# The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread April 2012



## GAP (31 Mar 2012)

*The Sandbox and Areas Reports Thread April 2012  *               

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


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## GAP (5 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 5, 2012*

 Help for land-mine victims in Kabul
Article Link
After three decades of war, Afghanistan is littered with land mines. A nonprofit employs disabled land-mine victims to make demining equipment, and funds rehabilitation clinics.
By Olivia Katrandjian, Contributor, Arthur Nazaryan, Contributor / March 30, 2012 

Haroon Hamdard edged toward a suspected explosive device lying in a field in western Afghanistan. His job as a demining worker was to identify such devices and figure out how to render them harmless. But the young worker stumbled. His foot hit a rock that tumbled forward and detonated a small bomb. Mr. Hamdard was left in critical condition, and lost his right arm. He was fitted with a barely functioning prosthetic arm. The married father of one was unemployed for the next six years. Hamdard finally got a job at Spark, a workshop in Kabul funded by a US nonprofit where people who have been disabled by land mines make demining equipment. Sale of the equipment funds rehabilitation clinics, one of which will finally outfit Hamdard with a better prosthetic arm.
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 Bin Laden’s relatives sentenced to 45 days in prison
Zarar Khan ISLAMABAD, Pakistan— The Associated Press Monday, Apr. 02, 2012 
Article Link

Pakistani court on Monday convicted Osama bin Laden's three widows and two of his daughters of illegally entering and living in the country and sentenced them to 45 days in prison, with credit for time served, their lawyer said.

The five women have been in detention since last May when U.S. commandos killed the al-Qaeda chief at the walled three-story compound in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad where he had been living with his family for six years. 
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 U.S. to Amend Afghan Plane Bid Terms, No Full Re-Do
By REUTERS Published: April 2, 2012
Article Link

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force said on Monday it would amend, rather than re-do, the terms of a potential $1 billion competition to supply light attack planes to Afghanistan. 

Privately held Sierra Nevada Corp and Brazil's Embraer beat out Hawker Beechcraft to win the deal in December. But the Air Force canceled the initial contract award, valued at $355 million, when it discovered an error while preparing for a lawsuit filed by Hawker, challenging the decision in federal claims court.

The service gave no details of any proposed changes.

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Miller said the service was still working out details, but expected to release the amendment this month. He added that a separate investigation into the acquisition process was ongoing.

Only Sierra Nevada and its rival for the contract, Hawker Beechcraft, would be allowed to submit bids, he said.

The Air Force last month abruptly terminated the contract with Sierra Nevada for 20 Super Tucano light attack planes, after it discovered inadequate documentation for the award while preparing for the Hawker lawsuit.

The service announced on March 23 that it was extending an investigation into the contracting error.

The incident has been big news in Brazil, where government officials were caught off guard by Washington's cancellation of the plane order. The issue may come up when Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff visits Washington next week. 
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 NATO denies accelerating Afghanistan troop withdrawal
AFPAFP – Mon, 2 Apr, 2012
Article Link

NATO's chief denied on Monday that the alliance was speeding up the withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan as he sought to clear up "confusion" over the pullout planned for the end of 2014.

Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted that NATO was sticking to the timeline agreed at the Lisbon summit in November 2010 after recent comments from Western and Afghan officials indicated that 2013 was a new target.

"There is nothing new in all this but maybe it is necessary to clarify these timelines because sometimes they are mixed up in a way that creates some confusion," Rasmussen told a news conference.

"We will stick ot the Lisbon roadmap and complete transition by the end of 2014," he said.

Rasmussen explained that to complete the transition of security responsibility to Afghan forces nationwide by the end of 2014, control of the last provinces must be handed over in the middle or the second half of 2013.
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 New Afghan envoy mounts charm offensive
  Article Link
Ambassador admits he is facing an uphill battle to maintain Canadian interest
 By JEFF DAVIS, Postmedia News April 3, 2012

After more than a decade of development donations, Barna Karimi, the newly arrived Afghan Ambassador to Canada, holds no illusions about Canada's declining interest in - and cash flow for - Afghanistan.

"Donor-recipient relationships always end," Karimi said. "After any donor honeymoon in a society, a donor fatigue comes."

