ago, German soldiers came to Afghanistan's Kunduz province to carry out reconstruction work. Now they are engaged in a bitter struggle with the resurgent Taliban, who are trying to sabotage Thursday's presidential election. Many local people no longer believe the Europeans can help them._
> 
> The war in Afghanistan now revolves around men like Khanzada Gul. The West is fighting for him, and so are German soldiers. They want to prevent people like Gul from changing sides and joining the enemy -- the Taliban...
> 
> ...



Gen Sir Richard Dannatt: 'We need more resources in Afghanistan'
_Daily Telegraph_, Aug.18
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6050851/Gen-Sir-Richard-Dannatt-We-need-more-resources-in-Afghanistan.html



> _General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the British Army, has called for more resources in Afghanistan after the Government admitted key staff shortages are undermining operations to protect troops from roadside bombs._
> 
> Amid mounting British casualties from Taliban improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the Ministry of Defence has revealed that it does not have enough of the specialist surveillance personnel required to monitor potential bomb attacks.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## CougarKing (19 Aug 2009)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090819/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan



> *6 US troops die in Afghanistan ahead of election*
> By JASON STRAZIUSO and AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writers Jason Straziuso And Amir Shah, Associated Press Writers
> 1 hr 10 mins ago
> 
> ...


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## GAP (20 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 20, 2009*

Latest Updates on Afghanistan’s Election
 August 20, 2009, 6:47 am By Robert Mackey
Article Link

To supplement the main news article on Thursday’s elections in Afghanistan, which is being written and updated throughout the day by Carlotta Gall in Kabul with input from New York Times reporters around the country, the At War blog will be rounding up coverage of the election on other Web sites today. We will also be bringing readers news from various polling stations submitted to us by our colleagues in the field. Readers who are in Afghanistan are invited to share their experiences of the day with us.

Update | 8:55 a.m. The A.P. reports that “polls in Afghanistan have closed, and officials are beginning to count the millions of votes cast around the country.”

Update | 8:36 a.m. An Afghan journalist told the BBC in this video report that he witnessed government security forces preventing local journalists from covering a two-hour gun battle with insurgents in Kabul on election day.

Update | 8:23 a.m. Britain’s Channel 4 News produced this video report from Kabul today, showing the two leading candidates, Mr. Karzai and Mr. Abdullah, voting and Afghan security forces trying to prevent reporters from covering the aftermath of an attack in the capital:
More on link

 Decision day on Karzai 
Sonia Verma Globe and Mail Last updated on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009 
Article Link

Almost five years ago, Hamid Karzai stood in the floodlit gardens of the presidential palace, poised, confident, and flush with victory.

Seventy per cent of eligible Afghan voters had braved terrible weather conditions and threats of violence to deliver him 55.4 per cent of the vote.

It was a clear win, and a decisive mandate for Afghanistan's first popularly elected President, who promised to press ahead with a rigorous program of reconstruction and institution-building.

“Every vote for me from the Afghans was for the benefit of Afghanistan. These votes were for stability,” he said at the time.

As millions of Afghans return to the polls Thursday under renewed threats of violence from the Taliban and charges of electoral fraud, the uncertainty of whether Mr. Karzai is able to secure a second term in a first ballot looms large, underscoring his failure to deliver on earlier promises. 
More on link

 The Afghan pullout reconsidered 
Stephen Saideman Globe and Mail Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009 02:55AM EDT
Article Link

Canadians seemed surprised and perhaps even offended that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's new Secretary-General, Anders Rasmussen, would dare hope that the Canadian Forces might stay in Afghanistan in significant numbers past the 2011 deadline set by Parliament. The attitude is that Canadians have done their share, or more than their share, and that it is time for others to carry the load.

There is much truth to the claim that Canadians have borne a disproportionate burden, suffering more casualties per soldier on the ground than nearly any other country. But this attitude suggests that Canada has been engaged in Afghanistan as a favour, rather than in its interests. And if it has been in its interest to send soldiers to Afghanistan, it is not clear why those motivations are going to dissipate in 2011.

The problem is a failure of leadership. The civilian leaders of many NATO countries with significant contingents in harm's way have tried to duck the issue because of potential domestic political liabilities rather than make the case that fighting in Afghanistan advances a variety of political goals that are not coincidental, but actually flow from their countries' values and desired roles in the world. 
More on link

 Small rockets hit Afghanistan's Kandahar
Wed Aug 19, 2009
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 20 (Reuters) - A salvo of small rockets hit Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar on Thursday, the provnincial governor said, as Afghans prepared to vote in a tense presidential election Taliban militants vow to disrupt.

"Yes, rockets have landed," provincial governor Tooryalai Wesa told reporters after casting his vote at a polling station in the town. A Reuters reporter in the town heard two blasts on its outskirts just before polls opened, and two security sources said four people were injured.
end


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## MarkOttawa (20 Aug 2009)

ARTICLES FOUND AUG. 20

Daily Brief: Afghanistan votes: scattered attacks, low turnout
_Foreign Policy_, "AfPak Channel", Aug. 20
http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/08/20/daily_brief_afghanistan_votes_scattered_attacks_low_turnout

At War: Notes From the Frontlines
John Burns Is Answering Your Questions on Afghanistan
NY Times, Aug. 20
http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/john-burns-answers-your-questions-on-afghanistan/?th&emc=th



> After more than 30 years as a Times foreign correspondent, I’ve grown used to looking out of the aircraft or jeep or train on arrival in unfamiliar and often inhibiting terrain, and wondering with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety how quickly, and capably, I’ll get my professional bearings — and justify the editors’ faith in assigning me. The boundary I’ll be crossing with this new venture for “At War,” our new and expanded blog on the conflicts of the post-9/11 era, is a different kind of challenge — but just as daunting, in its way, as those old forays into unknown lands.
> 
> In the first 48 hours after our Web editors invited readers to send in their questions, more than 220 of you responded, a degree of interest that is encouraging for what it suggests about the potential for us at the Times of this kind of interactive journalism. Just as much, the flow of questions, and the sophisticated commentaries woven into many of them, have been a reminder of how much many of our readers already know about the complex challenges America confronts abroad.
> 
> We’ve heard from Americans who’ve served in Afghanistan in the Peace Corps, as diplomats, and as military personnel, as well as from scholars and others with specialized expertise in the area — and, no less, from individuals with no personal ties to Afghanistan but a deeply impressive grasp of the issues involved. So for this new undertaking to work at its best, we should aim at developing this new enterprise into a conversation, one from which we can all benefit, not least myself...



Decison 2009 (media round-up)
_The Canada-Afghanistan Blog_, Aug. 19
http://canada-afghanistan.blogspot.com/2009/08/decision-2009.html

Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (21 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 21, 2009*

 Afghan count begins in tents
Article Link

BAMIYAN, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Election workers labored in tents by the light of battery-powered lanterns, counting ballots after a day of brisk voting Thursday.

 "Karzai, Karzai, Karzai," repeated one worker as he stacked ballots into a growing pile.

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's incumbent president, was running for re-election after seven years in office against 40 other candidates.

"Ramazan Bashardost," another worker announced, naming the populist opposition candidate who ran a quirky campaign from inside a tent outside parliament, tossing charges of corruption at Karzai's government.

The dimly lit scene underscored the challenges of holding an election in one of the world's poorest countries.