Afghans are looking forward to a day not so far in the future, Karimi said, when the two countries will meet on even ground, as international peers.

"There will be a time when we will be standing up on our feet, and our relationship will be beneficial for both countries," he said.

But that day is not here yet, and the 38-year-old ambassador said he understands he will have to fight an uphill battle to maintain Canada's interest in, and financial commitment to, Afghanistan.

With Canada's war weariness in mind, Karimi said, Afghan President Hamid Karzai instructed him to mount a charm offensive.

He said he was chosen for his skills in public relations, and directed to boost support for Afghanistan's continuing journey toward full statehood.

"(Karzai) very clearly instructed me to improve ... the image of Afghanistan among the Canadian public and media," he said.
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 Leaving Afghanistan to the bad guys
Article Link
April 04, 2012

Overnight in Afghanistan a new man was appointed to run the province of Oruzgan, where Australia’s soldiers are based: Amir Muhammad Akhundzada.

It is the one part of the country for which we are most responsible and Amir Muhammed Akhundzada is its new governor.

This is a man who, when he was a deputy governor in a neighbouring province, the British government got rid of. Why? Because of his links to drug traffickers.

His last boss, a minister in president Karzai’s government, used to have a torture chamber in the basement of his house, and the Canadian government refused to work with him.

Now Amir Muhammad Akhundzada is the most senior government official, to whom we will hand over the pointy end of Australia’s military and aid effort in a year or two. By the way, this man was also blocked from running in Afghan elections because of his links to the drug trade, which is, of course, what funds the Taliban.
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 Three NATO troops killed in one day in Afghanistan
AFPAFP – Wed, 4 Apr, 2012
Article Link

Three international troops were killed in separate insurgency incidents in Afghanistan in one day, the NATO-led coalition force said.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said one service member was killed by an improvised explosive device in the south of the country, one by a similar blast in the east and one by an insurgent attack in the east.

All three incidents happened on Tuesday, with the last statement released on Wednesday. They did not give further details.

"It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities," each statement said.
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 Canadian embassy hosts blood drive in Kabul
Sunday, 01 April 2012 
Article Link

KABUL – (Apr. 1)

Wakht News Agency

Canadian embassy to Kabul hosted the first-ever blood drive, benefiting Afghans, the embassy said, calling the drive as a great success which resulted in 100 units of blood donated to help Afghan people.

“Volunteers from various communities and VIPs including Afghan public health minister, Sorayya Dalil and Canada’s charge de affairs, Shelley Whiting took part in the drive to support Afghan blood bank,” the embassy said in a statement.

“Donating blood is very safe and takes less than 20 minutes,” charge de affairs Whiting was quoted by the statement as saying. “It is also a tangible way in which Canadians, Afghans and the international community can reach out a helping hand.”
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## GAP (13 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 13, 2012*

 Commander heads to Kabul
By Elliot Ferguson/The Whig-Standard
Article Link

The commander of the 1st Canadian Division Headquarters is leaving to take up a new post in Afghanistan.

Maj.-Gen. Jim Ferron, who has been at Canadian Forces Base Kingston since last summer, will take over as deputy commander of the NATO training mission in Kabul.

The new assignment will start in May and last about a year. Ferron relieves Maj.-Gen. Mike Day, who has been at the post since March 2011.

In addition to being the commander of the Canadian mission and 950 Canadian troops stationed in the country, Ferron will be the deputy commander of the NATO training mission.

Ferron said the training mission is a natural continuation of NATO’s role and is as important as the combat mission that preceded it.

“In my view, they are of equal importance because you can’t have one without the other,” he said Wednesday afternoon.

“There are very few counter-insurgency wars in our recorded history that have been resolved through the sword alone.”

Canadian Forces personnel in Kabul are training members of Afghanistan’s security forces, including the army, air force and national police. Canada is the second-largest contributor to the training mission after the United States.

The current mission, Operations Attention, is the third for the country since Canada’s involvement began in 2001.

The bulk of the Canadians are in Kabul, with a team also stationed in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Canada’s role in the training mission is scheduled to finish at the end of March 2014.
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Cuts in foreign aid to be felt in 12 of world's poorest countries
  Article Link
Conservatives aim to cut $377 million over three-year period
 By Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News April 13, 2012

Twelve of the world's poorest countries - including Afghanistan, Pakistan and seven nations in Africa - are going to be hit as the Conservative government looks to slash $377 million in foreign aid over the next three years.