Few roads are paved, electricity is scarce and telecommunications are spotty. On top of that, a fierce Taliban insurgency had declared war on the election.

Afghan election officials said 26 people were killed in sporadic violence around the country during the voting. A U.S. serviceman also was killed, in a mortar strike in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday.

Even central Bamiyan province, long considered one of the safest parts of the country, was not spared from insurgent threats.
More on link

 Terry Glavin: A victory for Afghanistan, and Canada
Posted: August 20, 2009, 3:30 PM by NP Editor Full Comment, Terry Glavin
Article Link

The spinning on Afghanistan's elections and their meaning will be fast and crazy over the next few days. As things have turned out, voting day wasn't anywhere near as calamitous as we'd been warned to expect.

Here's the United Nations' Kai Eide:

"First of all, let me remind you all of what our thinking was and about all the questions I got from you a couple of days ago. Those questions were: With all these security incidents and with this security situation will it be possible to hold elections in Afghanistan? Now, we see that elections have taken place across Afghanistan and I believe that, that is in itself an important achievement.

"There have also been a lot of discussions over the number of poll centres that the election commission will be able to open. Now we know that around 6,200 polling centres were open. The figures are not precise yet. But that is what we believe is the approximate number. That number is equal to the number that was open in 2005. And I must also say that, too, is an achievement."

An understatement, that. Despite the looming threat of dismemberment, mass murder and terror, millions of Afghans voted anyway. The courage of ordinary people is breathtaking: 
More on link

 Kandahar voters trickle into polling centres despite Taliban threats
By Dene Moore And A.R. Khan (CP) – 17 hours ago
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — In the end, it did not rain rockets - seven hit Kandahar city but the provincial capital is so used to war that it's not considered a big attack.

And there's been no report of anyone losing a finger to the Taliban, who threatened to dismember anyone bearing the "election stain."

Yet voters in Kandahar province appeared wary of casting ballots in nationwide elections Thursday following weeks of Taliban intimidation.

There were sporadic attacks across the country. Officials said 26 Afghans were killed in 15 provinces. The instability dampened voter turnout but authorities said the election was not derailed.

Canada's top commander in Afghanistan said the insurgent campaign to disrupt the vote was an "utter failure."

Election officials in Kandahar, where Canadian troops have been battling the insurgency since 2006, said the trickle of voters seen at polling centres early in the day increased as it became clear that the worst of the Taliban threats had not borne out.
More on link

Pakistan must confront Wahhabism

As the Saudi-financed Wahhabi Islam supplants the tolerant indigenous Sufi Islam, its violent creed is inspiring terrorism
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 August 2009 12.30 BST
  Article Link

Despite the recent offensive by the Pakistani army in the Swat Valley and by Nato in Helmand province, the "Talibanisation" of both Afghanistan and Pakistan proceeds apace. Vast parts of the Afghan south and a large region in western Pakistan are still under de facto control of Taliban militants who enforce a violent form of sharia law.

Western responses oscillate between calls for a secular alternative to the religious fundamentalism of the Taliban and attempts to engage the moderate elements among them. Neither will solve the underlying religious clash between indigenous Sufi Islam and the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi extremism. The UK and US must change strategy and adopt a policy that supports the peaceful indigenous Muslim tradition of Sufism while thwarting Saudi Arabia's promotion of the dangerous Wahhabi creed that fuels violence and sectarian tension.

As Afghanistan goes to the polls this week, western political and military leaders now recognise that stability and peace in the country cannot be created by military force alone. Like the "surge" strategy in Iraq which reduced suicide bombings by driving a wedge between indigenous Sunnis and foreign jihadists, the US and its European allies will try to separate the Taliban from al-Qaida fighters who infiltrate Afghanistan from across the border in Pakistan. By combining "surgical" strikes against terrorists in the Afghan-Pakistani border region with a political strategy aimed at "moderate" Taliban, President Obama hopes to save the US mission from disaster.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (21 Aug 2009)

Afghanistan: presidential election
Conference of Defence Associations's media update, Aug. 21
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1250875999

British troops escape after Taliban strike on helicopter in Afghanistan
_Guardian_, Aug. 20
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/20/british-troops-taliban-helicopter-afghanistan



> The crew of a British Chinook helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in southern Afghanistan after it was hit by enemy fire in what military sources described as an attempted "spectacular" aimed at destabilising the election.
> 
> The pilot managed to fly the helicopter out of danger and land safely after a fire broke out in the engine on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Defence.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (23 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 23, 2009*

 Afghanistan is not Anbar
Joe Klein Sunday, August 23, 2009 Helmand province 
Article Link

The latest news coming out of Afghanistan is not good. There is likely to be a second round of voting in the presidential race, which will keep the government in flux and U.S. troops preoccupied for at least another month--and the results of any election will be questioned because of the semi-successful Taliban suppression of the vote in the Pashtun-majority south.

Then, there is the military situation. This report details the problems the US Marines are having in crucial Helmand province:
Frustrated, Governor Massoud said his “government is weak and cannot provide agricultural officials, school officials, prosecutors and judges.”

He said he was promised 120 police officers, but only 50 showed up. He said many were untrustworthy and poorly trained men who stole from the people, a description many of the Americans agree with. No more than 10 percent appear to have attended a police academy, they say. “Many are just men from the streets,” the governor said.
More on link

 Red Cross to Get Data on Prisoners Held in Secret at U.S. Camps
By Karen DeYoung Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, August 23, 2009
Article Link

The U.S. military has agreed for the first time to provide information to the International Committee of the Red Cross about prisoners held in secret at detention camps in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it will continue to deny the ICRC access to them, military officials said Saturday.

The facilities are "short-term places" operated by U.S. Special Forces for newly captured alleged insurgents considered to have valuable information or to be serious threats, according to an official familiar with the subject, who was not authorized to discuss it on the record. It is usually in "the early hours" of detention that interrogators "are able to gain the freshest and most valuable intelligence," the official said.

The military's agreement early this month to provide the ICRC with at least the names of detainees in the Iraq and Afghanistan camps was first reported Saturday on the New York Times's Web site.

The Red Cross has long requested information about, and access to, such prisoners held at the U.S. military base at Bagram, Afghanistan, and in Balad, Iraq. Only a few dozen detainees are believed to be at each location at any time, usually for several weeks until they are transferred to longer-term prisons.

In Afghanistan, that normally means the main prison at Bagram, where the military holds about 600 detainees. Although the ICRC has access to that facility, prisoners there have protested their continuing detention by refusing since last month to see Red Cross workers or participate in videoconference visits with their families.

Unlike the large U.S. military prisons that once operated in Iraq -- where military panels reviewed individual cases for release or transfer to Iraqi-run facilities -- there is no review or adjudication process at Bagram. The military has delayed establishing one because Afghanistan lacks a functioning judicial system.

ICRC spokesman Bernard Barrett declined to comment Saturday. 
More on link

 The war for Afghanistan's women
It's not worth risking U.S. lives unless we raise the status of Afghan women.
Article Link
By Malcolm Potts August 23, 2009

There are two wars going on in Afghanistan. One is to defeat the Taliban, and that war is not going well. The other is to liberate women, and that war has hardly begun. If the first war is won but the second is lost, Afghanistan will turn into a failed state -- a caldron of violence and misery, home to extremism and totally outside the Western orbit of influence.

Last week's election, however imperfect, is welcome, but it means little as long as women remain enslaved in this patriarchal, tradition-bound culture. In most of the country, a woman needs her husband's permission to leave her home. Domestic violence is tragically common. Indeed, the government elected in 2004 passed, and President Hamid Karzai signed into law, legislation legalizing marital rape. Older men use their wealth and power to marry young women. In April, according to news reports, when a teenage Afghan girl called Gulsima eloped with a boy her own age instead of marrying an older man, she and the boyfriend were shot to death in front of the mosque in the southwest province of Nimrod.

Currently, Afghanistan is one of the worst places in the world to be a woman, and -- as is the case everywhere women's rights are nonexistent or in decline -- the birthrate is high. Afghan women have an average of about seven children, and the population has been doubling about every 20 years. Today it is 34 million. According to U.N. estimates, by 2050 it could reach a staggering 90 million. That rapid population growth and the demographics that go with it drive most of Afghanistan's worst problems.

All too often, demography is overlooked in developing countries, as I experienced in 2002 when I wrote the budgets for a U.N. agency working to rebuild Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban. Part of our job was to write a 10-year financial plan. As my colleague from the World Bank was closing his computer, I said, "You do realize in 10 years' time there will be almost 50% more people needing healthcare?" He hadn't. After an expletive and some more hitting of computer keys, the budget totals rose considerably.

More on link

Words from the front line: the bloody truth of Helmand-by a combat soldier
Article Link

The past eight weeks have been the army's worst time in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion eight years ago. Here, in his brutally frank diaries of life on the front line, a serving soldier records the bitter toll of death, and his anger and frustration at the lack of military and political support

It is called Operation Minimise, an order from brigade headquarters in southern Afghanistan to restrict communications. British troops in Helmand province dread Op Minimise. They know commanders will be phoning the UK, a call that will lead to a family being told that their son or daughter is dead.

Over the past eight weeks in Helmand province, British forces have requested Op Minimise 37 times, more than once every day-and-a-half. Yet, despite this being the bloodiest period for British troops in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion eight years ago, few first-hand accounts from Helmand's front line have emerged.

Now the Observer can publish the diaries of a serving combat soldier engaged in the fiercest fighting of recent weeks. He tells how his unit was embroiled in up to six "contacts" a day, sometimes against Chechnyan snipers, on other occasions highly trained Pakistani militia. The author himself is credited with killing more than 30 Taliban.
More on link

 Canadian pilots train for desert dust
2009-08-21 14:45:34
Article Link

One man's desert is another man's training ground.

About 70 personnel with the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) No. 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron were at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma this month to train in desert conditions to prepare them for a trip to Afghanistan in the fall.

The group practiced landing in brownout conditions, or when the helicopter kicks up dust while landing, said Lt. Col. Jeff Smyth, commanding officer with 408. They arrived Aug. 9.

"I think it really gets the guys a little more comfortable with what they're going to face overseas for nine months," he said.

Smyth said the helicopters blow a lot of air around, and when they're landing in dusty conditions such as Afghanistan, it can be dangerous and prevent the pilots from seeing.

"(The helicopter) is blowing 11,000 pounds of air, it stirs up a lot of dust," Smyth said. "It takes a fair amount of training to do that without crashing, essentially."

With the squadron's upcoming deployment to support NATO's International Security Assistance Force, it's essential that they practice in similar conditions.

"Afghanistan is very, very dusty," Smyth said.

In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where the squadron is based, it's not.

"At home, we don't have the dusty desert conditions that exist down here, so we come to give the crew some practice landing in the dust," he said.

The group brought four helicopters to Yuma and also got exposure to another element the area is known for: heat.

Getting used to the heat "takes a bit of an adjustment," Smyth said, but it gives the squadron a good idea of what to expect.

Personnel also had an opportunity to train at night and practice gunning.
More on link

  Afghanistan's future uncertain if Karzai wins
Posted By MICHAEL DEN TANDT Posted 2 days ago
Article Link 

Is it too little? Is it too late?

Whatever the outcome of the presidential election in Afghanistan, Canadians and especially Canadian soldiers and their families will ask themselves hard questions as they contemplate another grinding year overseas. Hamid Karzai, widely expected to win either in a first round or a run-off, is out of time. And he deserves to be.

For seven years now NATO, led by the United States, has poured money and troops into Afghanistan. The donations and sacrifices continue apace. Some $20 billion US over five years were promised in 2008.

U. S. troop levels are now near 60,000 and will rise to 68,000 by year end.

Other NATO countries combined have an additional 30,000 troops in the country.

In addition to providing security and battling the Taliban, NATO is working flat out to train up the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police. Earlier this year U. S. President Barack Obama set a goal of training 134,000 Afghan soldiers and 82,000 police by 2011.

Despite the enormous outlay of men and materiel, the economic and human cost, the Afghan mission is failing.

Last year was the deadliest for foreign soldiers since the U. S. invasion in 2001. NATO recorded more than 3,000 IED (improvised explosive device) attacks across the country, an increase of more than 40% from 2007.

As of this month 700 U. S. soldiers have died in the Afghan war. The British have lost 204, Canada 127. Germany, France, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy combined have lost 152.

In response to all this, Karzai simply says, give us more. But that no longer washes. According to some reports, he has been quietly given a deadline of six months. 
More on link

Afghanistan Contractors Outnumber Troops 
Despite Surge in U.S. Deployments, More Civilians Are Posted in War Zone; 
By AUGUST COLE  AUGUST 22, 2009
Article Link

Even as U.S. troops surge to new highs in Afghanistan they are outnumbered by military contractors working alongside them, according to a Defense Department census due to be distributed to Congress -- illustrating how hard it is for the U.S. to wean itself from the large numbers of war-zone contractors that proved controversial in Iraq.

The number of military contractors in Afghanistan rose to almost 74,000 by June 30, far outnumbering the roughly 58,000 U.S. soldiers on the ground at that point. As the military force in Afghanistan grows further, to a planned 68,000 by the end of the year, the Defense Department expects the ranks of contractors to increase more.

View Full Image
Associated Press The ranks of military contractors in Afghanistan have been growing along with the surge in troops. Above, contractor barracks at the Kandahar airfield.
.
The military requires contractors for essential functions ranging from supplying food and laundry services to guarding convoys and even military bases -- functions that were once performed by military personnel but have been outsourced so a slimmed-down military can focus more on battle-related tasks.

The Obama administration has sought to reduce its reliance on military contractors, worried that the Pentagon was ceding too much power to outside companies, failing to rein in costs and not achieving desired results.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (23 Aug 2009)

Well, it could have been worse
Intimidation, attacks and disenchantment suppressed turnout but did not abort voting
Toronto Star, Aug. 23, by Ramesh Thakur
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/684904



> The excitement and euphoria of 2004 in Afghanistan have given way to resigned acceptance.
> 
> Where once Hamid Karzai was the face of national unity and optimism, today he symbolizes the loss of hope and momentum and is facing a stiff challenge from former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. Both camps have rushed to claim victory in last week's election. Preliminary results should be available on Sept. 2 and final results on the 17th.
> 
> ...