The exact impact on each country is unclear, but the cuts are expected to prompt anger and frustration from the affected countries, which rely on international assistance to provide food and other services to millions of citizens. A number had already seen major reductions three years ago.

A source within the Canadian International Development Agency said Benin, Niger, Cambodia, China, Nepal, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe were expected to lose virtually all Canadian aid funding.

At the same time, the source said, reductions are planned for five major aid recipients: Afghanistan, Bolivia, Mozambique, Pakistan and Tanzania.

CIDA officials refused to comment on the cuts Thursday, saying Canadians, aid groups and affected countries would be told in the coming weeks how the changes would impact them.
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## GAP (15 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 15, 2012*

 Taliban fighters attack Pakistan prison, freeing at least 380 prisoners, including militants
Article Link
By: Ishtiaq Mahsud, The Associated Press 

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - Taliban militants armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades battled their way into a prison in northwest Pakistan on Sunday, freeing close to 400 prisoners, including at least 20 described by police as "very dangerous" insurgents, authorities and the militants said.

The raid by more than 100 fighters was a dramatic display of the strength of the insurgency gripping the nuclear-armed country. The escaped prisoners may now rejoin the fight, giving momentum and a propaganda boost to a movement that has killed thousands of Pakistani officials and ordinary citizens since 2007.

The attackers stormed the prison before dawn in the city of Bannu close to the Afghan border, said police officer Shafique Khan. They used explosives and hand grenades to knock down the main gates and two walls, said Bannu prison superintendent Zahid Khan.

"They were carrying modern and heavy weapons," said Zahid Khan. "They fired rockets."

Once inside the building, the attackers headed straight to the area of the prison where death-row prisoners were being kept, he said. They fought with guards for around two hours, setting part of the prison on fire before freeing the 380 inmates, including at least 20 "very dangerous Taliban militants," said Shafique.

One escaped prisoner, Adnan Rashid, was on death row for his involvement in an assassination attempt against former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, said Zahid Khan.

The prison in Bannu housed 944 inmates.
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 Explosions, gunfire shake Afghan capital
RAHIM FAIEZ and HEIDI VOGT KABUL, Afghanistan— The Associated Press
Published Sunday, Apr. 15, 2012
Article Link

Militants launched a series of coordinated attacks in the Afghan capital Sunday, with blasts and gunfire rocking three neighbourhoods that are home to Afghan government buildings, Western embassies and NATO bases.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the ongoing assault in Kabul in a text message to The Associated Press. He said a group of armed suicide bombers launched an attack on the NATO forces headquarters, the parliament building across town and a number of diplomatic residences in Kabul. 
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## GAP (17 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 17, 2012*


Number of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan could shrink soon, NATO says
Lee Berthiaume, Postmedia News  Apr 16, 2012
Article Link

OTTAWA — The number of Canadian soldiers deployed to Afghanistan may shrink in the coming months as Afghan forces take more responsibility and NATO looks to pull out up to 1,000 military trainers, a senior NATO officer confirmed Monday.

The revelation comes amid widespread praise for Afghanistan’s army and police following a major insurgent attack on Kabul over the weekend that has stoked already tense relations between the international community and Afghan government.

About 950 Canadian soldiers have been stationed in the capital Kabul and two other central Afghan cities since last year, the vast majority of them contributing to the NATO effort to train 352,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers by 2014. Canada has the second largest contingent of military trainers after the U.S.

In an interview from Kabul on Monday, the deputy commander of NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan, Canadian Maj.-Gen. Mike Day, said the Afghan army has already grown to a strength of 195,000 — a target that was supposed to be hit in October.

At the same time, he said, Afghan security forces have taken over their own basic training. All of this means fewer NATO military trainers are required.

“We’re still working the numbers,” Day said, “but quite frankly, probably more than 1,000 (less).”

Defence Minister Peter MacKay had already hinted in February that fewer Canadians could be in Afghanistan if Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other NATO country leaders decide in Chicago next month that fewer Afghan soldiers are needed — or can be financially supported — after 2014.