Marines Fight Taliban With Little Aid From Afghans
_NY Times_, Aug. 23
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/pop/articles/23marines.html



> KHAN NESHIN, Afghanistan — American Marines secured this desolate village in southern Afghanistan nearly two months ago, and last week they were fortifying bases, on duty at checkpoints and patrolling in full body armor in 120-degree heat. Despite those efforts, only a few hundred Afghans were persuaded to come out here and vote for president on Thursday.
> 
> In a region the Taliban have lorded over for six years, and where they remain a menacing presence, American officers say their troops alone are not enough to reassure Afghans. Something is missing that has left even the recently appointed district governor feeling dismayed. “I don’t get any support from the government,” said the governor, Massoud Ahmad Rassouli Balouch.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (24 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 24, 2009*

 Pakistan police say series of raids foils attacks
Updated Mon. Aug. 24 2009 8:33 AM ET The Associated Press
Article Link

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani authorities arrested 13 Islamist militants and seized suicide vests, bomb-making material and heroin in separate raids that police said Monday had foiled major attacks in the country's south and east.

One of the busts provided clues to how profits from drug sales in Singapore, Malaysia, China and the Persian Gulf are transferred among different extremist groups co-operating to plan terrorist attacks and fight Western forces supporting Afghanistan's government, police said. Another on Monday saw the capture of a main Taliban recruiter of suicide bombers.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is battling Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants blamed for scores of terrorist attacks over the last two years. On Aug. 5, the campaign got a major boost when Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was believed to have been killed in a U.S. missile strike close to the Afghan border, where the militants are strongest. 
More on link

 Canadian helps found Afghan wildlife preserve
Updated Mon. Aug. 24 2009 6:38 AM ET The Canadian Press
Article Link

MONTREAL -- Guns and hand grenades have nearly wiped out many large animals and fish in Afghanistan.

But Canadian wildlife biologist Chris Shank has helped found the country's first national park, providing safe haven to those creatures left behind after so many have become collateral damage in a country decimated by decades of war.

Band-e-Amir holds rare attributes for a national park: exotic animals here have been frequently shot, marine life gets blown up by fishermen who carry explosives instead of fishing gear, and the path into the park bypasses landmines.

In the midst sits a jewel of a region with rugged peaks and clear blue lakes in the Hindu Kush mountains of the central Bamiyan province.

It was inaugurated last April near the site where 1,500-year-old Buddha statues were reduced to rubble by the Taliban in 2001.

Its creation is a small victory, 30 years in the making, for the Alberta-based researcher who first saw its potential in the mid 1970s while working with a team of researchers from the United Nations. 
More on link

  Journalist shot dead in Pakistan
Article Link

Unidentified gunmen have shot dead an Afghan journalist in north-west Pakistan, officials say.

Janullah Hashimzada, 40, was the bureau chief in Peshawar for Afghanistan's Shamshad television channel.

He was returning from Afghanistan when his bus was ambushed near Jamrud, the main town in Khyber tribal district.

No one has admitted carrying out the attack. The area is a stronghold of the Taliban. Mr Hashimzada was an outspoken critic of the militants.

"The attackers in a Toyota Corolla car intercepted the bus and made it stop and then they went inside and shot him dead," Reuters news agency quoted Rehan Khattak, a government official in Jamrud, as saying.

One passenger was wounded, he said.

Mr Hashimzada was a well-known face on Shamshad TV.

He also worked as a freelance, supplying video footage to international media organisations around the world, including the BBC. 
More on link

 Afghan elections seen as a setback for women
By NAHAL TOOSI and NOOR KHAN (AP) – 5 hours ago
Article Link

KABUL — For women, Afghanistan's recent elections appear to have been more of a setback than a step forward.

Early reports strongly suggest that voter turnout fell more sharply for women than for men in Thursday's polls. Election observers blame Taliban attacks, a dearth of female election workers and hundreds of closed women's voting sites.

Some worry the result could be a new government that pays even less attention to women's concerns in a country where cultural conservatism already restricts female participation in public life.

Kulsoom Bibi, a woman in her 40s, is among those who did not vote.

"The rockets started coming from the early morning and, until night, the rockets still came," she said in Kandahar, the southern city that is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. "The government hasn't done anything for women, and there were a lot of security problems. That's why I didn't cast my vote."
More on link

  Government must tread carefully on Afghan rape law
Article Link

The international community should deal with the Afghan rape law quietly, so as not to incite a backlash in Afghanistan.
By Harris MacLeod
The Canadian government and the international community in Afghanistan need to "tread carefully" in dealing with the so-called 'Afghan rape law,' which permits men to deny their wives food if they are refused sex, because a loud public response could embolden conservative forces in the war-torn country.

"I'm hoping that any pressure that is applied is done so quietly and through diplomatic channels and that it doesn't play itself out in the media," said Cheshmak Farhoumand-Sims, a professor of conflict studies at Saint Paul University and an expert in women's issues in Afghanistan.

The last time a similar law was introduced in the Afghan parliament, back in April, it caused outrage among the Canadian public and the opposition parties. The original law, which would have made marital rape legal, led to the Canadian government and other Western actors in Afghanistan pressuring the Afghan government to withdraw it. But Prof. Farhoumand-Sims said those kinds of reactions empower conservative forces, like the Taliban, to make the case to the Afghan people that the government of President Hamid Karzai is taking orders from so-called "imperial forces."
More on link

 Opium: The real enemy
 Journalist Gretchen Peters calls drugs, not ideology, the greatest Afghan challenge
 By Michael Byers, Canwest News ServiceAugust 23, 2009
Article Link

Last November, I met a beautiful and cheerful young woman who was literally bursting with song. She was high on heroin, arms bruised from needle punctures, and so terribly thin that her pyjamas flapped as she danced through the vomit- and urine-stained halls of one of Vancouver's cheapest hotels.

By now, the young woman is probably dead -- one of the latest Canadian victims not just of the war on drugs, but also of the war in Afghanistan.

Gretchen Peters' Seeds of Terror is essential reading for anyone concerned about public policy in the drug, defence or diplomatic domains. The former ABC News reporter draws on decades of field experience, numerous interviews and secret government documents to demonstrate that opium -- not religious or political ideology -- poses the greatest challenge to the United States and NATO in Afghanistan today.

She traces the origins of the crisis to the United States' unqualified support for the mujahedeen in the 1980s.
More on link

Marines Fight Taliban With Little Aid From Afghans

Article Link

KHAN NESHIN, Afghanistan — American Marines secured this desolate village in southern Afghanistan nearly two months ago, and last week they were fortifying bases, on duty at checkpoints and patrolling in full body armor in 120-degree heat. Despite those efforts, only a few hundred Afghans were persuaded to come out here and vote for president on Thursday.

In a region the Taliban have lorded over for six years, and where they remain a menacing presence, American officers say their troops alone are not enough to reassure Afghans. Something is missing that has left even the recently appointed district governor feeling dismayed. “I don’t get any support from the government,” said the governor, Massoud Ahmad Rassouli Balouch.

Governor Massoud has no body of advisers to help run the area, no doctors to provide health care, no teachers, no professionals to do much of anything. About all he says he does have are police officers who steal and a small group of Afghan soldiers who say they are here for “vacation.”
More on link

 No timetable for German pullout from Afghanistan, says Merkel 
Article Link

Merkel told public television on Sunday that she wanted to bring the German soldiers home "as soon as possible" but not until their mission was complete. According to the chancellor, Berlin's goal was self-sustained security for Afghanistan.

Questions over the German troop presence in Afghanistan had been raised by Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier on Saturday.