Day would not comment on the expected results of the Chicago meeting, nor could he promise that the transferring of training responsibilities to Afghan authorities will mean fewer Canadian soldiers in Kabul in the coming months.

“When I work out the numbers with my NATO hat on, and I’ll have that done within the next month,” he said, “that will involve me reaching out to all of the contributing nations.”
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 Militant in Kabul assault confesses to Haqqani links
Deadly attacks in Kabul, elsewhere underscore new security challenges
The Associated Press Posted: Apr 16, 2012
Article Link

A militant arrested in the attacks on the Afghan capital and three other cities has confessed that the 18-hour assault was carried out by the Haqqani network, a lethal group of fighters with ties to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, a top Afghan security official said Monday.

Thirty-six insurgents were killed during the brazen attacks that also claimed the lives of eight policemen and three civilians, said Interior Minister Besmillah Mohammadi.

Though the death toll was much lower than in other attacks, the dramatic assault on multiple targets showed that militants are far from beaten and can still penetrate Afghan security — even in the heart of the capital — after 10 years of war. The attacks in Kabul, Nangarhar, Paktia and Logar provinces also underscored the security challenge facing government forces as U.S. and NATO troops draw down and prepare to leave by the end of 2014.
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## GAP (20 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 20, 2012*

Pakistani women's lives destroyed by acid attacks
Article Link
 19 April 2012 

Campaigners in Pakistan say cases of acid attacks are increasing in most areas, even though tougher penalties were introduced last year. An Oscar-winning Pakistani documentary has put the crime under the spotlight, but it is estimated that more than 150 women have acid thrown on them every year - usually by husbands or in-laws - and many never get justice. The BBC's Orla Guerin reports.

Her name is Shama, meaning "candle", and she says her husband burnt her flesh as if it was a candlewick.

The young mother of four has just joined the ranks of Pakistani women doused in acid. She is scarred for life, with burns on 15% of her body. Her crime was her beauty.

"My husband and I often had arguments in the house," she said, in her hospital bed. "On that day before going to sleep he said 'you take too much pride in your beauty'. Then in the middle of the night he threw acid on me, and ran away."

When her husband fled, he took her mobile phone with him, so she could not call for help.
Scorched cheeks

Shama shows me a picture taken at a children's party four months ago. It is a snapshot of an attractive young woman, with immaculate make-up, wearing an orange outfit flecked with gold.
Shama with her child before the attack Shama had every reason to take pride in her beauty before the attack

Her hair is swept back to reveal dangling earrings. But acid has erased that confident, composed Shama.

"I feel pain at what I was, and what I have become," she said, with tears coursing down her scorched cheeks.

"All the colours have gone from my life. I feel like I'm a living corpse, even worse than a living corpse. I think I have no right to live."

Shama now lies in Ward 10a of the burns unit in Nishtar Hospital in Multan in Pakistan's Punjab province.

It is a monument to neglect. The plaster is peeling off the walls and there is a leaking pipe hanging from the ceiling. When patients need transfusions, their relatives are despatched to buy pints of blood.

But the doctors here are expert at treating women disfigured by acid - they see one or two new victims every week.

At morning rounds they gather at Shama's bed, asking if she is eating, and is keeping her burns covered with cream. They try to relieve her pain, but cannot ease her despair.
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## GAP (21 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 21, 2012*

Afghan official says 10 tons of explosives smuggled from Pakistan seized, attack foiled
By: Patrick Quinn,Rahim Faiez, The Associated Press 
Article Link

KABUL - Afghan security forces have arrested five militants with 10 metric tons (11 tons) of explosives that they had brought from Pakistan to use to carry out a massive attack in Kabul, as well as another three planning an assassination attempt against the vice-president, an official said Saturday.

The reports of new planned attacks in the Afghan capital came a week after militants said to be part of a Pakistan-based group launched brazen co-ordinated assaults in the heart of Kabul and in other cities.

U.S. officials say they have stepped up pressure on Islamabad to crack down on that group, the Haqqani network, which specializes in high-profile strikes against well-protected targets.

Three of the five men arrested with the 10 tons were members of the Pakistani Taliban, while the other two belonged to the Afghan Taliban, National Director for Security spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiry said at a news conference. He said their orders came from militant leaders with ties to Pakistani intelligence. He did not say when the arrests took place, nor what their intended target was.

"Imagine if 10,000 kilograms of explosives, which was already inside Kabul" had exploded, "what a disaster could have happened," Tahiry said.

Tahiry said the captured explosives were in 400 bags and hidden under potatoes loaded in a truck with Pakistani license plates.

According to Tahiry, the men confessed that they "had planned to carry out a terrorist attack in a key point in Kabul city."

He claimed that the three Pakistani members of the group picked up the explosives just outside the Pakistani city of Peshawar, and were under the orders of two local Taliban leaders named Noor Afzal and Mohammad Omar, who Tahiry said had ties with the country's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI.

Tahiry also said that security forces had foiled a Haqqani network assassination attempt against Afghan Vice-President Mohammed Karim Khalili.

He said three Afghan men arrested on April 15, the day the Kabul attacks began, planned to kill Khalili at his home. They were equipped with suicide vests and small arms.

According to Tahiry, the order to kill Khalili was issued in Miram Shah by Haqqani network commander Badruddin Haqqani. Last May, the U.S. designated Badruddin Haqqani a terrorist. He's the son of the group's founder, Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Afghan officials often blame Pakistan and the ISI for supporting militant groups — including the Haqqani network — in the country's lawless areas along the Afghan border. The Pakistani government has vehemently denied any such claims.
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## GAP (22 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 22, 2012*

Afghan military recruits found dealing drugs to US soldiers, Army documents show
By Catherine Herridge April 20, 2012 FoxNews.com
Article Link

Afghan forces are being trained by the U.S. military to take over the mission by 2014, but new documents obtained by Judicial Watch through a request under the Freedom of Information Act show that some of the Afghan recruits stand accused of dealing drugs to U.S. soldiers.

“It's really troubling that our troops are being placed in this situation where they're under enough pressure as it is,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told Fox News. “But evidently our allies there are acting as drug pushers in some ways.”

Fitton and his investigators found that between January 2010 and December 2011, the Army investigated 56 soldiers in Afghanistan for the possession, use or distribution of opiates. Heroin was cited 26 times.

A December 2011 report from Army Criminal Investigation Command shows that at one forward operation base the drugs hash, pot and heroin were purchased "from various Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police personnel."
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## GAP (24 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 24, 2012*

Gagetown soldiers in Afghanistan may return early
CBC News Posted: Apr 23, 2012
Article Link

Some soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, who are currently serving in Afghanistan, may be returning home sooner than expected.

The 450 soldiers with the Second Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment are helping train soldiers and police with the National Afghan Security Forces as part of a new non-combat role.

Their mission was expected to end in October, but some of the troops could be back in New Brunswick as soon as the summer, said Lt.-Col. Alex Ruff.

The early departure shows the Afghan security forces are ready to take on more responsibilities, he told CBC News from Camp Phoenix in Kabul.
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 Al-Qaeda switching tactics, CSIS warns
STEVEN CHASE OTTAWA— Globe and Mail Monday, Apr. 23, 2012 
Article Link

As many as 60 Canadians have journeyed abroad to train as al-Qaeda terrorists, this country’s spy chief revealed as he sounded a warning over the group’s shift to a much harder to detect “lone-wolf” style of attack.

Richard Fadden, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, also acknowledged Monday that al-Qaeda’s switch to a sole-actor approach to inflicting damage is presenting a problem for Western anti-terrorist agencies.

“This really makes things very complicated for us,” he told a Senate committee.

He said this lone-wolf approach tends to attract individuals driven by ideology as well as “serious personal problems,” a combination that makes them more unpredictable.

Mr. Fadden was speaking in favour of a new Harper government bill that aims to thwart budding Canadian terrorists who wish to visit foreign training camps. The legislation, S-7, would make it a federal crime to leave, or try to leave, Canada for the purpose of committing terrorism.