Steinmeier's Social Democrats (SPD) are currently sharing power in an uncomfortable grand coalition with Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), but the foreign minister hopes to unseat Germany's first female chancellor in the upcoming Sept. 27 elections.

Steinmeier said that he would prepare a timetable for a German pullout if his party wins next month's election. As chancellor, he said, he would "press for clear perspectives with the new Afghan government for the end of military involvement."
More on link


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## GAP (25 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 25, 2009*

 Afghanistan to Release Partial Election Results Tuesday
By VOA News 25 August 2009
Article Link 

Afghanistan's election commission says it will release partial results from last week's presidential elections Tuesday, but complete nationwide preliminary results will not be known for another 10 days.

As people await the official results, the country's finance minister, Hazrat Omr Zakhilwal, claimed clear victory for incumbent President Hamid Karzai.  

Zakhilwal said Monday the president received 68 percent of the vote.

A spokesman for Mr. Karzai's top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, rejected that claim.

On the political front, the United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, has appealed for patience as Afghan officials investigate accusations of voter fraud.
More on link

 Canadian serving with U.S. army killed in rollover
25-year-old Darby Morin was from Saskatchewan's Big River First Nation
Article Link

A fallen soldier from Saskatchewan's Big River First Nation will be remembered as a brave role model and loving father.

United States Army Sergeant Darby Morin, 25, died early Saturday morning when the driver of the vehicle he was travelling in lost control, causing a rollover near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Heavy fog blanketed the road at the time of the crash. Sgt. Morin was wearing his seatbelt, but was unconscious when military medics arrived on scene.

Sgt. Morin was the nephew of Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Vice-Chief Lyle Whitefish.

Mr. Whitefish, reached on his cellphone in Delaware on Monday afternoon, was preparing for Sgt. Morin's body to arrive back in the United States at the Dover Air Force Base.

"You never think it would happen," Mr. Whitefish said. "Of course he was at risk every day, but a lot of young men and women come home. Unfortunately, others don't, and he was one that didn't."

Sgt. Morin and his wife, Veronica, had two sons, Christian, 3, and Blue Sky, 19 months.

"He was a great father and he loved his wife and his children," Mr. Whitefish said. "He was very compassionate."
More on link

 Canadian at heart of Afghanistan post-election storm
Matthew Fisher, National Post Monday, August 24, 2009 
Article Link

KABUL -- The most powerful man in Afghanistan these days may not be a Taliban insurgent, a warlord, a general or the president.

It could be a soft-spoken, good-natured, silver-haired former aide to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

As the UN-appointed chief of the Election Complaints Commission, Grant Kippen of Ottawa finds himself at the centre of Afghanistan's growing postelection storm.

President Hamid Karzai's main challenger for the country's top job, Abdullah Abdullah, has alleged that there was "massive fraud" during last Thursday's election. Karzai's former foreign minister further claims that this was part of an attempt by the incumbent and his supporters to "steal" the election.

But in part of what has quickly become a postelection game of dramatic one upmanship, a Karzai cabinet minister said Monday that Mr. Karzai won a clear mandate, winning 68% of the vote, thereby eliminating any need for a second ballot run-off with Abdullah.
More on link

 Military rethinking 'golden hour' for injuries
By LARA JAKES (AP) – 6 hours ago
Article Link

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan — The U.S. military is rethinking its "golden hour" goal for critically injured troops, questioning whether it should spend a little longer evacuating patients to get them to a better hospital.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been adamant that troops in Afghanistan, where the craggy terrain makes medical evacuations difficult, get help as quickly as those in Iraq. Wounded troops in Iraq generally are reached, stabilized and hospitalized within what medical providers call the "golden hour" — the time it generally takes to deliver care needed to save a person's life.

But at the base hospital located on what Afghans call the "desert of death," doctors Tuesday told Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway that it's better to make sure patients who are wounded in battle zones get the best care possible, rather than be taken to the closest medical facility.

"Seventy minutes to the right place is better than 50 minutes to the wrong place," said Navy Capt. Joseph Rappolo, a trauma surgeon.

Conway, in Afghanistan visiting troops, said he could agree — as long as emergency evacuation teams on the scene provide some care first.
More on link

 U.S. releases Guantanamo detainee back to Afghanistan
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-25 12:06:26 	  
Article Link

    WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government Monday released a Guantanamo detainee to his homeland in Afghanistan.

    According to U.S. media reports, Mohammed Jawad, who was accused of throwing a grenade in Afghanistan in 2002 injuring two American troops, was sent home to join his family in Kabul.

    His lawyer David Frakt told reporters that Jawad was set to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday evening.

    Jawad was only 16 or 17 when he was arrested, one of the youngest prisoners held in the prison at the U.S. navy base in Cuba.

    The U.S. Department of Justice once considered prosecuting Jawad in the U.S. federal court, but most of evidence against him was thrown out since judges considered it obtained by torture.  
More on link

 The High-Reaching Goal of Rebuilding Afghanistan's Air Corps
Article Link
By Walter Pincus Tuesday, August 25, 2009

How long is the U.S. military going to be in Afghanistan?

At least until 2016, if the U.S. Air Force general training the Afghan National Army Air Corps is correct.

"Our goal is by 2016 to have an air corps that will be capable of doing those operations and the things that it needs to do to meet the security requirements of this country," Brig. Gen. Walter Givhan told Pentagon reporters recently in a teleconference from Kabul, the Afghan capital. Even then, the Afghans will not be able to perform functions other air forces do, he said, adding, "The long-term goal beyond that envisions a continued partnership."

Like many things in Afghanistan, U.S. military plans for the Afghan air corps mean creating something completely new. Givhan said the effort involves "not just acquiring aircraft and training pilots and the people that maintain aircraft, but it's across everything." 
More on link

 PR firm screening reporters for Afghanistan embedding
Article Link

Stars and Stripes reports that a U.S. public relations company involved with a discredited Iraqi exile group will screen journalists headed to Afghanistan to decide whether past coverage has portrayed the military positively.

The Rendon Group says it reviews reporters' recent articles and "and determines whether the coverage was 'positive,' 'negative' or 'neutral' compared to mission objectives." Any reporter wanting to "embed" with U.S. forces is subject to the background check. The company has been paid by the Pentagon since 2005.

The military says no reporter has been turned down.

“We have not denied access to anyone because of what may or may not come out of their biography,” said Air Force Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a public affairs officer with U.S. Forces Afghanistan in Kabul. “It’s so we know with whom we’re working.”
More on link

  Inside al Qaeda underground torture bunkers
4:59 a.m. EDT, Tue August 25, 2009
Article Link

 WESTERN DESERT, Iraq (CNN) -- The hot wind swirls around the human bones and cracked skulls that litter the forsaken desert lands in Western Iraq.
The entrance to the bunker complex where al Qaeda terrorized enemies in Iraq.

We are standing in the middle of what was an al Qaeda execution site, just outside an intricate bunker complex that the organization used to torture and murder its victims, the bodies left to rot or be eaten by animals.

From the back of the police truck the opening to the first bunker is barely discernible in the distance.

"Al Qaeda came in as a massive force" one of the officers says as we bump along the harsh terrain. "They stole our cars, our personal cars. They kidnapped two of my brothers. They blew up the house over there."

In the distance we can see his village -- a set of sand colored homes surrounded by parched farmlands.

As we approach grubby children chase the truck and then stand to the side, despondent, as the officer points to their home. "Their father was killed by al Qaeda," he says.

In 2007 the U.S. military launched a series of airstrikes that drove out al Qaeda.

As we enter the first bunker Captain Khaled Bandar tells us they found the floor littered with bodies.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (25 Aug 2009)

Australian troops kill another insurgent leader
_The Australian_, Aug. 25
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25979856-12335,00.html



> Australian Defence Force chief of joint operations Lieutenant General Mark Evans said Mullah Abdul Karim, along with a number of other insurgents, was killed in an operation on August 10.
> 
> Lieutenant General Evans said this was an important and positive development in enhancing the security and stability of Oruzgan Province.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## a_majoor (25 Aug 2009)

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/08/24/taliban-collapsing-in-pakistan/



> *Taliban collapsing in Pakistan?*
> posted at 5:20 pm on August 24, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
> Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
> 
> ...


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## MarkOttawa (25 Aug 2009)

Pakistan Taliban say Mehsud is dead 
_Aljazeera.net_, Aug. 25
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/08/2009825162948155681.html



> The Pakistani Taliban has admitted that Baitullah Mehsud, the group's militant leader, died after being hurt in a missile attack carried out by a US pilotless drone earlier this month.
> 
> Two Taliban commanders said on Tuesday that Meshed died on Sunday after he was wounded on August 5.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (26 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 26, 2009*

 Turkey should 'expand role in Afghanistan'
(AFP) – 2 hours ago
Article Link

ANKARA — Turkey should expand the mandate of its troops in Afghanistan and play a bigger part in the fight against terrorism, NATO's secretary general said in remarks published Wednesday in the Turkish press.

"Of course it is up to the (NATO) allies to decide how they contribute" to operations in Afghanistan, Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview with the Milliyet newspaper. But sending combat troops to the country would be welcome.

"It would be met with great satisfaction," he said.

Turkey has deployed some 730 infantry soldiers to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) but their mission is restricted to the capital Kabul and its surrounds.

Turkey, a Muslim member of NATO, has indicated that it might increase its military contingent in Afghanistan, but only if they remain in Kabul.

It says its effort should be aimed at other aspects, such as training Afghan security forces and providing assistance in the fields of health and education.

Rasmussen believes that having Muslim soldiers in the front line against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan would help convince other Muslim nations that the operations "are not a religious war but a struggle against terrorism."
More on link

Karzai widens lead over Abdullah in Afghan vote
By HEIDI VOGT (AP) – 44 minutes ago
Article Link

KABUL — Afghanistan's election commission says President Hamid Karzai has expanded his lead over top challenger Abdullah Abdullah.

The commission says Karzai has 44.8 percent of ballots counted, while Abdullah has 35.1 percent. The partial vote totals are based on only 17 percent of the country's polling stations.

The commission plans to release partial results each day for the next several days. Final, certified results won't be made public until mid or late September.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (26 Aug 2009)

U.S., Allies Plan to Bolster Kandahar Force (with useful interactive map)
_Wall St. Journal_, Aug. 26
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125122932329657897.html



> KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The U.S. and its allies are planning to reinforce Afghan police and army units guarding Kandahar with American and Canadian troops, a move that acknowledges the deteriorating condition of the south's largest city.
> 
> According to senior military officials, U.S. and Canadian soldiers will for the first time deploy to bases on the outskirts of the city. The local Afghan forces will be bolstered by an expanded number of embedded American trainers.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (27 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 27, 2009*

 Officer sues RCMP over treatment in Afghanistan
By The Canadian Press Thu. Aug 27 - 4:46 AM
Article Link

VANCOUVER — In March of 2007, veteran RCMP Sgt. Derrick Ross headed to Afghanistan as part of the Mounties’ continuing mission to help train that war-battered nation’s civilian police force.

Once there, however, he claims his scheduled year-long tour of duty turned into a nightmare.

According to Ross, a Metis, his stay was marked by racial tension and condescension from other RCMP members. He was further perturbed, he says, by the practice of some Mounties to accompany military excursions, which Ross felt was beyond their prescribed policing responsibilities.

After just six months, Ross, who had raised questions over behaviour he thought was improper, was sent home, after a computer incident from which he was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing.

Now, in a statement of claim to be filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia Wednesday, Ross is suing senior RCMP officers over his treatment in Afghanistan and alleged harassment once he returned.
More on link

 Young Afghan freed from Guantanamo to sue US gov't
By HEIDI VOGT (AP) – 3 hours ago
Article Link

KABUL — The family of one of the youngest prisoners ever held at Guantanamo plans to sue the U.S. government to compensate him for mistreatment and an adolescence lost to nearly seven years in a cell, his lawyers said Thursday.

Mohammed Jawad returned to Afghanistan this week after a military judge ruled that he was coerced into confessing that he threw a grenade at an unmarked vehicle in the capital in 2002. The attack wounded two American soldiers and their interpreter.

Afghan police delivered Jawad into U.S. custody and about a month later he was sent to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Jawad and his family say he was 12 when he was arrested, and that he is now 19 years old. The Pentagon has said a bone scan showed he was about 17 when taken into custody. His defense lawyers decline to give an exact age for Jawad, who does not have a birth certificate, but say photos taken in Guantanamo showed that he had not gone through puberty.

"I was an innocent child when they put me in prison," Jawad told The Associated Press in an interview at the offices of an Afghan lawyer association. A round-cheeked man with a scraggly beard, Jawad spoke tentatively, glancing at his lawyer. He wore a white robe and a traditional beaded cap as he sat stiffly on an office couch.
More on link

 Delay Further Muddies Afghan Vote Count
By REUTERS Published: August 27, 2009
Article Link

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan officials said on Thursday they had delayed releasing further results from the nation's disputed presidential poll, adding further confusion to a contest which appears headed for a second round.

Votes from about 17 percent of 27,000 polling stations have been counted so far, meaning results could swing wildly in the coming days. Preliminary final results are due on September 3, with the final tally about two weeks later.

Afghanistan has been in political limbo since the August 20 vote, with partial results released so far showing President Hamid Karzai leading his main rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, by about 43 percent to 34 percent.

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) said only votes from provincial council elections, held concurrently with the presidential poll a week ago, would be counted on Thursday.

Adding to an already chaotic picture, computer software failures meant counting was going slower than expected, said IEC deputy head Zekria Barakzai.

The election is a major test for Karzai after eight years in power and for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has poured in thousands of extra troops as part of his new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan.

The picture will not become any clearer for at least two days, with no counting planned for Friday, a Muslim holiday.
More on link

 U.S. police to bolster Canadian cop ranks in Afghanistan
 By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceAugust 26, 2009
Article Link

KABUL — Canadian police mentors in Kandahar City are going to get help soon from the U.S. army.

"These are not just any Americans. It is a company of military police," assistant commissioner Graham Muir of the RCMP said in an interview on Wednesday.

"What is about to unfold," the senior Canadian police officer in Afghanistan said, is that Canadian mentors based in the country's second largest city are going to be "a little more robust in the field" because the U.S. military police that they will soon work with "have fighting skills."