“There has … been an alarming number of Canadians who have travelled, are planning, or have expressed a desire to engage in terrorist activities,” the CSIS director told senators.
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## The Bread Guy (27 Apr 2012)

Elite Afghan soldier kills U.S. special forces mentor
By Ismail Sameem/Reuters
KANDAHAR | Fri Apr 27, 2012 8:20am EDT
Article Link

An elite Afghan soldier shot dead an American mentor and his translator at a U.S. base, Afghan officials said on Friday, in the first rogue shooting blamed on the country's new and closely vetted special forces.

The soldier opened fire at an American military base on Wednesday in Shah Wali Kot district, in volatile Kandahar province, said General Abdul Hamid, the commander of Afghan army forces in the Taliban's southern heartland.

"The shooting took place after a verbal conflict where the Afghan special forces soldier opened fire and killed an American special forces member and his translator," Hamid told Reuters.

At least 18 foreign soldiers have died this year in 11 incidents of so-called green on blue shootings, which are an increasing worry for both NATO and Afghan commanders, eroding trust as Western combat troops look to leave the country in 2014.

The latest shooting will be of grave concern to both sides, at it is the first involving a member of Afghanistan's new special forces, which undergo rigorous vetting as part of their selection into the country's top anti-insurgent force.

NATO's top general in the country, U.S. Marine General John Allen, and Afghan Defence Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak only this month signed an agreement for Afghan special troops to spearhead controversial night raids on Afghan homes, which are seen as one of the most potent anti-insurgent tactics.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone text message sent to journalists, saying the Afghan soldier was "an insurgent infiltrator called Zakerullah".

The claim could not immediately be corroborated, and the Taliban frequently claim responsibility for attacks by disgruntled Afghan soldiers ....
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## GAP (28 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 28, 2012*

 Afghan commando kills special forces soldier: US training mission futile?
Article Link
An American special forces soldier was killed this week by a US-trained Afghan commando, during a joint night raid operation. One-fifth of all NATO losses in 2012 are by Afghan troops. 
By Anna Mulrine, Staff writer / April 27, 2012 

The latest killing of a US soldier at the hands of an Afghan counterpart – this time of a US Special Operations Forces soldier by a US-trained Afghan commando – raises anew concerns about America’s ability to build a credible Afghan security force before 2014, when US combat forces are scheduled to leave the country. 

In total, so-called green-on-blue killings now account for 20 percent of the 84 NATO casualties in 2012.

The fatal shooting during a joint night raid Thursday marks the first killing of a US Special Forces operative by one of the elite, highly trained Afghan commandos, who are meant to be more carefully vetted than their conventional force counterparts. Largely as a result, the commandos have been widely praised by US forces for their competence.

Indeed, Afghan special forces units earlier this month were tapped to take over responsibility for a key aspect of US strategy going forward – namely, the controversial night raids that have polarized the Afghan community. US commanders have emphasized that these raids, in particular, are key to the US strategy in Afghanistan. Insurgents do not have night vision technology, after all, and are particularly vulnerable to coalition force operations that take place in the dead of night, they say.

In this latest case, US forces shot and killed the Afghan commando perpetrator. Another Afghan commando and an interpreter were killed in the crossfire. The incident occurred in the violent Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan. 

Previously, Gen. John Allen, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has pointed to “the insider threat” facing US troops who train Afghan security forces. To combat it, Afghan government officials now put “counterintelligence operatives” inside their training programs for security forces, as well as “inside their recruiting centers and inside their ranks,” Allen said last month, “the idea being to spot and assess the potential emergence of an individual who could be an extremist or in fact a Taliban infiltrator.”
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 Afghanistan: 5 areas of concern after the US leaves
Article Link
Although the end of the war in Afghanistan is in sight, not everyone is looking forward to it.  The total withdrawal of US and NATO forces by 2014 will have profound, direct effects on the country's security, economy, and society. Here are five areas that are likely to see an impact.
- Arthur Bright, Correspondent

Security and the Taliban

The most immediate concern over the US's withdrawal from Afghanistan is how it will affect Afghan security. The Taliban and other Afghan militants still launch regular attacks against Western forces, and the Afghan military and police forces that NATO has been training are not yet prepared to take on responsibility for their own security.

The Afghan government is already worried about accelerated US plans, announced in February, to end combat operations a year before its anticipated 2014 withdrawal. "A decision to push this a year earlier throws out the whole transition plan. The transition has been planned against a timetable and this makes us rush all our preparations," a senior Afghan security official told the Monitor soon after the announcement. "If the Americans withdraw from combat, it will certainly have an effect on our readiness and training, and on equipping the police force."
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Osama bin Laden's family deported to Saudi Arabia. Case closed?
Article Link
Osama bin Ladens three wives and 11 children left Pakistan early Friday, closing an awkward chapter for Pakistan, but leaving unanswered questions about complicity of Pakistani state.
By Mahvish Ahmad, Contributor / April 27, 2012 

Islamabad, Pakistan

Early Friday morning Pakistani authorities deported 14 members of Osama bin Laden’s family to Saudi Arabia, bringing an awkward period that started with the discovery and killing of the world's most wanted man, to a close.

“The whole affair has been long and confusing. So naturally, we're all glad to see that it's over. And the family is happy to be home,” says Muhammad Aamir Khalil, the bin Laden family lawyer.

The deportation ends months of speculation about the fate of Osama bin Laden’s three widows and 11 children and grandchildren, who were detained by Pakistani security forces after the raid on the bin Laden’s compound in the military garrison town of Abbottabad almost one year ago, on May 2.

RELATED Osama bin Laden's compound oddities 

It was still dark when a van pulled out of the pink-tiled white house that had served as a make-shift prison for nearly two months. With its curtains drawn, the van inched its way through a throng of journalists attempting to catch a glimpse of the bin Ladens. When the van finally broke free of the crowd, it headed for a chartered plane parked at the Islamabad Airport, to fly them to Saudi Arabia.

Despite his relief at seeing the case close, Mr. Khalil remains critical of the process.

“Whether the authorities like to admit it or not, the truth is that the bin Laden family had been illegally detained at least twice since US Navy Seals first killed Osama. First, for the eight-month period leading up to their official arrest in March. And now, for the past week. The authorities were supposed to deport them as soon as their prison sentence ended,” Khalil says.

Three wives and two adult daughters were officially arrested on March 3 and charged with illegal entry and stay on April 13. Though none of the children were charged – they were under the legal age limit – the five women were sentenced to 45 days imprisonment. They served that sentence in a five-bedroom Islamabad villa. That sentence ended on Wednesday last week, at which point they were set to leave the country.

According to the country's Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, the deportation had been delayed because neither Saudi Arabia nor Yemen had yet to hear whether and how Saudi Arabia would receive the families. 

Khalil, who also works with the Embassy of Yemen, dismissed those explanations.

“The Yemeni ambassador laughed when he heard the excuse,” Khalil says.
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## GAP (29 Apr 2012)

*Articles found April 29, 2012*

 NATO reports deaths of 3 service members in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan— The Associated Press  Sunday, Apr. 29, 2012 
Article Link

NATO says separate bomb attacks in Afghanistan's south and east have killed two of its service members, while a third died of non-battle injuries in the south.

The coalition says all three service members died Saturday.

The U.S.-led coalition did not provide their nationalities nor disclose other details in its late Saturday and Sunday statements.
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 Two Afghan bodyguards and two suicide attackers killed in fierce gun battle
Article Link
Agence France-Presse  Apr 28, 2012

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Two gunmen hiding pistols in their shoes snuck inside a provincial governor’s high-security compound in southern Afghanistan Saturday, killing two guards in a fierce gun battle.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their main target was the provincial Governor Tooryalai Weesa.

“After killing two bodyguards, the attackers seized their rifles and opened fire on other bodyguards, injuring one,” Weesa told AFP, confirming that he was not hurt in the incident.

The attackers were eventually killed, Kandahar government spokesman Zalmay Ayobi told AFP. Security forces also found a vehicle laden with explosives abandoned outside the compound.

The insurgents somehow made it through the tight security at the compound with pistols tucked in their sandals, Weesa said, and the gun fight that ensued lasted for about 30 minutes before the attackers were subdued.

Kandahar province is the heartland of hardline Taliban insurgents and has been one of the hardest hit in 10 years of war in which NATO troops are supporting the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Condemning the attack, Weesa said the Taliban were resorting to “new ways and tactics to hurt the government and the people” but reiterated that “they will not succeed”.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until they were toppled in a 2001 US-led invasion for refusing to hand-over Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
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