The more than 100 newcomers from the U.S. are to work directly for Brig-Gen. Jon Vance, the Canadian who runs Task Force Kandahar. A battalion of U.S. army infantry already reports to Vance, whose command will soon number more than 4,000 troops, including 2,800 Canadians.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (27 Aug 2009)

Afghanistan: protecting the people is the mission
Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up, Aug. 27
http://www.cdaforumcad.ca/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1251393302



> ...
> _Recommended reading_
> ...
> Damian Brooks for The Torch blog criticizes the propagation of Taliban viewpoints in the international media.
> http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2009/08/real-propaganda.html ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (30 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 30, 2009*

 Canadian soldier wounded by own weapon in Afghanistan
 By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceAugust 28, 2009
Article Link

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A Canadian soldier is in critical but stable condition after apparently being shot with his own weapon.

The incident occurred Thursday morning in a bunker near the Canadian living quarters at the Kandahar Airfield, said Maj. Mario Couture of Task Force Kandahar. Such bunkers, which are often as large as a baseball dugout, are a common sight at the base, which is the hub for NATO's war against the Taliban and al-Qaida in southern Afghanistan.

Other Canadian military and civilian personnel rushed to provide first aid before the wounded soldier, who had recently arrived in Afghanistan, was taken to the Canadian-led military hospital at the base.

As with most seriously wounded Americans and Canadians from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the wounded soldier is expected to be flown to a U.S. army medical facility at Landstuhl, Germany for highly specialized treatment before returning to North America.

Thursday's shooting was not disclosed publicly until Friday because it took some time to locate and inform the next of kin, Couture, the task force's senior spokesman, said. The Canadian Forces have a long-standing policy of not releasing the names of wounded soldiers.

"The soldier received non-battle related injuries caused by a weapon that is believed to be his own," Couture said.
More on link

  U.S. reporter wounded in Afghanistan
updated 5:56 a.m. EDT, Sat August 29
Article Link

A CBS News reporter was seriously injured Friday in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan that also killed a U.S. soldier, the network said.

Cami McCormick, 47, was riding in the same army vehicle as the soldier in eastern Logar province when the vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device, the U.S. network said.

The army was on a routine mission at the time of the blast, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. It did not provide any other information.

Before CBS, McCormick worked for CNN and CNN Radio in Atlanta, Georgia.

McCormick was on assignment for CBS Radio News. She underwent emergency surgery at a field hospital before being taken to Bagram Air Base for further treatment, CBS said. She is in stable condition.
More on link

  Life imitates art as gunmen attack crew of Afghan war movie
updated 1:27 p.m. EDT, Fri August 28, 2009
Article Link

LONDON, England (CNN) -- When David Whitney traveled to Pakistan to shoot his film about a man forced to flee Afghanistan after falling foul of the Taliban he didn't expect fiction to turn into reality.

 But that's exactly what happened three weeks into shooting political thriller "Kandahar Break" in late 2008.

Gunmen attacked the first-time director and his crew near the Afghan border. Four Pakistani crew members were shot and wounded in the incident and the entire crew was forced to flee the region.

Pakistani authorities later told Whitney that the gunmen were affiliated with the Taliban and were in fact targeting the Western members of the team.

"I was very upset. It was terrifying to know that somebody was trying to attack us, trying to shoot us," Whitney told CNN.

With the help of local security forces the team was immediately evacuated to Islamabad and put on a flight out of the country in 24 hours.

Whitney had only managed to film three-quarters of the script and the film's future lay in the balance. 
More on link

 Grieving Saskatchewan First Nation remembers two soldiers killed in crashes
By Jennifer Graham (CP) – 17 hours ago
Article Link

Grief and pride are tearing at a northern Saskatchewan First Nation as band members say goodbye to two young soldiers and rising stars who were killed in separate car crashes on the same day.

Kyle Whitehead, a private in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, died Aug. 22 when a car he was driving on the Big River First Nation went into a ditch and rolled several times.

In another country thousands of kilometres away, another soldier from Big River, Sgt. Darby Morin, 25, who was serving with the U.S. Army, died in a vehicle rollover in Afghanistan.

"The young people that died here are certainly role models," Chief Lawrence Joseph of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations said after Whitehead's funeral Friday.

"This young man we buried made a choice to serve in the Canadian Army. He made a choice as a young person to do something, extremely dangerous work when we know that there are conflicts around the world, but he made that choice."
More on link

 Counterterrorism official killed in Afghanistan
By RAHIM FAIEZ (AP) – 8 hours ago
Article Link

KABUL — Militants gunned down a provincial counterterrorism chief in eastern Afghanistan after ambushing his convoy, an official said Sunday.

Fayez Khan, who headed counterterrorism operations for Khost province, was driving home Saturday evening in a convoy with police and bodyguards when he was ambushed, said Tahir Khan Sabari, the province's deputy governor. Khan was killed immediately, though a short gunbattle ensued as the security forces battled the attackers, Sabari said.

Sabari said he believed the attackers were Taliban fighters because Khan's job made him an obvious target and because Khan was not known to have any personal feuds that would account for the attack.

One of the attackers was also killed and another wounded, Sabari said. There were no other injuries.
More on link

Afghan election fraud probe grows
Article Link

Opposition candidates say some ballot boxes have been filled with fake votes

Election complaints officials in Afghanistan say they are looking into more than 560 major allegations of fraud from the 20 August vote.

The tally doubles the figure of serious allegations reported two days ago.

Full preliminary results are due next week, but the final results will not be made official until major fraud allegations are investigated.

The latest partial results give President Hamid Karzai 46% of the votes compared to Abdullah Abdullah's 31.4%.

A candidate needs 50% of votes cast to avoid a second round run-off which, if needed, would be held in October. 
More on link

 Richards had warned of shortages in Afghanistan
Sun, 30 Aug 2009 
Article Link

Britain's new head of the Army says he had warned about troop shortages in Afghanistan three years ago when he commanded the NATO mission in the war-weary country.

Gen. Sir David Richards explained how officials within NATO and Britain's Ministry of Defense were upset when he 'forcefully pointed out' that the Afghanistan war burden required more forces,The Times reported.

"The international community's effort there was approaching something close to anarchy," said the general who took command of NATO's International Security Force (ISAF) in 2006.

The comments come as Britain's record-high death toll from a counterinsurgent campaign in Afghanistan's Helmand province, namely Operation Panther's Claw, is being increasingly blamed on poor logistics.
More on link


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## MarkOttawa (30 Aug 2009)

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pays surprise visit to troops in southern Afghanistan 
AP, Aug. 29
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090829/world/as_afghan_britain_1



> KABUL - Britain's prime minister paid a surprise visit Saturday to British troops in southern Afghanistan, promising more help to cope with Taliban insurgents who have inflicted casualties on the embattled force and undercut support in Britain for the war.
> 
> Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking to British soldiers and journalists at the British base in Lashkar Gah, pledged to provide more equipment to help overcome the threat of Taliban roadside bombs, a major threat to NATO forces.
> 
> ...



Taliban's growth in Afghanistan's north threatens to expand war
McClatchy Newspapers, Aug. 28
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/74543.html



> BAGHLAN-I-JADID, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents have taken over parts of two northern provinces from which they were driven in 2001, threatening to disrupt NATO's new supply route from Central Asia and expand a war that's largely been confined to Afghanistan's southern half, U.S. and Afghan officials said.
> 
> Insurgents operating out of Baghlan district along the highway from Tajikistan launched coordinated attacks during the Aug. 20 presidential elections, killing the district police chief and a civilian, while losing a dozen of their own men, local officials said. It was the worst bloodshed reported in the country that day.
> 
> ...



Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 Builds One of the Largest Marine Corps Airfields 
2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade News, Aug. 28
http://www.marines.mil/units/marforcom/iimef/2ndmeb/Pages/MarineWingSupportSquadron371BuildsOneoftheLargestMarineCorpsAirfields.aspx



> Camp Bastain, Helmand Province, Afghanistan-Marines from Heavy Equipment Platton, Marine Wing Support Squadron 371 "Sand Sharks", operate grating machines to prepare the soil before aluminum matting is placed for the expansion of the airfield on Camp Bastion, Afghanistan May 22.
> 
> Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron-371 have been working diligently on the expansion of the airfield here. Once finished, it will be one of the largest airfields in the Marine Corps, with multiple interconnected taxiways and aircraft maintenance bays.
> 
> ...



U.S. Sets Metrics to Assess War Success
_Washington Post_, Aug. 30
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/29/AR2009082902402.html



> The White House has assembled a list of about 50 measurements to gauge progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan as it tries to calm rising public and congressional anxiety about its war strategy.
> 
> Administration officials are conducting what one called a "test run" of the metrics, comparing current numbers in a range of categories -- including newly trained Afghan army recruits, Pakistani counterinsurgency missions and on-time delivery of promised U.S. resources -- with baselines set earlier in the year. The results will be used to fine-tune the list before it is presented to Congress by Sept. 24.
> 
> ...



U.S. fears clock ticking on Afghanistan
As public support wanes, the Obama administration feels it needs to deliver speedy progress in Afghanistan so that it can gain time and backing for its long-term military strategy.
_LA Times,_ Aug. 30
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-us-afghan30-2009aug30,0,5417839,full.story



> Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Washington - The Obama administration is racing to demonstrate visible headway in the faltering war in Afghanistan, convinced it has only until next summer to slow a hemorrhage in U.S. support and win more time for the military and diplomatic strategy it hopes can rescue the 8-year-old effort.
> 
> But the challenge in Afghanistan is becoming more difficult in the face of gains by the Taliban, rising U.S. casualties, a weak Afghan government widely viewed as corrupt, and a sense among U.S. commanders that they must start the military effort largely from scratch nearly eight years after it began.
> 
> ...



Mark
Ottawa


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## GAP (31 Aug 2009)

*Articles found August 31, 2009*

 Doctor made people mutilated by war whole again
 By Craig Pearson, Canwest News ServiceAugust 31, 2009
  Article Link 

WINDSOR, Ont. — They came in every day, all day, sometimes in groups, often missing legs and arms.

And that's when Dr. Mark Thibert went to work, or perhaps continued his work, making people whole again amid the horror of war.

"The bad thing was these people usually had a multiplicity of injuries," said Thibert, who was born and raised in Windsor and now works as a plastic surgeon in Thunder Bay. "Most people did not have any particular single injury. They were multiply traumatized people, which you don't often see in a civilian environment.

"But in war, there are many, many people with severe, life-altering, life-threatening injuries."

Thibert returned to his hometown Saturday — to attend a dinner honouring his University of Windsor professor parents, Roger and Audrey Thibert, who together have 112 years of teaching experience. Thibert delivered a presentation about his two-month tour of duty in Afghanistan from July 27 to Oct. 3, 2008, as the first Canadian plastic surgeon serving in a combat zone in Afghanistan.
More on link

 Suspected Taliban Torch NATO Supplies In SW Pakistan
By REUTERS Published: August 31, 2009 
Article Link

CHAMAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Suspected Taliban militants set fire to 18 container trucks carrying supplies for Western forces in neighbouring Afghanistan in the Pakistani border town of Chaman, police said on Monday.

Some 300 trucks were parked near the border crossing in the country's southwest, as the border had been closed by Pakistani authorities since Friday in a row with their Afghan counterparts over the checking of trucks coming from landlocked Afghanistan.

"The attackers probably had planted explosives under one of the oil tankers which went off, setting others on fire," Abdul Rauf, a senior border police official, told Reuters. "Eighteen trucks have completely been destroyed."

Witnesses, however, said the militants lobbed a grenade onto the trucks, setting them on fire.

"They came on motorcycles. They first opened fire with guns, then threw a rocket-propelled grenade towards our vehicles and ran away," Akhtar Mohammad Niazi, a driver, told Reuters.

Rauf said the authorities had reopened the border crossing after the incident, which took place late on Sunday.
More on link

 Canadians teaching Afghan army savour small victories with big challenges
 By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceAugust 30, 2009
Article Link

STRONGPOINT DOG, Afghanistan -- Canadians instructing Afghans on how to fight and prepare for war are following an honourable tradition, says Canada's top Operational Mentor and Liaison Team adviser to local forces in Kandahar.

"Lawrence of Arabia was an OMLTeer, too," said Col. Greg Burt, referring to the celebrated British army officer who helped lead the Arabs into battle against the Turks nearly a century ago. "It fits the Canadian ethos. We can lead from the front and help others."

The widespread opinion of Canadian troops now deployed in Kandahar is that when the current combat mission of its battle group ends in 2011, the OMLT unit, which helps train the Afghan army, will not only continue, but will likely be expanded.

U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Barack Obama's new Afghanistan commander, says such teams are key to the success of NATO's military commitment.
More on link

  Escalating insurgency in Afghanistan's Kunduz province rooted in past
www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-31
Article Link

KABUL, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The killing of a senior judicial official in Kunduz province of Afghanistan last week once again threw spotlight on the growing militancy in this northern trouble-spot of the country.

    Qari Jan Gir, the chief of the provincial Justice Department, was killed when a roadside bomb hit his car as he was on his way to office on Wednesday.

    Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid prompted to claim responsibility for the attack, adding that his men planted the mine to kill the official.

    Insurgent incidents have been taking place in Kunduz for the last several months, which have struck alarm bells in the capital city of Kabul.

    While the international forces were busy for years grappling Taliban insurgents in southern and eastern Afghanistan, no fear ever existed that militancy would also raise its head in the otherwise peaceful northern parts of the country. 
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Afghanistan: Nato troops destroy bunker in raid near Pakistan border
Nato-led troops killed a large number of militant fighters and destroyed a bunker complex in a day-long raid close to the Pakistan border, military officials have said.
Article Link

The complex was used as a supply base and safe haven for foreign fighters by the Haqqani network, a Nato statement said.

Troops backed by helicopters fought repeated firefights and called in airstrikes during the 24-hour operation in the Urgun district of Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan.
More on link

Afghanistan strategy must change, US commander McChrystal to tell Obama

Top American commander announces completion of long-awaited review that reports say likens US military to bull charging at matador
 guardian.co.uk, Monday 31 August 2009
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The west must change its strategy in order to achieve success in Afghanistan, the top US commander there said today as he announced that his long-awaited review was complete.

"The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort," General Stanley McChrystal said. His findings will be submitted to President Barack Obama, who faces a public increasingly restive over a war that has lasted eight years.

McChrystal does not ask for more US troops to be sent to Afghanistan, although he is expected to do so in a separate request, according to unnamed Nato officials cited by the Associated Press.

The general has been working on the review since Obama put him in charge of the war in June after firing his predecessor, David McKiernan. The document has been sent to the US military's central command (CentCom), responsible for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to Nato headquarters in Brussels.
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